The Infancy of Atomic Physics: Hercules in His CradleAtomic physics is a mighty Hercules that dominates modern civilization, promising immense reserves of power but threatening catastrophic war and radioactive pollution. The story of the atom's discovery and the development of techniques to harness its energy offers fascinating insights into the forces behind twenty-first-century technology. This compelling history portrays the human faces and lives behind the beginnings of atomic science. The Infancy of Atomic Physics ranges from experiments in the 1880s by William Crookes and others to the era just after the First World War, when Rutherford's first speculations on the structures of the atomic nucleus led to the discovery of the neutron -- and thus to nuclear weapons and nuclear power. It describes the dramatic researches as they were made, and it shows how they were interpreted in the scientific language of their time. This survey not only depicts the impressions of leading scientists like Thomson, Rutherford, Einstein, and Bohr, but it also reflects the views of ordinary laboratory scientists as well as the ways in which innovations were introduced to the wider public. |
Contents
WHY AT THAT TIME? WHY IN THOSE PLACES? | |
CONTROVERSY OVER THE CATHODE | |
LIGHT INVISIBLE | |
LIGHT EVERLASTING | |
THESE ARE THE DAYS OF RAYS | |
ENERGY FRAGMENTED MATTER DISSOLVED | |
INTO THE CORE OF THINGS | |
NIELS BOHR | |
ATOM AND RADIATION RECONCILED IN DISCONTINUITY | |
VERY PRETTYBUT WILL IT WORK? | |
HOW MANY ELECTRONS? | |
EQUAL NUMBERSBUT UNEQUAL WEIGHTS? | |
WAR AND DISINTEGRATION | |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | |
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Common terms and phrases
actinium alpha particles alpha rays apparatus atomic number atomic weight basic Becquerel beta beta particles Bohr Bohr’s Boltwood Bragg British Association C.T.R. Wilson Cambridge cathode rays Cavendish century charge chemical chemistry chemists College corpuscles Crookes Crookes’s Curie discovery Einstein electricity electromagnetic elements emanation energy engineering equations ether excited experimental experiments explain frequency gases German heat helium Helmholtz Hertz hydrogen idea J.J. Thomson Kelvin kinetic laboratory least lecture Lenard light lines London look Lorentz magnetic Manchester mass mathematics matter Maxwell Maxwell’s mechanics metal molecules Moseley Moseley’s N-rays nature negative nucleus Oliver Lodge orbit paper perhaps photographs physicists physics Planck Planck’s constant polonium positive problems produced professor proved quantum radiation radioactivity radium ratio research students rings Röntgen Royal Rutherford Schuster scientific scientists Soddy Soddy’s spectral spectral lines spectrum structure suggested thermodynamics thorium tube units uranium velocity vibration wavelengths waves wrote X-rays