Controversy and Consensus: Nuclear Beta Decay 1911–1934

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Prelude: Beta-Spectrum Research in the Pre-Nuclear Years, 1900–1911

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 1-28

3. The Origin of Beta Rays, and the Growing Complexity of Their Spectrum: The Rutherford Era, 1911–1919

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 29-53

4. The Rise of a Controversy: Ellis, Meitner and Smekal Advance Different Beta-Spectrum Theories, 1920–1922

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 55-93

5. Secondary Effects and Order of Emission: Two Main Questions in the Controversy, 1923–1925

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 95-120

6. The End of the Beginning: The Controversy Enters the Decisive Phase, 1925–1929

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 121-143

7. From Anomaly to Explanation: The Continuous Beta Spectrum, 1929–1934

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 145-184

8. Towards a Theory of Internal Conversion: The Beta Line-Spectrum, 1927–1934

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 185-206

9. Summary and Conclusion

   • Carsten Jensen, Finn Aaserud, Helge Kragh, Erik Rüdinger, Roger H. Stuewer

   Pages 207-212

10. Back Matter

    Pages 213-217

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To all four of us, Carsten was the best possible friend and colleague. To Finn, he was a fellow student in the history of science for several years at the Niels Bohr Institute; to Relge, he was a welcome resource for personal and intellectual interac­ tion in an otherwise less than fertile environment for the history of science; Roger was Carsten's friend and advisor, not least in the development of the dissertation on which the present book is based; and as director of the Niels Bohr Archive, Erik was his main advisor in his historical work. Because he was the person closest to Carsten's work on his Ph. D. dissertation on the history of beta decay, on which the present book is based, it is only fitting that Erik stands as single author of the words in Carsten's memory at the very beginning of this book. Before his untimely death shortly after the completion of the Ph. D. disser­ tation, Carsten had himself plans to develop the dissertation into a book. Being a true perfectionist, he wanted to rework the manuscript substantively, especially with regard to relating it to the broader discussion among historians of science.

• atom
• energy
• history of science
• particles
• physics
• radiation
• spectra

"Jensen’s book helps lay the foundations of a new and comprehensive history of nuclear science." (Centaurus)

• Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen, Denmark

  Finn Aaserud

• Dept. of History of Science, University of Aarhus, Aarhus C, Denmark

  Helge Kragh

• Snekkersten, Denmark

  Erik Rüdinger

• Tate Laboratory of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

  Roger H. Stuewer

Policies and ethics