Why did James Chadwick become famous?

 

          The Nobel Prize in Physics 1935 was awarded to James Chadwick for the discovery of the neutron. Chadwick was born in England on 20th October 1891. He attended Manchester High School prior to entering Manchester University in 1908. He graduated with first class honours in 1911.

          When Herbert Becker and Walter Bothe directed alpha particles (helium nuclei) at beryllium in 1930, a strong, penetrating radiation was emitted. One hypothesis was that this could be high-energy electromagnetic radiation.

          In 1932, Chadwick made the fundamental discovery that it actually consisted of a neutral particle about the same mass as a proton, and proved the existence of neutrons. Ernest Rutherford had earlier proposed that such a particle might exist in atomic nuclei.

          He was awarded the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society in 1932, and subsequently the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1935. James Chadwick died on 24th July, 1974.

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