James Chadwick - 1932

  • Born: In Cheshire, England, on 20th October, 1891
  • Schooling: Graduated from Manchester University in 1911; spent the next two years under Professor Rutherford in the Physical Laboratory in Manchester, where he worked on various radioactivity problems.
  • Mentor: Professor Rutherford; worked under him multiple times.
o   The professor actually in 1919, was successful in completing the first artificial nuclear transformation. Chadwick then went to join him and they ended up accomplishing the transmutation of other light elements by bombardment with alpha particles. They also studyied the properties and structure of atomic nuclei.
  •  Major Accomplishment: Proving the existence of neutrons.
  • What the discovery of neutrons led to: These neutrons were capable of penetrating and splitting the nuclei of even the heaviest elements, so Chadwick used that capability towards the fission of uranium 235 and the creation of the atomic bomb.
  • Atomic bomb: Chadwick became attached to the Manhattan Project in the United States where I helped actually develop and test the atomic bomb.