DISCOVERY OF THE NEUTRON

CHADWICK, J. (+) D. IWANENKO.

Possible Existence of a Neutron (Chadwick) (+) The neutron hypothesis (Iwanenko).

New York, Macmillian and Co, 1932. Royal8vo. In publisher's pictorial cloth with gilt lettering and Nature's logo to spine. Entire issue of "Nature", January - June, 1932, Vol. CXXXVI [129]. "Emmanuel College" in gilt lettering to spine. Signs of label removal from spine, very slight wear to extremities, otherwise a very fine and clean copy. Rare in the publisher's binding. [Chadwick:] P. 312. [Iwanenko:] Pp. 798.

First printing of Chadwick's landmark paper in which he announced the discovery of the neutron. The discovery awarded him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1935. The discovery of the neutron was of seminal importance to the evolution of Particle Physics.

James Chadwick performed a series of experiments at the University of Cambridge, showing that the gamma ray hypothesis was untenable. He suggested that the new radiation consisted of uncharged particles of approximately the mass of the proton, and he performed a series of experiments verifying his suggestion. These uncharged particles were called neutrons.

"The discovery of the neutron completely revolutionized the physics of the atomic nucleus, both experimentally and theoretically. Since they are not electrically repelled they provide an ideal probe to study the nucleus". (Brandt, The Harvest of a Century).

Order-nr.: 46934