Number of neutrons Liberated in the Nuclear Fission of Uranium in Nature 143, no. 3625, April 22, 1939, p. 680.
London: Macmillan, 1939. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS of the first solid evidence that neutron multiplication is large enough (3.5) to creat a chain reaction, thus profiding "indirect proof of the neutron multiplication accompanying the fission of uranium nuclei after neutron capture" (Printing and the Mind of Man, 422). Halban, Joliot, and Kowarski reported that several free neutrons are released for each uranium that splits. Their experiments "recognized that under suitable conditions such secondary neutrons might in turn induce fission in other nuclei, setting in motion a chain reaction capable of sustaining itself until the uranium was entirely consumed" (Sikme, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics, 261). The "experiments raised the prospect that fission might be used to generate immense quantities of energy" (ibid). Item #306
CONDITION & DETAILS: London: Macmillan. 4to. (10.5 x 7.5 inches; 262 x 188mm). Original paper wraps with very slight remnants of creases within. Clean and bright inside and out.
Price: $750.00