Planetary Atom The A Fictional Account Of George Adolphus Schott The Forgotten Physicist

'I read The Planetary Atom with great interest. Of course, we are all aware of the major contributions made by legendary researchers such as Ernest Rutherford, who first set up the model known as 'the planetary atom'. But I knew nothing of the much more discrete figure of George Adolphus Schott. I was impressed, on reading this book, to discover the significance and conceptual depth of his work.'Claude Cohen-TannoudjiNobel Laureate in PhysicsCollège de France, Paris 'Although Science is not fiction, the lives and works of scientists provide real substance for a novel like The Planetary Atom, which tells a story of general public interest.'Jean-Marie LehnNobel Laureate in ChemistryUniversité Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg Foreword by Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate in ChemistryThis largely imaginary biography recreates the life and times of George Adolphus Schott, a contemporary of Rutherford and Bohr, who criticized the Planetary Atom which was proposed to account for celebrated observations by Rutherford. Schott proved the Planetary Atom to be incompatible with fundamental properties of physics. Unfortunately, his work was cast aside because of Bohr's success in accounting for the structure of the atom. Later, it was found that Schott had, in fact, predicted important effects. Nonetheless, his contribution was forgotten and his discovery of Synchrotron Radiation was attributed to another.In The Planetary Atom, Schott's interactions with eminent scientists of the time are reconstructed. The novel rehabilitates an unjustly forgotten British researcher and restores him to his rightful place as one of the great scientists of his time.Related Link(s)

"The Planetary Atom recreates the life and times of an unjustly neglected scientist: George Adolphus Schott. A contemporary of Rutherford and Bohr, Schott worked on a fundamental problem related to the birth of Quantum Mechanics: the Planetary Atom, proposed by Rutherford to account for one of his most famous observations. Schott challenged Rutherford's model and proved mathematically that Rutherford's idea was incompatible with the fundamental properties of physics. Unfortunately, Schott's work was cast aside because of the success of Niels Bohr in accounting for the structure of the atom. Much later, it was discovered that Schott identified a crucial point and had, in fact, predicted some significant effects but, nonetheless, his contribution was forgotten and his prediction of synchrotron radiation was attributed to another. In this largely imaginary biography, the author recreates Schott's interactions with eminent scientists of the period, seeking to rehabilitate a criminally forgotten British researcher and restore him to his rightful place as one of the great scientists of his time"--

'I read The Planetary Atom with great interest. Of course, we are all aware of the major contributions made by legendary researchers such as Ernest Rutherford, who first set up the model known as 'the planetary atom'. But I knew nothing of the much more discrete figure of George Adolphus Schott. I was impressed, on reading this book, to discover the significance and conceptual depth of his work.'Claude Cohen-TannoudjiNobel Laureate in PhysicsCollège de France, Paris 'Although Science is not fiction, the lives and works of scientists provide real substance for a novel like The Planetary Atom, which tells a story of general public interest.'Jean-Marie LehnNobel Laureate in ChemistryUniversité Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg This largely imaginary biography recreates the life and times of George Adolphus Schott, a contemporary of Rutherford and Bohr, who criticized the Planetary Atom which was proposed to account for celebrated observations by Rutherford. Schott proved the Planetary Atom to be incompatible with fundamental properties of physics. Unfortunately, his work was cast aside because of Bohr's success in accounting for the structure of the atom. Later, it was found that Schott had, in fact, predicted important effects. Nonetheless, his contribution was forgotten and his discovery of Synchrotron Radiation was attributed to another.In The Planetary Atom Schott's interactions with eminent scientists of the time are reconstructed. The novel rehabilitates an unjustly forgotten British researcher and restores him to his rightful place as one of the great scientists of his time.Related Link(s)

In this highly interesting book, three pioneering investigators provide an account of the discovery and investigation of the nuclear and chemical properties of the twenty presently known transuranium elements. The neutron irradiation of uranium led to the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 and then to the first transuranium element, neptunium (atomic number 93), in 1940. Plutonium (94) quickly followed and the next nine elements completed the actinide series by 1961. Investigation of the chemical properties of the actinides was followed more recently by chemical studies of the first three transactinides — rutherfordium (104), hahnium (105), and seaborgium (106). Recent discoveries have extended the known elements to 112. Contents: Neptunium and PlutoniumThe Plutonium PeopleAmericium and CuriumBerkelium and CaliforniumThe “Big Bang”: Discovery of Einsteinium and FermiumMendeleviumNobelium and LawrenciumRutherfordium and HahniumSeaborgiumBohrium (107), Hassium (108), and Meitnerium (109)Elements 110, 111, and 112Naming Controversies and the Transfermium Working GroupSearches for the Superheavy ElementsReflections and Predictions Readership: Undergraduates and graduates in nuclear physics, radiochemistry and the general readers. Keywords:Transuranium People;Neptunium;Transactinides;Rutherfordium;Hahnium;SeaborgiumReviews:“'The Transuranium People' is a splendid tribute to those who have made the past 60 years a golden age for discovering new elements.”C&EN

The texts of Boris Hessen and Henryk Grossmann assembled in this volume are important contributions to the historiography of the Scienti?c Revolution and to the methodology of the historiography of science. They are of course also historical documents, not only testifying to Marxist discourse of the time but also illustrating typical European fates in the ?rst half of the twentieth century. Hessen was born a Jewish subject of the Russian Czar in the Ukraine, participated in the October Revolution and was executed in the Soviet Union at the beginning of the purges. Grossmann was born a Jewish subject of the Austro-Hungarian Kaiser in Poland and served as an Austrian of?cer in the First World War; afterwards he was forced to return to Poland and then because of his revolutionary political activities to emigrate to Germany; with the rise to power of the Nazis he had to ?ee to France and then Americawhilehisfamily,whichremainedinEurope,perishedinNaziconcentration camps. Our own acquaintance with the work of these two authors is also indebted to historical context (under incomparably more fortunate circumstances): the revival of Marxist scholarship in Europe in the wake of the student movement and the p- fessionalization of history of science on the Continent. We hope that under the again very different conditions of the early twenty-?rst century these texts will contribute to the further development of a philosophically informed socio-historical approach to the study of science.

An introduction to the physics of highly excited, easily perturbed or interacting atoms. Covers Rydberg states, quantum defect theory, atomic f-values, centrifugal barrier effects, autoionisation, inner shell and double excitation spectra, K-matrix theory, atoms in high laser fields, statistical methods, quantum chaos, and atomic effects in solids.