The neutron
El neutrón
- Date
- 1932 · confidence high
- Place
- Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- James Chadwick
- People
- 👤 James Chadwick1891–1974
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The penetrating radiation emitted by beryllium bombarded with alpha particles is a neutral particle of mass similar to the proton, not gamma rays. It completes the model of the nucleus and provides the ideal projectile for inducing nuclear reactions.
The Joliot-Curies observed the effect but interpreted it as gamma rays; 1932 was the 'annus mirabilis' of nuclear physics.
What it led to
- Proton-neutron model of the nucleus
- Nuclear fission
- Reactors and nuclear weapons
- Neutron diffraction
Built on
- Rutherford's prediction (1920)
- Bothe and Becker's experiments (1930) and the Joliot-Curies' (1932)