A COMPARISON of Dr. Gamow's well-known book “Constitution of Atomic Nuclei”, published in 1931, with, say, Dr. von Weizsacker's book in the list above, almost persuades one that they deal with different subjects. The discovery of the neutron and of the positive electron, the disintegration of elements by accelerated protons and deuterons, and the discovery of artificial radio-elements have all taken place since the publication of Dr. Gamow's book. In 1931 only a few examples of nuclear processes were known, those of the natural radioactive elements at one end of the periodic table and those cases of artificial disintegration produced by α-particles amongst the lighter elements. At the present time some hundreds of nuclear reactions have been reported, and new series of transformations have been caused, by neutron bombardment, to start in uranium and thorium.

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/142592a0

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