It also led to the development of nuclear accelerators - so that you could induce all sorts of different nuclear reactions. The first nuclear reaction initiated by a human and the discovery of the proton are big steps in themselves, but from these reactions you can also infer the sizes of nuclei. 'This was also the discovery of the proton and Rutherford showed that the “nucleus of hydrogen” existed in the nucleus of other atoms and thus appeared as a basic building block. Prof Sean Freeman, Professor of Nuclear Physics and Head of the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University, explains: ‘“Splitting the atom” is not a particularly good description of this work, given the detailed picture of the reaction revealed later by Blackett." We now also know that the hydrogen nucleus emitted was actually a subatomic particle, now called the proton. ![]() It was with these first experiments that Rutherford and his team became the first in history to initiate an artificial nuclear reaction, with Blackett later revealing the reaction mechanism. (Incidentally, Blackett moved to Manchester in 1937 where he was elected to be the Langworthy Professor and won the Nobel Prize in 1948 for work on cosmic rays.) This process led to excess energy in the nitrogen nuclei, resulting in an oxygen atom and a hydrogen nucleus being emitted. The photographs showed some of the alpha particles were absorbed by the nitrogen nuclei. Later painstaking research done by Patrick Blackett, at Rutherford’s suggestion in Cambridge in the 1920’s, captured rare cloud chamber images that revealed the full detail of what was happening. These experiments indicated that penetrating radiation was emitted that Rutherford hypothesised might be the nucleus of a hydrogen atom. Rutherford’s discovery is now often described as ‘splitting the atom’ in popular accounts, but this should not be confused with the process of nuclear fission discovered later in the 1930s.īetween 19 Rutherford conducted many experiments at the University by bombarding nitrogen gas with alpha particles. In 1917, the Nobel Prize winner actually became the first person to create an artificial nuclear reaction in laboratories at the University. ![]() Manchester is the birthplace of nuclear physics and this year marks 100 years since Ernest Rutherford ‘split the atom’ at The University of Manchester…or does it?
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