207 East Terrace – Public Schools Club

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

207 East Terrace – Public Schools Club 207 East Terrace – Public Schools Club STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: This house was the family home of William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg, the father and son joint recipients of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915. Theirs is one of only two Nobel Prizes awarded a South Australian, the other being awarded to Sir Howard Florey, and the only Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Australians. The house, designed by William Henry Bragg, was their family home for nine years, during which time Lawrence was completing the first stage of his tertiary education and his father was undertaking the early experiments and research in the field which was to bring them, nearly two decades later, the highest recognition. (HB Assessment Report 9/2004). RELEVANT CRITERIA (Under Section 16 of the Heritage Act 1993): (g) it has a special association with the life or work of a person or organisation or an event of historical importance. In February 1886 William Henry Bragg arrived in South Australia from England to take up the position of Chair of Mathematics at the University of Adelaide. Trained as a mathematician, Bragg was to discover the field of physics during his time in Adelaide, being required to also teach and demonstrate physics as well as maths at the University. A keen scientist, Bragg enthusiastically followed developments in physics overseas, and reproduced many of the new discoveries in Adelaide, including that of X-rays by Professor Rontgen in 1895. Bragg's interest in these new rays continued (he was the first to produce an X-ray photograph, of his hand, in South Australia) and was the basis of his future research which eventually led in 1915 to the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Physics to himself and his son, William Lawrence. Bragg's personal life also flourished while he was in South Australia. In June 1889 he married Gwendoline, the daughter of Charles Todd, then Postmaster-General and Director of the Adelaide Observatory. The couple rented a house in North Adelaide where their two sons were born: William Lawrence in March 1890 and Robert Charles in November 1892. The family lived in this house for 8 years before returning to England for a year's study leave in 1898. On returning to Adelaide, Bragg purchased a block of land on East Terrace and designed the house that was built on it in 1899. This house was to be the third home of William Bragg in Adelaide. His first three years in Adelaide were spent boarding at Dr Lendon's house on North Terrace. The nine years that the Bragg family lived in the East Terrace house were formative ones for both William and Lawrence. Lawrence completed his schooling and tertiary education and his father continued in his first professional position and began the experiments in X-rays that were to bring him and Lawrence the highest of accolades. Although the actual work which earned father and son the Nobel Prize for Physics was undertaken after they had returned to England in 1909, the groundwork of education, teaching and researching physics was done in Adelaide, part of which time was spent at 207 East Terrace. It is likely that most of this work was undertaken at the University of Adelaide, although it is also likely that the house was an integral part of this process - the homework, checking of research notes and social and family activities which supported the Bragg's scientific creativity. BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg. William Henry Bragg was born in Westward, Cumberland on 2 July 1862. After a quiet childhood and education at Market Harborough (where an aptitude for science subjects became apparent) and King William's College on the Isle of Man, William's 'exceptional mathematical ability' resulted in the award of a Minor Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he moved to in 1881 (Jenkin, p. 1, 3). At Cambridge he studied Mathematics and excelled in that subject over the next three years (www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1915/wh-bragg-bio.html). After sitting examinations for the Mathematical Tripos in 1884, Bragg was both 'astounded and overjoyed' to be placed as Third Wrangler (that is, third in the rank of Honours) (Tomlin, p. 18. Jenkin, p. 7). He later completed the Tripos examination and achieved a First in January 1885. On finishing his mathematics studies he turned to physics, studying such subjects as waves and sound, optics and the theory of light in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge for part of that year (www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/ bsparcs/exhib/nobel/braggw.htm; Jenkin, p. 7). Towards the end of 1885 Horace Lamb, who held the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Adelaide, resigned to return to work in England. The vacancy was advertised in the British press and had been noted by Bragg, who considered that at 23 and with no teaching experience his chances of appointment would be slight. However he was encouraged to apply by his lecturer, J J Thomson (who was also on the selection committee to appoint a successor to Lamb, and was himself awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906 for his work on the investigation of the conduction of electricity by gases). Inspired by Thomson's support, Bragg hastily applied for the position, telegraphing his application on the closing date for entries (Medlin, p. 10). Although there were 23 candidates, Bragg was one of three short-listed for interview. He was notified of his success by a telegram which read 'As new Professor of Mathematics and Physics in Adelaide University would you give some particulars of your career.' (Medlin, p. 10). Formally this position was for mathematics, although it seems to have been 'informally' expanded to include physics, referred to in the 1887 University Calendar as the 'Elder Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics, who shall also give instruction in Physics' (Tomlin, p. 21). Bragg was delighted in the appointment which, he wrote later, gave him an 'assured position, a salary beyond all expectation [#800], a new country with all the adventure of going abroad to it, a break away from being a subject, to be now my own master'. (cited in Tomlin, p. 20). On 14 January 1886 Bragg left England on the P&O ship Rome and used the voyage time to read text books on physics and brush up on his knowledge in that field, having only spent a short time studying physics at Cavendish. Bragg disembarked at Glenelg on 27 February 1886 and was met on the following day by Dr Alfred Lendon who took Bragg on a tour of Adelaide during his rounds (it is not clear how Bragg made his acquaintance) (Jenkin, p. 9). Lendon invited Bragg to board with him in his house on North Terrace, opposite the University, and Bragg stayed there for three years (Jenkin, p. 9). Bragg also made early acquaintance with the Todd family. He had already met Charles Todd (then Director of the Adelaide Observatory and Postmaster-General). Todd, who was in England at the time that Bragg had applied for the position at Adelaide University, had been invited to the interview panel, together with Professor Lamb, J J Thomson and Sir Arthur Blyth (the Agent-General for South Australia) (Medlin, p. 10). Bragg was both impressed and delighted with the Todd family: Charles and his wife Alice, their two sons (Charles and Hedley) and particularly their four daughters, Lizzie, Maude, Gwendoline and Lorna and became a regular visitor to their household (Jenkin, p. 11). During this time, Bragg and Gwendoline Todd began a relationship which was to lead to their engagement in January 1888 and to their marriage on 1 June 1889 in St Luke's Church, Whitmore Square (SHR 13598) (Jenkin, p. 11, 23). The couple rented a two storey terrace house in North Adelaide at 58 LeFevre Terrace (SHR 12831) on the corner of Tynte Street, from Henry Steiner, an Adelaide jeweller. It was here that their first son, William Lawrence was born on 31 March 1890, followed by their second, Robert Charles on 25 November 1892 (Jenkin, p. 23). William Henry Bragg took up his work at the University of Adelaide with enthusiasm. He was 'responsible for all the pure and applied mathematics and all the physics and practical physics teaching, and for much of the secondary-school public examining in these subjects as well.' (Jenkin, p. 13). He even went to a firm of instrument makers to learn how to make apparatus to fill the deficiencies of his teaching laboratory (Tomlin, p. 21). Bragg was concerned that the practical aspect of the sciences was deficient at both the University and schools. He addressed the deficiency within the University by establishing systematic practical courses which he himself instructed for many years with very little assistance (Medlin, p. 12). From being one of 'the least impressive of lecturers', Bragg soon developed skills in clear presentation and demonstration and found great satisfaction in sharing his knowledge with both students and public audiences alike (Medlin, p. 12). Over a period of years he gave a series of extension lectures, the subjects of which included radiation, X-rays and sound (Tomlin, p. 24) and always kept a keen interest in new developments in physics and news from overseas, incorporating these into his lectures. His attention was particularly attracted by X-rays. News of the discovery of X-rays by Professor Rontgen in Germany in December 1895, reached Australia in January 1896. Several Australian physicists, including Bragg, found ways to replicate Rontgen's discovery. The production of the first X-ray picture in Australia is credited to Professor Lyle in Melbourne (Tomlin, p.
Recommended publications
  • RM Calendar 2017
    Rudi Mathematici x3 – 6’135x2 + 12’545’291 x – 8’550’637’845 = 0 www.rudimathematici.com 1 S (1803) Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja RM132 (1878) Agner Krarup Erlang Rudi Mathematici (1894) Satyendranath Bose RM168 (1912) Boris Gnedenko 1 2 M (1822) Rudolf Julius Emmanuel Clausius (1905) Lev Genrichovich Shnirelman (1938) Anatoly Samoilenko 3 T (1917) Yuri Alexeievich Mitropolsky January 4 W (1643) Isaac Newton RM071 5 T (1723) Nicole-Reine Etable de Labrière Lepaute (1838) Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan Putnam 2002, A1 (1871) Federigo Enriques RM084 Let k be a fixed positive integer. The n-th derivative of (1871) Gino Fano k k n+1 1/( x −1) has the form P n(x)/(x −1) where P n(x) is a 6 F (1807) Jozeph Mitza Petzval polynomial. Find P n(1). (1841) Rudolf Sturm 7 S (1871) Felix Edouard Justin Emile Borel A college football coach walked into the locker room (1907) Raymond Edward Alan Christopher Paley before a big game, looked at his star quarterback, and 8 S (1888) Richard Courant RM156 said, “You’re academically ineligible because you failed (1924) Paul Moritz Cohn your math mid-term. But we really need you today. I (1942) Stephen William Hawking talked to your math professor, and he said that if you 2 9 M (1864) Vladimir Adreievich Steklov can answer just one question correctly, then you can (1915) Mollie Orshansky play today. So, pay attention. I really need you to 10 T (1875) Issai Schur concentrate on the question I’m about to ask you.” (1905) Ruth Moufang “Okay, coach,” the player agreed.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir JJ Thomson
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-67095-2 - James Clerk Maxwell: A Commemoration Volume 1831-1931 Sir J. J. Thomson, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Sir Joseph Larmor, Sir James Jeans, William Garnett, Sir Ambrose Fleming, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir R. T. Glazebrook and Sir Horace Lamb Excerpt More information JAMES CLERK MAXWELL BY Sir J. J. Thomson WEare met to celebrate ihe centenary of one whose work has had a profound influence on the progress and conceptions of Physical Science; it has moreover been instrumental in harnessing the ether for the service of man and has thereby ad­ vanced civilization and increased the safety and happiness of mankind. Maxwell came of a race, the Clerks of Penycuik in Midlothian, who for two centuries had been promi­ nent in the social life of Scotland; each generation had been remarkable for the talents and accom­ plishments of some of its members; one of these, Will Clerk, was the intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott and the original of the Darsie Lattimer of Redgauntlet. As a race they were remarkable, like Maxwell himself, for strong individuality. John Clerk Maxwell, Maxwell's father, had added the name of Maxwell to that of Clerk on inheriting the small estate of Middlebie in Dumfriesshire. His main characteristic according to Lewis Campbell eM © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-67095-2 - James Clerk Maxwell: A Commemoration Volume 1831-1931 Sir J. J. Thomson, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Sir Joseph Larmor, Sir James Jeans, William Garnett, Sir Ambrose Fleming, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir R.
    [Show full text]
  • Nuclear Fragmentation Reactions: from Basic Research to Medical Applications Igor N
    Nuclear fragmentation reactions: from basic research to medical applications Igor N. Mishustin Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), J.W. Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow Part 1: Introduction: Nuclear break-up processes Basic Research Statistical description of nuclear break-up Multifragmentation of nuclei Nuclear Liquid-Gas phase transition Applications Propagation of heavy ions through extended medium Cancer therapy with ion beams Transmutation of radioactive waste Conclusions Introduction: Nuclear break-up processes, historical remarks Anticipation of nuclear “explosions” Nobel prize in Physics (1922) “for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962) the radiation emanating from them" Evaporation/fission of compound nucleus t=0 fm/c t>1000 fm/c p A CN low excitation fission Compound Nucleus (CN) is an equilibrated hot nucleus whose excitation energy is distributed over many microscopic d.o.f. (introduced by Niels Bohr in 1936-39) Sequential evaporation model—Weiskopf 1937, Statistical fission model—Bohr-Wheeler 1939, Frenkel 1939 Nuclear break-up: multifragmentation t=0 fm/c t>100 fm/c p A pA collision spectator A or B spectator A moderate excitation peripheral spectator AB collision B slow expansion equilibrated system at freeze-out Power-low fragment mass distribution around critical point, Y(A)~A-τ Can be well understood within an equilibrium statistical approach Early 80s: Randrup&Koonin, D.H.E. Gross et al, Bondorf-Mishustin-Botvina, Hahn&Stoecker; Later: S. Das Gupta et al., Gulminelli et al, Raduta et al,... Explosive disintegration of nuclei t ≈ R/v < 50 fm/c t = 0 fm/c f hot foreball central AA collision compression+heating E>50 AMeV collective flow fast expansion of fragments Typically, exponential fragment mass distributions, Y(A)~exp(-bA) The stronger is flow-the smaller are fragments-mechanical rupture Dynamical modeling is required: QMD, IQMD, NMD, AMD, ..
    [Show full text]
  • December 4, 1954 NATURE 1037
    No. 4440 December 4, 1954 NATURE 1037 COPLEY MEDALLISTS, 1915-54 is that he never ventured far into interpretation or 1915 I. P. Pavlov 1934 Prof. J. S. Haldane prediction after his early studies in fungi. Here his 1916 Sir James Dewar 1935 Prof. C. T. R. Wilson interpretation was unfortunate in that he tied' the 1917 Emile Roux 1936 Sir Arthur Evans word sex to the property of incompatibility and 1918 H. A. Lorentz 1937 Sir Henry Dale thereby led his successors astray right down to the 1919 M. Bayliss W. 1938 Prof. Niels Bohr present day. In a sense the style of his work is best 1920 H. T. Brown 1939 Prof. T. H. Morgan 1921 Sir Joseph Larmor 1940 Prof. P. Langevin represented by his diagrams of Datura chromosomes 1922 Lord Rutherford 1941 Sir Thomas Lewis as packets. These diagrams were useful in a popular 1923 Sir Horace Lamb 1942 Sir Robert Robinson sense so long as one did not take them too seriously. 1924 Sir Edward Sharpey- 1943 Sir Joseph Bancroft Unfortunately, it seems that Blakeslee did take them Schafer 1944 Sir Geoffrey Taylor seriously. To him they were the real and final thing. 1925 A. Einstein 1945 Dr. 0. T. Avery By his alertness and ingenuity and his practical 1926 Sir Frederick Gow­ 1946 Dr. E. D. Adrian sense in organizing the Station for Experimental land Hopkins 1947 Prof. G. H. Hardy Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor (where he worked 1927 Sir Charles Sherring- 1948 . A. V. Hill Prof in 1942), ton 1949 Prof. G.
    [Show full text]
  • Lawrence Bragg's “Brainwave” Drives Father-Son Collaboration
    www.mrs.org/publications/bulletin HISTORICAL NOTE Lawrence Bragg’s “Brainwave” Drives Father-Son Collaboration In 1912, some 17 years after the serendip- and quickly began to learn what he could itous discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm on the subject. Röntgen, a debate raged as to the wave or Until this point in his life, at age 42, particle nature of this radiation phenome- William later recalled, “It had never non. William Henry Bragg, a 50-year-old entered my head that I should do any professor of physics at Leeds University in research work.” His curiosity aroused by England, came down firmly on the side of his reading on radiation, he soon obtained particles, citing the bullet-like nature of the some radium samples and began the rays, and how they were preferentially experiments that were to make him a lead- scattered in the forward direction when ing figure in radiation theory in a few colliding with matter. Max von Laue of years’ time. He quickly developed novel Germany, having produced elegant spot- hypotheses about the nature of radioactiv- diffraction photographs of CuS by aiming ity. The penetrating power of x-rays, and x-rays at crystal samples, used the diffrac- the fact that they are not deflected by a tion behavior as evidence for the wave magnetic field, were accounted for by the argument. Experiments by Charles G. “neutral pair hypothesis,” which stated Barkla that demonstrated the polarization that x-rays consisted of “an electron which of x-rays confirmed the wave theory in the has assumed a cloak of darkness in the minds of many scientists.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 X-Ray Diffraction Masatsugu Sei Suzuki Department Of
    x-ray diffraction Masatsugu Sei Suzuki Department of Physics, SUNY at Binghamton (Date: January 13, 2012) Sir William Henry Bragg OM, KBE, PRS] (2 July 1862 – 10 March 1942) was a British physicist, chemist, mathematician and active sportsman who uniquely shared a Nobel Prize with his son William Lawrence Bragg - the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics. The mineral Braggite is named after him and his son. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Bragg ________________________________________________________________________ Sir William Lawrence Bragg CH OBE MC FRS (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist and X-ray crystallographer, discoverer (1912) of the Bragg law of X-ray diffraction, which is basic for the determination of crystal structure. He was joint winner (with his father, Sir William Bragg) of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lawrence_Bragg 1 1. x-ray source Fig. Schematic diagram for the generation of x-rays. Metal target (Cu or Mo) is bombarded by accelerating electrons. The power of the system is given by P = I(mA) V(keV), where I is the current of cathode and V is the voltage between the anode and cathode. Typically, we have I = 30 mA and V = 50 kV: P = 1.5 kW. We use two kinds of targets to generate x-rays: Cu and Mo. The wavelength of CuK1, CuK2 and CuK lines are given by K1 1.540562 Å. K 2 = 1.544390 Å, K = 1.392218 Å. The intensity ratio of CuK1 and CuK2 lines is 2:1. The weighed average wavelength K is calculated as 2 K 1 K 2 = 1.54184 Å.
    [Show full text]
  • Lsu-Physics Iq Test 3 Strikes You're
    LSU-PHYSICS IQ TEST 3 STRIKES YOU'RE OUT For Physics Block Party on 9 September 2016: This was run where all ~70 people start answering each question, given out one-by-one. Every time a person missed an answer, they made a 'strike'. All was done with the Honor System for answers, plus a fairly liberal statement of what constitutes a correct answer. When the person accumulates three strikes, then they are out of the game. The game continue until only one person was left standing. Actually, there had to be one extra question to decide a tie-break between 2nd and 3rd place. The prizes were: FIRST PLACE: Ravi Rau, selecting an Isaac Newton 'action figure' SECOND PLACE: Juhan Frank, selecting an Albert Einstein action figure THIRD PLACE: Siddhartha Das, winning a Mr. Spock action figure. 1. What is Einstein's equation relating mass and energy? E=mc2 OK, I knew in advance that someone would blurt out the answer loudly, and this did happen. So this was a good question to make sure that the game flowed correctly. 2. What is the short name for the physics paradox depicted on the back of my Physics Department T-shirt? Schroedinger's Cat 3. Give the name of one person new to our Department. This could be staff, student, or professor. There are many answers, for example with the new profs being Tabatha Boyajian, Kristina Launey, Manos Chatzopoulos, and Robert Parks. Many of the people asked 'Can I just use myself?', with the answer being "Sure". 4. What Noble Gas is named after the home planet of Kal-El? Krypton.
    [Show full text]
  • Absolute Zero, Absolute Temperature. Absolute Zero Is the Lowest
    Contents Radioactivity: The First Puzzles................................................ 1 The “Uranic Rays” of Henri Becquerel .......................................... 1 The Discovery ............................................................... 2 Is It Really Phosphorescence? .............................................. 4 What Is the Nature of the Radiation?....................................... 5 A Limited Impact on Scientists and the Public ............................ 6 Why 1896? .................................................................. 7 Was Radioactivity Discovered by Chance? ................................ 7 Polonium and Radium............................................................. 9 Marya Skłodowska .......................................................... 9 Pierre Curie .................................................................. 10 Polonium and Radium: Pierre and Marie Curie Invent Radiochemistry.. 11 Enigmas...................................................................... 14 Emanation from Thorium ......................................................... 17 Ernest Rutherford ........................................................... 17 Rutherford Studies Radioactivity: ˛-and ˇ-Rays.......................... 18 ˇ-Rays Are Electrons ....................................................... 19 Rutherford in Montreal: The Radiation of Thorium, the Exponential Decrease........................................... 19 “Induced” and “Excited” Radioactivity .................................... 20 Elster
    [Show full text]
  • William Henry Bragg 1862 - 1942 Awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915
    William Henry Bragg 1862 - 1942 Awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915 William Henry Bragg was a pioneer British scientist in solid- state physics. He was born on July 2, 1862, in Wigton, Cumberland, England. Bragg's father came from a family of farmers and merchant seamen. His mother, a sweet and kind woman, was the daughter of the local vicar. He did not remember her very well, as she died when he was about seven. The small boy was taken to the family of his uncle, the owner of a pharmacy and grocery shop. In 1875 his father took him back and sent him to school at King William’s College, Isle of Man. Bragg was good in his lessons and sports and became the head boy. He was fond of all games and played them rather well. In 1881 Bragg tried for Cambridge University,but the first interview was not a success, and he had to return to school.After the next attempt he was granted a scholarship to Trinity College. Here he worked very hard at mathematics and two years later obtained third place in the final Both he and his son examination. Bragg played tennis and hockey well. His teacher was the famous physicist J.J. lectured at the Royal Thomson with whom he also played tennis. Thomson advised him to send an application for the Institution post of professor of mathematics and physics at Adelaide University in Australia. After an interview Bragg was appointed and went to Australia where he began his career. In Adelaide the young professor became one of the best lecturers and a brilliant experimentalist.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Was Who in Transport Phenomena
    l!j9$i---1111-1111-.- __microbiographies.....::..._____:__ __ _ ) WHO WAS WHO IN TRANSPORT PHENOMENA R. B YRON BIRD University of Wisconsin-Madison• Madison, WI 53706-1691 hen lecturing on the subject of transport phenom­ provide the "glue" that binds the various topics together into ena, I have often enlivened the presentation by a coherent subject. It is also the subject to which we ulti­ W giving some biographical information about the mately have to tum when controversies arise that cannot be people after whom the famous equations, dimensionless settled by continuum arguments alone. groups, and theories were named. When I started doing this, It would be very easy to enlarge the list by including the I found that it was relatively easy to get information about authors of exceptional treatises (such as H. Lamb, H.S. the well-known physicists who established the fundamentals Carslaw, M. Jakob, H. Schlichting, and W. Jost). Attention of the subject, but that it was relatively difficult to find could also be paid to those many people who have, through accurate biographical data about the engineers and applied painstaking experiments, provided the basic data on trans­ scientists who have developed much of the subject. The port properties and transfer coefficients. documentation on fluid dynamicists seems to be rather plen­ tiful, that on workers in the field of heat transfer somewhat Doing accurate and responsible investigations into the history of science is demanding and time-consuming work, less so, and that on persons involved in diffusion quite and it requires individuals with excellent knowledge of his­ sparse.
    [Show full text]
  • Lawrence Bragg's
    www.mrs.org/publications/bulletin HISTORICAL NOTE Lawrence Bragg’s “Brainwave” Drives Father-Son Collaboration In 1912, some 17 years after the serendip- and quickly began to learn what he could itous discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm on the subject. Röntgen, a debate raged as to the wave or Until this point in his life, at age 42, particle nature of this radiation phenome- William later recalled, “It had never non. William Henry Bragg, a 50-year-old entered my head that I should do any professor of physics at Leeds University in research work.” His curiosity aroused by England, came down firmly on the side of his reading on radiation, he soon obtained particles, citing the bullet-like nature of the some radium samples and began the rays, and how they were preferentially experiments that were to make him a lead- scattered in the forward direction when ing figure in radiation theory in a few colliding with matter. Max von Laue of years’ time. He quickly developed novel Germany, having produced elegant spot- hypotheses about the nature of radioactiv- diffraction photographs of CuS by aiming ity. The penetrating power of x-rays, and x-rays at crystal samples, used the diffrac- the fact that they are not deflected by a tion behavior as evidence for the wave magnetic field, were accounted for by the argument. Experiments by Charles G. “neutral pair hypothesis,” which stated Barkla that demonstrated the polarization that x-rays consisted of “an electron which of x-rays confirmed the wave theory in the has assumed a cloak of darkness in the minds of many scientists.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Got Moseley's Prize?
    Chapter 4 Who Got Moseley’s Prize? Virginia Trimble1 and Vera V. Mainz*,2 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697-4575, United States 2Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61802, United States *E-mail: [email protected]. Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley (1887-1915) made prompt and very skilled use of the then new technique of X-ray scattering by crystals (Bragg scattering) to solve several problems about the periodic table and atoms. He was nominated for both the chemistry and physics Nobel Prizes by Svante Arrhenius in 1915, but was dead at Gallipoli before the committees finished their deliberations. Instead, the 1917 physics prize (announced in 1918 and presented on 6 June 1920) went to Charles Glover Barkla (1877-1944) “for discovery of the Röntgen radiation of the elements.” This, and his discovery of X-ray polarization, were done with earlier techniques that he never gave up. Moseley’s contemporaries and later historians of science have written that he would have gone on to other major achievements and a Nobel Prize if he had lived. In contrast, after about 1916, Barkla moved well outside the scientific mainstream, clinging to upgrades of his older methods, denying the significance of the Bohr atom and quantization, and continuing to report evidence for what he called the J phenomenon. This chapter addresses the lives and scientific endeavors of Moseley and Barkla, something about the context in which they worked and their connections with other scientists, contemporary, earlier, and later. © 2017 American Chemical Society Introduction Henry Moseley’s (Figure 1) academic credentials consisted of a 1910 Oxford BA with first-class honors in Mathematical Moderations and a second in Natural Sciences (physics) and the MA that followed more or less automatically a few years later.
    [Show full text]