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Today in History – April 14, 1932 – First atom is split by a proton beam on a lithium target.
Two physicists, Englishman Sir John Douglas Cockcroft and Irishman Ernest Walton developed the first nuclear particle accelerator, the Cockcroft-Walton generator. With this equipment, they succeeded in being the first to split the nucleus of an atom. When a proton from the beam supplied by the accelerator struck a lithium nucleus, their unstable combination disintegrated into two alpha particles (helium nuclei). They shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.
Their accelerator cost 500 pounds, the most ever for a single piece of equipment at the Cavendish Laboratory. The beam of protons produced in a discharge tube containing hydrogen was accelerated through three cylinders containing high-intensity electrical fields. The beam passed through a mica window, hit targets of lithium or boron, and produced alpha particles which were confirmed by photographing their tracks in a cloud chamber.
Annotations of two books which provide interesting insights into the lives of these scientists and details of their work are found in Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues (http://alsos.wlu.edu).
| Author/Editor | Cathcart, Brian |
| Title | The Fly in The Cathedral: How a Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the International Race to Split the Atom |
| Date | 2005 |
| Media Type | Book |
| ISBN | 0-374-1516-2 |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| City | New York, NY |
| Annotation | This history features the Nobel laureates, physicists John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, who were instrumental in revealing the structure of the atomic nucleus. It focuses on their work with Lord Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England during the 1920s and 1930s where they built an accelerator that allowed them to hurl protons into the nuclei of various elements and observe the resulting transformations. The author integrates their personal stories with the frustration and excitement of their scientific work to tell an engaging tale. The history includes the interactions of Cockcroft and Walton with many of the luminaries who populated Cavendish during that time including Rutherford, James Chadwick, and George Gamow. The book provides an interesting introduction to nuclear physics for a general audience. |
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Author/Editor Hartcup, Guy / Allibone, T. E. |
|
| Title | Cockcroft and the Atom |
| Date | 1984 |
| Media Type | Book |
| ISBN | 0-85274-759-4 |
| Publisher | Adam Hilger, Ltd |
| City | Bristol, England |
| Annotation | This biography of John Cockcroft focuses on his years working as a nuclear physicist, leader in the field of nuclear energy, and nuclear policy advisor to to the British government. Cockcroft became a Nobel laureate with Ernest Walton for their groundbreaking experiment which proved Einstein’s theory of mass and energy and led to the pursuit of fission as a source of energy. Cockcroft’s later years were largely consumed by his leadership of the Harwell research institute and work on the development of uranium power plants, before he returned to Cambridge to be a college Master in 1959. One of the authors of the book, T. E. Allibone, knew Cockcroft personally from the time when they were students together at the Cavendish Laboratory. The book is illustrated with black and white photographs. |
For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on particle physics or view our Nuclear Engineering Education community site.
Today in History – April 14, 1932 – First atom is split by a proton beam on a lithium target.
Two physicists, Englishman Sir John Douglas Cockcroft and Irishman Ernest Walton developed the first nuclear particle accelerator, the Cockcroft-Walton generator. With this equipment, they succeeded in being the first to split the nucleus of an atom. When a proton from the beam supplied by the accelerator struck a lithium nucleus, their unstable combination disintegrated into two alpha particles (helium nuclei). They shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.
Their accelerator cost 500 pounds, the most ever for a single piece of equipment at the Cavendish Laboratory. The beam of protons produced in a discharge tube containing hydrogen was accelerated through three cylinders containing high-intensity electrical fields. The beam passed through a mica window, hit targets of lithium or boron, and produced alpha particles which were confirmed by photographing their tracks in a cloud chamber.
Annotations of two books which provide interesting insights into the lives of these scientists and details of their work are found in Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues (http://alsos.wlu.edu).
| Author/Editor | Cathcart, Brian |
| Title | The Fly in The Cathedral: How a Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the International Race to Split the Atom |
| Date | 2005 |
| Media Type | Book |
| ISBN | 0-374-1516-2 |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| City | New York, NY |
| Annotation | This history features the Nobel laureates, physicists John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, who were instrumental in revealing the structure of the atomic nucleus. It focuses on their work with Lord Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England during the 1920s and 1930s where they built an accelerator that allowed them to hurl protons into the nuclei of various elements and observe the resulting transformations. The author integrates their personal stories with the frustration and excitement of their scientific work to tell an engaging tale. The history includes the interactions of Cockcroft and Walton with many of the luminaries who populated Cavendish during that time including Rutherford, James Chadwick, and George Gamow. The book provides an interesting introduction to nuclear physics for a general audience. |
|
Author/Editor Hartcup, Guy / Allibone, T. E. |
|
| Title | Cockcroft and the Atom |
| Date | 1984 |
| Media Type | Book |
| ISBN | 0-85274-759-4 |
| Publisher | Adam Hilger, Ltd |
| City | Bristol, England |
| Annotation | This biography of John Cockcroft focuses on his years working as a nuclear physicist, leader in the field of nuclear energy, and nuclear policy advisor to to the British government. Cockcroft became a Nobel laureate with Ernest Walton for their groundbreaking experiment which proved Einstein’s theory of mass and energy and led to the pursuit of fission as a source of energy. Cockcroft’s later years were largely consumed by his leadership of the Harwell research institute and work on the development of uranium power plants, before he returned to Cambridge to be a college Master in 1959. One of the authors of the book, T. E. Allibone, knew Cockcroft personally from the time when they were students together at the Cavendish Laboratory. The book is illustrated with black and white photographs. |
For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on particle physics or view our Nuclear Engineering Education community site.
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