| MadSci Network: Physics |
The answer depends upon what you mean by "nuclear energy experiment". In 1896, Henri Becquerel found that uranium atoms emit energetic radiation, though it would be many years before the nature of that radiation would be fully understood. In 1911, Ernest Rutherford (with the help of some students) showed that every atom has a small dense nucleus. This provided a starting point for understanding the nature of Becquerel's nuclear radiation, and for the experiments that followed. In 1938, Otto Hahn and P. Strassmann discovered nuclear fission, the process in which a "heavy" atomic nucleus (for example, uranium) splits into smaller nuclei and releases energy. A year or two later, Hahn and Lise Meitner discovered how to stimulate fission in unstable nuclei, by using some nuclear radiation (also called decay products) from other nuclei. This may be the first real "nuclear energy experiment" like you asked, and so the answer would be that the "first man" was actually a man and a woman working together! Through the early 1940s, several people had ideas about using stimulated nuclear fission in particular materials (uranium and others) to get a chain reaction going. The first controlled nuclear fission reactor was developed and operated by Enrico Fermi and his co-workers at the University of Chicago in 1942. The first generation of electricity by nuclear fission happened several years later, lighting a string of light bulbs at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. There was also a lot of work going on involving nuclear fusion, the process in which light nuclei (for example, hydrogen nuclei) fuse and release energy. In 1939, Hans Bethe showed how the fusion of hydrogen into helium could explain how the sun and other stars produced the energy that they radiate. Unfortunately, there has never been a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that has produced more energy than it took to make the reaction happen. But, lots of people around the world are working on the problem. There are many books and webpages that detail the development of nuclear energy, both fission and fusion, but not all are written in a way that everyone can understand easily. Here are some OK websites, and you can probably find more by digging around: Todd's Atomic Webpage: http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/neutronics/todd/frame/ The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov/ The US Department of Energy (DOE) Fusion Energy Sciences webpage: http://wwwofe.er.doe.gov/ The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory: http://www.pppl.gov/ The General Atomics website has several pages on both fission and fusion: http://www.gat.com/ http://www.gat.com/gtmhr/ http://fusion.gat.com/ http://fusioned.gat.com/ And, here is my own nuclear fusion links page: http://plasma.aa.washington.edu/redd/links_fusion.html There are lots of books on "Modern Physics", and these usually tell a bit about the development of nuclear physics and nuclear energy. As I said, though, not all are written well. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Good luck! Aaron J. Redd
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