Ebook: Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus: A Sixty Year Journey 1896 — 1956

Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus is a history of atomic and nuclear physics. It begins in 1896 with the discovery of radioactivity, which leads to the discovery of the nucleus at the center of the atom. It follows the experimental discoveries and the theoretical developments up to the end of the Fifties.

Unlike previous books regarding on history of nuclear physics, this book methodically describes how advances in technology enabled physicists to probe the physical properties of nuclei as well as how the physical laws which govern these microscopic systems were progressively discovered. The reader will gain a clear understanding of how theory is inextricably intertwined with the progress of technology.

Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus will be of interest to physicists and to historians of physics, as well as those interested development of science.

---

Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus tells the story of how, in the span of barely sixty years, we made a transition from the belief that matter was composed of indivisible atoms, to the discovery that in the heart of each atom lies a nucleus which is ten thousand times smaller than the atom, which nonetheless carries almost all its mass, and the transformations of which involve energies that could never be reached by chemical reactions. It was not a smooth transition. The nature of nuclei, their properties, the physical laws which govern their behaviour, and the possibility of controlling to some extent their transformations, were discovered in discontinuous steps, following paths which occasionally led to errors which in turn were corrected by further experimental discoveries. The story begins in 1896 when radioactivity was unexpectedly discovered and continues up to the nineteen-sixties. The authors describe the spectacular progress made by physics during that time, which not only revealed a new form of matter, namely nuclei, but also modified our way of thinking by developing quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity.

The book is written in a clear and non mathematical language which makes it both accessible and instructive to laymen, physicists and students, as well as to historians of science. It delves into subjects which are of utmost importance for the understanding of matter in our universe and for understanding how this knowledge was achieved.

---

Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus tells the story of how, in the span of barely sixty years, we made a transition from the belief that matter was composed of indivisible atoms, to the discovery that in the heart of each atom lies a nucleus which is ten thousand times smaller than the atom, which nonetheless carries almost all its mass, and the transformations of which involve energies that could never be reached by chemical reactions. It was not a smooth transition. The nature of nuclei, their properties, the physical laws which govern their behaviour, and the possibility of controlling to some extent their transformations, were discovered in discontinuous steps, following paths which occasionally led to errors which in turn were corrected by further experimental discoveries. The story begins in 1896 when radioactivity was unexpectedly discovered and continues up to the nineteen-sixties. The authors describe the spectacular progress made by physics during that time, which not only revealed a new form of matter, namely nuclei, but also modified our way of thinking by developing quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity.

The book is written in a clear and non mathematical language which makes it both accessible and instructive to laymen, physicists and students, as well as to historians of science. It delves into subjects which are of utmost importance for the understanding of matter in our universe and for understanding how this knowledge was achieved.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xviii
Radioactivity: The First Puzzles....Pages 1-45
A Nucleus at the Heart of the Atom....Pages 47-87
Quantum Mechanics: The Unavoidable Path....Pages 89-162
A Timid Infancy....Pages 163-239
1930–1940: A Dazzling Development....Pages 241-393
The Upheavals of the Second World War....Pages 395-411
The Time of Maturity....Pages 413-486
Where the Narrative Ends....Pages 487-489
Back Matter....Pages 491-530

---

Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus tells the story of how, in the span of barely sixty years, we made a transition from the belief that matter was composed of indivisible atoms, to the discovery that in the heart of each atom lies a nucleus which is ten thousand times smaller than the atom, which nonetheless carries almost all its mass, and the transformations of which involve energies that could never be reached by chemical reactions. It was not a smooth transition. The nature of nuclei, their properties, the physical laws which govern their behaviour, and the possibility of controlling to some extent their transformations, were discovered in discontinuous steps, following paths which occasionally led to errors which in turn were corrected by further experimental discoveries. The story begins in 1896 when radioactivity was unexpectedly discovered and continues up to the nineteen-sixties. The authors describe the spectacular progress made by physics during that time, which not only revealed a new form of matter, namely nuclei, but also modified our way of thinking by developing quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity.

The book is written in a clear and non mathematical language which makes it both accessible and instructive to laymen, physicists and students, as well as to historians of science. It delves into subjects which are of utmost importance for the understanding of matter in our universe and for understanding how this knowledge was achieved.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xviii
Radioactivity: The First Puzzles....Pages 1-45
A Nucleus at the Heart of the Atom....Pages 47-87
Quantum Mechanics: The Unavoidable Path....Pages 89-162
A Timid Infancy....Pages 163-239
1930–1940: A Dazzling Development....Pages 241-393
The Upheavals of the Second World War....Pages 395-411
The Time of Maturity....Pages 413-486
Where the Narrative Ends....Pages 487-489
Back Matter....Pages 491-530
....