Download or read book Otto Hahn and the Rise of Nuclear Physics written by W.R. Shea and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: and less as the emanation unden\'ent radioactive decay, and it became motion less after about 30 seconds. Since this process was occurring very rapidly, Hahn and Sackur marked the position of the pointer on a scale with pencil marks. As a timing device they used a metronome that beat out intervals of approximately 1. 3 seconds. This simple method enabled them to determine that the half-life of the emanations of actinium and emanium were the same. Although Giesel's measurements had been more precise than Debierne's, the name of actinium was retained since Debierne had made the discovery first. Hahn now returned to his sample of barium chloride. He soon conjectured that the radium-enriched preparations must harbor another radioactive sub stance. The liquids resulting from fractional crystallization, which were sup posed to contain radium only, produced two kinds of emanation. One was the long-lived emanation of radium, the other had a short life similar to the emanation produced by thorium. Hahn tried to separate this substance by adding some iron to the solutions that should have been free of radium, but to no avail. Later the reason for his failure became apparent. The element that emitted the thorium emanation was constantly replenished by the ele ment believed to be radium. Hahn succeeded in enriching a preparation until it was more than 100,000 times as intensive in its radiation as the same quantity of thorium.
Download or read book Otto Hahn and the Rise of Nuclear Physics written by W R Shea and published by . This book was released on 1983-08-31 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Lise Meitner written by Ruth Lewin Sime and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the life of Jewish physicist Lise Meitner, who had to flee Nazi Germany, codiscovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, but was denied recognition when the work received a Nobel Prize.
Download or read book The Making of the Atomic Bomb written by Richard Rhodes and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 890 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: **Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award** The definitive history of nuclear weapons—from the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project—this epic work details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to the development of the atomic bomb. This sweeping account begins in the 19th century, with the discovery of nuclear fission, and continues to World War Two and the Americans’ race to beat Hitler’s Nazis. That competition launched the Manhattan Project and the nearly overnight construction of a vast military-industrial complex that culminated in the fateful dropping of the first bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Reading like a character-driven suspense novel, the book introduces the players in this saga of physics, politics, and human psychology—from FDR and Einstein to the visionary scientists who pioneered quantum theory and the application of thermonuclear fission, including Planck, Szilard, Bohr, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Teller, Meitner, von Neumann, and Lawrence. From nuclear power’s earliest foreshadowing in the work of H.G. Wells to the bright glare of Trinity at Alamogordo and the arms race of the Cold War, this dread invention forever changed the course of human history, and The Making of The Atomic Bomb provides a panoramic backdrop for that story. Richard Rhodes’s ability to craft compelling biographical portraits is matched only by his rigorous scholarship. Told in rich human, political, and scientific detail that any reader can follow, The Making of the Atomic Bomb is a thought-provoking and masterful work.
Download or read book History Of Early Nuclear Physics Vol I 1896 1931 Radioactivity And Its Radiations written by Milorad Mladjenovic and published by World Scientific Publishing Company. This book was released on 1992-09-16 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers the first 35 years of nuclear physics, especially in the areas of radioactivity and radioactive emissions which were the main discoveries in nuclear physics during its first three decades. It follows the nuclear phenomena step by step, paying special attention to outstanding discoveries, such as Curie's discovery of radium, Rutherford-Soddy law, discovery of isotopes, and Rutherford's artificial transmutations. The author aims to present in a critical approach the growth of nuclear physics as seen by a nuclear physicist and historian.
Download or read book Understanding the Atom written by U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Pope of Physics written by Gino Segrè and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2016-10-18 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enrico Fermi is unquestionably among the greats of the world's physicists, the most famous Italian scientist since Galileo. Called the Pope by his peers, he was regarded as infallible in his instincts and research. His discoveries changed our world; they led to weapons of mass destruction and conversely to life-saving medical interventions. This unassuming man struggled with issues relevant today, such as the threat of nuclear annihilation and the relationship of science to politics. Fleeing Fascism and anti-Semitism, Fermi became a leading figure in America's most secret project: building the atomic bomb. The last physicist who mastered all branches of the discipline, Fermi was a rare mixture of theorist and experimentalist. His rich legacy encompasses key advances in fields as diverse as comic rays, nuclear technology, and early computers. In their revealing book, The Pope of Physics, Gino Segré and Bettina Hoerlin bring this scientific visionary to life. An examination of the human dramas that touched Fermi’s life as well as a thrilling history of scientific innovation in the twentieth century, this is the comprehensive biography that Fermi deserves.
Download or read book Hidden Powers written by Jeannine Atkins and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-01-18 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biographical novel in verse about Lise Meitner, an Austrian Jew and physics professor in Nazi Germany who escaped to Sweden and whose work led to the discovery of nuclear fission. Includes author's note and timeline.
Download or read book What Little I Remember written by Otto Robert Frisch and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-17 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Otto Robert Frisch took part in some of the most momentous developments in modern physics, notably the discovery of nuclear fission (a term which he coined). His work on the first atom bomb, which he saw explode in the desert “like the light of a thousand suns”, brought him into contact with figures such as Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Richard Feynman and the father of electronic computers, John von Neumann. He also encountered the physicists who had made the great discoveries of recent generations: Einstein, Rutherford and Niels Bohr. This characterful book of reminiscences sheds an engagingly personal light on the people and events behind some of the greatest scientific discoveries of this century, illustrated with a series of fascinating photographs and witty sketches by the author himself. “This is a happy book, from which the author's personality and his enjoyment of physics, of music, of life, emerges clearly. It is also a portrait of the pre-War world of physics, of days of small numbers and small apparatus, of times when a physicist could think of an ingenious experiment today and set it up tomorrow.” — Rudolf Peierls, Nature “In writing a charming, light-hearted cameo of his life and times as a scientist, Professor Frisch has revealed more about science than many authors with greater pretensions. This is a book that deserves to be read, and will be enjoyed, by a wide audience.” — The Economist “Despite his modest title, what Frisch ‘manages to remember’ is quite impressive. He loved to tell stories and his many vignettes of his associates... include nearly every outstanding physicist who worked in nuclear physics.” — Science “In the straightforward narrative style he developed writing lay treatments of modern physics, Frisch recounts his memories of significant men and events in the history of physics between 1920 and 1960... Frisch tells his stories well...” — Robert W. Seidel,Isis, A Journal of the History of Science Society
Download or read book Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering written by J. Kenneth Shultis and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2007-09-07 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the publication of the bestselling first edition, there have been numerous advances in the field of nuclear science. In medicine, accelerator based teletherapy and electron-beam therapy have become standard. New demands in national security have stimulated major advances in nuclear instrumentation.An ideal introduction to the fundamentals of nuclear science and engineering, this book presents the basic nuclear science needed to understand and quantify an extensive range of nuclear phenomena. New to the Second Edition— A chapter on radiation detection by Douglas McGregor Up-to-date coverage of radiation hazards, reactor designs, and medical applications Flexible organization of material that allows for quick reference This edition also takes an in-depth look at particle accelerators, nuclear fusion reactions and devices, and nuclear technology in medical diagnostics and treatment. In addition, the author discusses applications such as the direct conversion of nuclear energy into electricity. The breadth of coverage is unparalleled, ranging from the theory and design characteristics of nuclear reactors to the identification of biological risks associated with ionizing radiation. All topics are supplemented with extensive nuclear data compilations to perform a wealth of calculations. Providing extensive coverage of physics, nuclear science, and nuclear technology of all types, this up-to-date second edition of Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering is a key reference for any physicists or engineer.
Download or read book Radioactive written by Winifred Conkling and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating, little-known story of how two brilliant female physicists’ groundbreaking discoveries led to the creation of the atomic bomb. In 1934, Irène Curie, working with her husband and fellow scientist, Frederic Joliot, made a discovery that would change the world: artificial radioactivity. This breakthrough allowed scientists to modify elements and create new ones by altering the structure of atoms. Curie shared a Nobel Prize with her husband for their work. But when she was nominated to the French Academy of Sciences, the academy denied her admission and voted to disqualify all women from membership. Four years later, Curie’s breakthrough led physicist Lise Meitner to a brilliant leap of understanding that unlocked the secret of nuclear fission. Meitner’s unique insight was critical to the revolution in science that led to nuclear energy and the race to build the atom bomb, yet her achievement was left unrecognized by the Nobel committee in favor of that of her male colleague. Radioactive! presents the story of two women breaking ground in a male-dominated field, scientists still largely unknown despite their crucial contributions to cutting-edge research, in a nonfiction narrative that reads with the suspense of a thriller. Photographs and sidebars illuminate and clarify the science in the book.
Download or read book Confronting the Bomb written by Lawrence S. Wittner and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009-05-12 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Confronting the Bomb tells the dramatic, inspiring story of how citizen activism helped curb the nuclear arms race and prevent nuclear war. This abbreviated version of Lawrence Wittner's award-winning trilogy, The Struggle Against the Bomb, shows how a worldwide, grassroots campaign—the largest social movement of modern times—challenged the nuclear priorities of the great powers and, ultimately, thwarted their nuclear ambitions. Based on massive research in the files of peace and disarmament organizations and in formerly top secret government records, extensive interviews with antinuclear activists and government officials, and memoirs and other published materials, Confronting the Bomb opens a unique window on one of the most important issues of the modern era: survival in the nuclear age. It covers the entire period of significant opposition to the bomb, from the final stages of the Second World War up to the present. Along the way, it provides fascinating glimpses of the interaction of key nuclear disarmament activists and policymakers, including Albert Einstein, Harry Truman, Albert Schweitzer, Norman Cousins, Nikita Khrushchev, Bertrand Russell, Andrei Sakharov, Linus Pauling, Dwight Eisenhower, Harold Macmillan, John F. Kennedy, Randy Forsberg, Mikhail Gorbachev, Helen Caldicott, E.P. Thompson, and Ronald Reagan. Overall, however, it is a story of popular mobilization and its effectiveness.
Download or read book The Manhattan Project written by Francis George Gosling and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1999 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the origins and development of the American atomic bomb program during WWII. Begins with the scientific developments of the pre-war years. Details the role of the U.S. government in conducting a secret, nationwide enterprise that took science from the laboratory and into combat with an entirely new type of weapon. Concludes with a discussion of the immediate postwar period, the debate over the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, and the founding of the Atomic Energy Commission. Chapters: the Einstein letter; physics background, 1919-1939; early government support; the atomic bomb and American strategy; and the Manhattan district in peacetime. Illustrated.
Download or read book Handbook of Nuclear Chemistry written by Attila Vértes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2003 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Impressive in its overall size and scope, this five-volume reference work provides researchers with the tools to push them into the forefront of the latest research. The Handbook covers all of the chemical aspects of nuclear science starting from the physical basics and including such diverse areas as the chemistry of transactinides and exotic atoms as well as radioactive waste management and radiopharmaceutical chemistry relevant to nuclear medicine. The nuclear methods of the investigation of chemical structure also receive ample space and attention. The international team of authors consists of 77 world-renowned experts - nuclear chemists, radiopharmaceutical chemists and physicists - from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Holland, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. The Handbook is an invaluable reference for nuclear scientists, biologists, chemists, physicists, physicians practicing nuclear medicine, graduate students and teachers - virtually all who are involved in the chemical and radiopharmaceutical aspects of nuclear science. The Handbook also provides for further reading through its rich selection of references.
Download or read book Serving the Reich written by Philip Ball and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2023-10-20 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling story of leading physicists in Germany—including Peter Debye, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg—and how they accommodated themselves to working within the Nazi state in the 1930s and ’40s. After World War II, most scientists in Germany maintained that they had been apolitical or actively resisted the Nazi regime, but the true story is much more complicated. In Serving the Reich, Philip Ball takes a fresh look at that controversial history, contrasting the career of Peter Debye, director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin, with those of two other leading physicists in Germany during the Third Reich: Max Planck, the elder statesman of physics after whom Germany’s premier scientific society is now named, and Werner Heisenberg, who succeeded Debye as director of the institute when it became focused on the development of nuclear power and weapons. Mixing history, science, and biography, Ball’s gripping exploration of the lives of scientists under Nazism offers a powerful portrait of moral choice and personal responsibility, as scientists navigated “the grey zone between complicity and resistance.” Ball’s account of the different choices these three men and their colleagues made shows how there can be no clear-cut answers or judgment of their conduct. Yet, despite these ambiguities, Ball makes it undeniable that the German scientific establishment as a whole mounted no serious resistance to the Nazis, and in many ways acted as a willing instrument of the state. Serving the Reich considers what this problematic history can tell us about the relationship between science and politics today. Ultimately, Ball argues, a determination to present science as an abstract inquiry into nature that is “above politics” can leave science and scientists dangerously compromised and vulnerable to political manipulation.
Download or read book Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age written by Patricia Rife and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-09 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of Lise Meitner (1878-1968), the Austrian Jewish female physicist at the heart of the discovery of nuclear fission, also looks at major developments in physics during her life. Meitner was a colleague and friend of many giants of 20th century physics: Max Planck, her Berlin mentor, Einstein, von Laue, Marie Curie, Chadwick, Pauli and Bohr. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Vienna, a pioneer in the research of radioactive processes and, together with her nephew Otto Robert Frisch, an interpreter of the process of nuclear fission in 1938. Yet at the end of World War II, her colleague of thirty years, radiochemist Otto Hahn alone was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the “discovery” of nuclear fission — a discovery based on years of research in which Meitner was directly involved before her secret 1938 escape from Nazi Germany to Sweden. “A story of one of the half dozen most remarkable women of the 20th century.” — John Archibald Wheeler, Princeton University “Patricia Rife’s biography truly brings Meitner to life, both as a scientist and as a woman... Rife weaves Meitner’s personal struggles into the social and political fabric of her times. For example, the story of Meitner’s early career is told against the backdrop of the development of the new physics, with plentiful illumination of the limited prospects for women scientists in the German-speaking world during the early twentieth century. When Meitner's story enters the Nazi era — including her escape from Germany — it is as riveting as the best novel.” — Catherine Westfall,Technology and Culture “A well-written, thorough, readable and engrossing work.” — Gary Goldstein, Peace and Change: a Journal of Peace Research “Rife has produced an exciting book, which reads like a novel and she gives justice to Meitner’s life full of science and human stories... [The] book is a beautiful tribute to an outstanding scientist; it has a lot to teach us about our world; and it is a great read. I warmly recommend it to everyone interested in science and in history.” — Structural Chemistry “Lise Meitner comes to life as author Rife skillfully weaves social, political, and scientific events into a well-researched and documented work. Lists of Meitner’s awards and publications and an extensive bibliography complete this excellent book.” — Association of Women in Science Magazine “The dramatic tale of the discovery of nuclear fission on the eve of WWII... not just a story of ideas... but also of the social and intellectual milieu in which these ideas were developed. It is also the story of how a shy, self-effacing young woman, through talent and hard work, became a world-class scientist... Rife tells this story very well.” — The Antioch Review “The particular merit of Rife’s biography of Austrian physicist Meitner is that it places her life and work within the historical context... It is comprehensive, generally clearly written... and appropriate for undergraduate students. Just enough science is included as to make clear the significance of her work... Extensive bibliography, informative footnotes.” — Choice
Download or read book The Age of Radiance written by Craig Nelson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Radiation is a complex and paradoxical concept: staggering amounts of energy flow from seemingly inert rock and that energy is both useful and dangerous. While nuclear energy affects our everyday lives--from nuclear medicine and food irradiation to microwave technology--its invisible rays trigger biological damage, birth defects, and cellular mayhem. From the end of the nineteenth century through the use of the atomic bomb in World War II to the twenty-first century's confrontation with the dangers of nuclear power, Craig Nelson illuminates a pageant of fascinating historical figures: Enrico Fermi, Marie and Pierre Curie, Albert Einstein, FDR, Robert Oppenheimer, and Ronald Reagan, among others. He reveals many little-known details, including how Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler transformed America from a country that created light bulbs and telephones into one that split atoms; how the most grotesque weapon ever invented could realize Alfred Nobel's lifelong dream of global peace; how emergency workers and low-level utility employees fought to contain a run-amok nuclear reactor, while wondering if they would live or die. Brilliantly fascinating and remarkably accessible, The Age of Radiance traces mankind's complicated and difficult relationship with the dangerous power it discovered and made part of civilization"--
