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13575 results in History of science and technology

Page 569 of 679

  • Francis Herbert Culverhouse Butler (1894–1970)

  • E. Ashworth Underwood
  • Journal:
    The British Journal for the History of Science / Volume 5 / Issue 3 / June 1971
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    05 January 2009, pp. 319-320
    Print publication:
    June 1971
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  • William H. Bragg's Corpuscular Theory of X-Rays and γ-Rays

  • Roger H. Stuewer
  • Journal:
    The British Journal for the History of Science / Volume 5 / Issue 3 / June 1971
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    05 January 2009, pp. 258-281
    Print publication:
    June 1971

  • The modern corpuscular theory of radiation was born in 1905 when Einstein advanced his light quantum hypothesis; and the steps by which Einstein's hypothesis, after years of profound scepticism, was finally and fully vindicated by Arthur Compton's 1922 scattering experiments constitutes one of the most stimulating chapters in the history of recent physics. To begin to appreciate the complexity of this chapter, however, it is only necessary to emphasize an elementary but very significant point, namely, that while Einstein based his arguments for quanta largely on the behaviour of high-frequency black body radiation or ultra-violet light, Compton experimented with X-rays. A modern physicist accustomed to picturing ultra-violet light and X-radiation as simply two adjacent regions in the electromagnetic spectrum might regard this distinction as hair-splitting. But who in 1905 was sure that X-rays and γ-rays are far more closely related to ultra-violet light than to α-particles, for example ? This only became evident after years of painstaking research, so that moving without elaboration from Einstein's hypothesis to Compton's experiments automatically eliminates from consideration an important segment of history—a segment in which a major role was played by William Henry Bragg.

Page 569 of 679