[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Chart of the Nuclides



Just posted my latest chart with an added feature-A MAGNIFYING GLASS.
Warren_Church@uml.edu

Frame, Paul wrote:

> > Does anyone know the anedotal story of how Emilio Sergre
> > proposed the Chart
> > of the Nuclides?
> >
> > Jeff Ching    [ching.jeff@email.mcclellan.af.mil]
> > Mcclellan Nuclear Radiation Center
>
> Quoting from "A Mind Always in Motion: the Autobiography of Emilio Segre"
> 1993, Univ of California Press.
>
> "Tables of natural radioactive isotopes go back to Curie, Rutherford and
> their colleagues. With the discovery of artificial radioactivity, they
> became much larger. A first one was drawn up in Rome by our group and by G.
> Fea. I drew a useful diagram, following Heisenberg, while still in Rome."
>
> It would seem that what Segre calls a "useful diagram" is the chart of the
> nuclides. The time period he is referring to is ca 1935.
>
> He was working with Fermi when the latter conceived the idea of producing
> new radionuclides via neutron activation. Fermi was producing an immense
> number of these new artificial radionuclides and it would seem natural to
> try to organize them in some fashion similar to the periodic table.  Segre
> was at the right place at the right time.
>
> The oldest one I actually have (1947) is titled "The Segre Chart" and
> published by Addison-Wesley Press.
>
> At the time, (1930s)almost every property of a nuclide was being plotted
> against the atomic mass or atomic mass number  e.g., atomic weight vs
> position (Group #) on the periodic table.  In the second edition of
> "Radioactivity" (1938) by Hevesy and Paneth, there is something that looks
> very much like Segre's chart (at least the later versions) except Hevesy and
> Paneth (who would have known Segre) plot mass # minus twice the atomic #
> versus the atomic number.
>
> None of this indicates what form the original chart took but I hope it at
> least provides a partial answer to your question.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Paul Frame
> Professional Training Programs
> ORAU
> framep@orau.gov
> http://www.orau.gov/ptp/ptp.htm
>
> ************************************************************************
> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html



************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html