The radioactivists : community, controversy and the rise of nuclear physics
This dissertation is a social and technical history of radioactivity research in the 1920s, and of the emergence of nuclear physics in the 1930s. It is concerned with the production, circulation and certification of practice and knowledge in these fields of scientific research. By 1914, the study of radioactivity was confined to a few centres - Paris, Berlin, Manchester and Vienna - possessing relatively large quantities of radium. The politics and organisation of this relatively closed network were irrevocably altered by the First World War. The election of Ernest Rutherford to the Cavendish Chair of Experimental Physics at Cambridge in 1919 brought radioactivity research, and a programme of Imperial physics, to the Cavendish Laboratory. Rutherford's programme of research, based on his speculative nuclear model of the atom (1911), sought to map the internal topography of the atomic nucleus by means of scintillation counting experiments. Rutherford's work on artificial disintegration, combined with F.W. Aston's elucidation of the isotopes of the light elements by means of the mass-spectrograph, brought about a profound change in physicists' and chemists' views of atomic architecture. In the early 1920s, as
Hughes, Jeffrey Alan
History
The radioactivists : community, controversy and the rise of nuclear physics. This dissertation is a social and technical history of radioactivity research in the 1920s, and of the emergence of nuclear physics in the 1930s. It is concerned with the production, circulation and certification of practice and knowledge in these fields of scientific research. By 1914, the study of radioactivity was confined to a few centres - Paris, Berlin, Manchester and Vienna - possessing relatively large quantities of radium. The politics and organisation of this relatively closed network were irrevocably altered by the First World War. The election of Ernest Rutherford to the Cavendish Chair of Experimental Physics at Cambridge in 1919 brought radioactivity research, and a programme of Imperial physics, to the Cavendish Laboratory. Rutherford's programme of research, based on his speculative nuclear model of the atom (1911), sought to map the internal topography of the atomic nucleus by means of scintillation counting experiments. Rutherford's work on artificial disintegration, combined with F.W. Aston's elucidation of the isotopes of the light elements by means of the mass-spectrograph, brought about a profound change in physicists' and chemists' views of atomic architecture. In the early 1920s, as
community controversy rise nuclear physic social technical history emergence nuclear physic concerned production_circulation certification practice knowledge field scientific research study confine centre paris berlin manchester vienna possess relatively large_quantity politics organisation relatively close network alter first_world_war election experimental cambridge bring programme imperial physic laboratory programme base speculative nuclear model atom seek map internal topography atomic nucleus mean count experiment work artificial disintegration combine elucidation isotope light element mean mass bring profound_change physicist view atomic architecture