Cockroft and Walton's electrostatic accelerator, with Cockroft under the discharge tube. Courtesy of Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge

June 1932
John D. Cockcroft (1897-1967) and Ernest T. S. Walton (1903-1995) become the first to disintigrate stable nuclei by the use of artificially accelerated particles.

---

Protons were accelerated and slammed into lithium atoms producing helium and energy. This reaction was the first experimental proof of Einstein's E = mc^2.

[ Previous Page  |  Introduction  |  Next Page ]

[ 1895  |  1900  |  1905  |  1910  |  1915  |  1920  |  1925  |  1930  |  1935  |  1940  |  1941  |  1942  |  1943  |  1944  |  1945 ]