Straight out of a Pulp Fiction novel...
75 years of the neutron In his long-awaited energy white paper, published this May, Tony Blair opined that energy could be "as important to our future as defence".
According to secret documents, sealed during World War II, and unearthed by the Royal Society this year, it was ever so.
The papers have lain forgotten on a shelf in the Royal Society's archives since 1941, only to be unsealed this week to coincide with the 75th anniversary of James Chadwick's discovery of the neutron.
The sealed documents are scientific papers written by two physicists working in France in the late 1930s. They describe fundamental research into moderating the chain reaction in Uranium: research that was made possible in the first place by Chadwick's Nobel prize-winning discovery, and that paved the way for both nuclear reactors and the atomic bomb.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/01/royal_soc_secret_physics/
Dr Brian Cox, a particle physicist from Cern, said: "These papers describe what was cutting-edge science at the time.
"The sheer amount of knowledge that these papers contain amazes me - only eight years after Chadwick discovered that a neutron even existed, these scientists are already looking at how to use neutrons to bring about nuclear fission and energy.
"I can see why these papers were locked away during the war - they contain details that could be used to build a nuclear reactor."
The sealed envelopes were accompanied by a letter from Professor Chadwick. Recognising the possible consequences of nuclear fission's massive energy releases, he wrote that the work was "inadvisable to publish at the present time".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6709855.stm
75 years of the neutron In his long-awaited energy white paper, published this May, Tony Blair opined that energy could be "as important to our future as defence".
According to secret documents, sealed during World War II, and unearthed by the Royal Society this year, it was ever so.
The papers have lain forgotten on a shelf in the Royal Society's archives since 1941, only to be unsealed this week to coincide with the 75th anniversary of James Chadwick's discovery of the neutron.
The sealed documents are scientific papers written by two physicists working in France in the late 1930s. They describe fundamental research into moderating the chain reaction in Uranium: research that was made possible in the first place by Chadwick's Nobel prize-winning discovery, and that paved the way for both nuclear reactors and the atomic bomb.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/01/royal_soc_secret_physics/
Dr Brian Cox, a particle physicist from Cern, said: "These papers describe what was cutting-edge science at the time.
"The sheer amount of knowledge that these papers contain amazes me - only eight years after Chadwick discovered that a neutron even existed, these scientists are already looking at how to use neutrons to bring about nuclear fission and energy.
"I can see why these papers were locked away during the war - they contain details that could be used to build a nuclear reactor."
The sealed envelopes were accompanied by a letter from Professor Chadwick. Recognising the possible consequences of nuclear fission's massive energy releases, he wrote that the work was "inadvisable to publish at the present time".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6709855.stm
