Science Networks • Historical Studies Volume 24 Edited by Erwin Hiebert, Eberhard Knobloch and Erhard Scholz Editorial Board: K. Andersen, Aarhus R. Halleux, Liege D. Barkan, Pasadena S. Hildebrandt, Bonn H.J.M. Bos, Utrecht D. Laugwitz, Muhltal U. Bottazzini, Roma Ch. Meinel, Regensburg J.Z. Buchwald, Cambridge, Mass. J. Peiffer, Paris K. Chemla, Paris W. Purkert, Leipzig 5.5. Demidov, Moskva D. Rowe, Mainz E.A. Fellmann, Basel A.1. Sabra, Cambridge, Mass. M. Folkerts, Munchen R.H. Stuewer, Minneapolis P. Galison, Cambridge, Mass. H. WuBing, Leipzig I. Grattan-Guinness, London V.P. Vizgin, Moskva J. Gray, Milton Keynes Carsten Jensen t Controversy and Consensus: Nuclear Beta Decay 1911-1934 Editors: Finn Aaserud Helge Kragh Erik RCtdinger Roger H. 5tuewer Springer Basel AG Editors: Finn Aaserud Helge Kragh Niels Bohr Archive Dept. of History of Science Blegdamsvej 17 University of Aarhus DK-2100 Copenhagen DK-8000 Aarhus C Denmark Denmark email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Erik ROdinger Roger H. Stuewer Hyldebakken 9 Tate Laboratory of Physics DK-3070 Snekkersten University of Minnesota Denmark 116 Church Street SE email: [email protected] Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA email: [email protected] A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA Deutsche Bibliothek Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jensen, Carsten: Controversy and consensus: nuclear beta decay 1911-1934/ Carsten Jensen. Ed.: Finn Aaserud ... - Basel ; Boston; Berlin: Birkhăuser, 2000 (Science networks ; VoI. 24) ISBN 978-3-0348-9569-9 ISBN 978-3-0348-8444-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-0348-8444-0 ISBN 978-3-0348-9569-9 This work is subject to copyright. AII rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data banks. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. © 2000 Springer Basel AG Originally published by Birkhăuser Verlag in 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover lst edition 2000 Camera-ready copy prepared by the editors. Cover Design: Micha Lotrovsky, Therwil, Switzerland Cover illustration: Lisa Meitner (by courtesy of Lotte Meitner-Graf) and Charles Drummond Ellis (by courtesy of Cambridge University Library) Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF 00 ISBN 978-3-0348-9569-9 987654321 For Thomas: may he conserve his energy - but only statistically. In Carsten Jensen's Memory Since Carsten Jensen was my one and only Ph.D. student (I have since changed to other work), my coeditors have kindly accorded me the privilege of writing a few words in his memory. I first met Carsten when he attended my course on the history of quantum mechanics for 3rd year students at the University of Copenhagen. He passed with an excellent mark and shortly afterwards he turned to me because he wanted to write a historical paper in his course on atomic physics. Quite frankly, the thought crossed my mind that this was perhaps a student looking for a "soft option" . I was soon to learn otherwise. Carsten's paper discussed the hydrogen molecule ion as dealt with in the old quantum theory as well as in quantum mechanics, including the historically interesting case of an electron in an electric dipole field. After completing this paper, Carsten had clearly decided on the history of physics as his field of specialization. He decided to write his master's thesis on "Some Experimental Anomalies in the Old Quantum Mechanics". Also this work earned him a very high mark; it was later published, in slightly revised form, as "Two One-Electron Anomalies in the Old Quantum Theory" (Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 15 (1984), 73-90). I had by now come to appreciate the very high quality of Carsten's work so when he approached me again and asked me to be his supervisor for his Ph.D. dissertation, I accepted with pleasure. He first chose a broad theme within a rather brief period (the transition from atomic to nuclear physics, 1926 to 1932), but soon settled on a more limited topic over a longer period - the subject of the present book. In the spring of 1990, Carsten was awarded the Ph.D. for his very successful dissertation. A few months later he died of cancer at the age of 41. The editors have felt that this brilliant study ought to be known to scientists, historians and others interested in the topic, and have therefore prepared the present, slightly edited, version of Carsten Jensen's work for publication. The resulting book testifies to the loss that the history of science suffered by Carsten's early death. We, his friends and colleagues, will remember him above all for his kind and gentle personality, his disarming smile and his great sense of humour. Fortunately, a little of the latter is preserved in his style of writing, and hence in the present work. Erik Riidinger Editors' Acknowledgements Several individuals and institutions have taken part in the long process of editing Carsten Jensen's dissertation and otherwise making it ready for publication. We are grateful to professor emeritus Hilde Levi for her improvement of the editors' translations of quotations from German into English, and to the late pro­ fessor Allan Mackintosh for reading the manuscript for content and suggesting improvements in language. Anne Lis Rasmussen, secretary/librarian at the Niels Bohr Archive, spent months editing the manuscript on computer, introducing of­ ten complex ~1EX commands. She also entered the index terms and obtained sometimes obscure publications from which she scanned the numerous figures in the book. This work was made possible through financial support from the Foun­ dation of the Niels Bohr Institute (Niels Bohr lnstitutets Fond) and the Niels Bohr Fund (Niels Bohr Legatet). We thank the Niels Bohr Institute for use of computer facilities. Peter Harper, director of the National Cataloguing Center for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists in Bath, England, helped obtaining the first names of some of the less well-known scientists mentioned in the book. Felicity Pors, academic assistant at the Niels Bohr Archive, checked the manuscript in the very last stages. We have sought to make a conscientious effort to secure permissions to quote from unpublished material and to reproduce figures from publications. For help in improving the references to published material, as well as locating permission hold­ ers, we wish to thank, in particular: Carolyn Lye at the Churchill College Archives Centre; Adam Perkins at the Cambridge University Library; Mary Sampson at the Royal Society Archives; Margaret Kimball at the Stanford University Archives; and Marion Kazemi at the Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. For permission to quote from unpublished letters, we wish to thank the fol­ lowing: N.M. Blackett (letters of P.M.S. Blackett); George Bloch (letters of Felix Bloch); Mrs. J. Batterham and Miss J. Chadwick (letters of James Chadwick); Charles E. Miller (letters of P.A.M. Dirac); Stefan S. Fajans (letters of Kasimir Fajans); Mary Nisbet (letters of Ernest Rutherford and Ralph Fowler); R. Igor and Elfriede Gamow (letters of George Gamow); Klaus Geiger (letters of Hans Geiger); Dietrich Hahn (letters of Otto Hahn); Elisabeth Heisenberg (letters of Werner Heisenberg); Martien Kramers (letters of H.A. Kramers); Ulla E. Frisch (letters of Lise Meitner); Roswitha Rahmy, for the Pauli Committee (letters of Wolfgang Pauli); 0ystein Elgar0y (letters of Svein Rosseland); Ruth Braunizer (letters of Erwin Schrodinger); Helmuth Smekal (letters of Adolf Smekal); Walter Thirring (letters of Hans Thirring); and the Niels Bohr Archive (letters of Niels viii Editors' Acknowledgements Bohr). We have been unable to find the copyright holders of the letters of Ernest Marsden as well as of the letters of Charles Drummond Ellis, one of the main characters in the book. All figures originally appearing in Carsten Jensen's dissertation have been retained. For permission to reprint them, we thank the following: S. Hirzel Ver­ lag (reproductions from Physikalische Zeitschrift); Addison Wesley Longman Ltd. (reproductions from W.E. Burcham, Nuclear Physics: An Introduction (Longmans Green and Co. Ltd., London, 1965)); American Association of Physics Teach­ ers (reproductions from American Journal of Physics); EDP Sciences (repro­ duction from Annales de Chimie et de Physique); Cambridge University Press (reproductions-and quotations-from Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosoph­ ical Society; E. Rutherford, Radio-Activity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1904); and idem., Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations (Cam­ bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913)); Taylor and Francis (reproductions­ and quotations-from Philosophical Magazine); American Physical Society (re­ productions-and quotations-from Physical Review); The Royal Society (repro­ ductions from Proceedings of the Royal Society); Springer Verlag (reproductions­ and quotations-from Zeitschrift fUr Physik); and Deutsche Physikalische Gesell­ schaft (reproductions-and quotation-from Verhandlungen der Deutschen Phys­ ikalischen Gesellschaft). The frontispiece photo of Carsten Jensen, as well as the photographs in Fig­ ures 1.7, 1.12, 2.1, 3.1, 3.4, 3.8, 6.1, and 6.8, have been added to the original manuscript by the editors. Most of these photographs stem from the photograph collection of the Niels Bohr Archive. We also thank Ingelise Christensen and the Cambridge University Library for providing, respectively, the frontispiece photo and the portrait of C.D. Ellis (Figure 3.1). We furthermore thank the Deutsches Museum for supplying the photograph of Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner (Figure 3.4) as well as the photograph of the beta-ray spectroscope and the beta spectrometer (Figure 1.12). The Rome conference photo (Figure 6.1) is from the Emilio Segre Collection in the Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics, whereas the Solvay conference photo (Figure 6.8) is owned by the Institut international de physique Solvay.