NUCLEAR FUSION

The USSNautilus,the world’s first nuclear powered submarine, in New York harbor.

In 1954 the first nuclear submarine the USSNautiluswas launched by the United States. Its power was obtainedentirely from a nuclear reactor, and it was not necessary for it to rise to the surface at short intervals in order to recharge its batteries. Nuclear submarines have crossed the Arctic Ocean under the ice cover, and have circumnavigated the globe without surfacing.

In 1959 both the Soviet Union and the United States launched nuclear-powered surface vessels. The Soviet ship was the icebreaker,Lenin, and the American ship was a merchant vessel, the NSSavannah.

In the 1950s nuclear reactors were also used as the source of power for the production of electricity for civilian use. The Soviet Union built a small station of this sort in 1954, which had a capacity of 5,000 kilowatts. The British built one of 92,000 kilowatt capacity, which they called Calder Hall. The first American nuclear reactor for civilian use began operation at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, in 1958. It was the first really full-scale civilian nuclear power plant in the world.

The world appeared to have far greater sources of energy than had been expected. The “fossil fuels”—coal, oil and natural gas—were being used at such a rate that many speculated that the gas and oil would be gone in decades and the coal in centuries. Was it possible that uranium might now serve as a new source that would last indefinitely?

It was rather disappointing that it was uranium-235 which underwent fission, because that isotope made up only 0.7% of the uranium that existed. If uranium-235 were all we had and all we ever could have, the energy supply of the world would still be rather too limited.

There were other possible “nuclear fuels”, however. There was plutonium-239, which would also fission under neutron bombardment. It had an ordinary half-life (for a radioactive change in which it gave off alpha particles) of 24,300 years, which is long enough to make it easy to handle.

But how can plutonium-239 be formed in sufficient quantities to be useful? After all, it doesn’t occur in nature. Surprisingly, that turned out to be easy. Uranium-238 atomswill absorb many of the neutrons that are constantly leaking out of the reactor and will become first neptunium-239 and then plutonium-239. The plutonium, being a different element from the uranium, can be separated from uranium and obtained in useful quantities.

Such a device is called a “breeder reactor” because it breeds fuel. Indeed, it can be so designed to produce more plutonium-239 than the uranium-235 it uses up, so that you actually end up with more nuclear fuel than you started with. In this way, all the uranium on earth (and not just uranium-235) can be considered potential nuclear fuel.

The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the first full-scale, nuclear-electric station built exclusively for civilian needs, provides electricity for the homes and factories of the greater Pittsburgh area. The pressurized-water reactor, which now has a 90,000-net-electrical-kilowatt capacity, began commercial operation in 1957. The reactor is in the large building in the center.

The lights of downtown Pittsburgh.

The first breeder reactor was completed at Arco, Idaho, in August 1951, and on December 20 produced the very first electricity on earth to come from nuclear power. Nevertheless,breeder reactors for commercial use are still a matter for the future.[3]

Another isotope capable of fissioning under neutron bombardment is uranium-233. It does not occur in nature, but was formed in the laboratory by Seaborg and others in 1942. It has a half-life of 162,000 years. It can be formed from naturally occurring thorium-232. Thorium-232 will absorb a neutron to become thorium-233. Then 2 beta particles are given off so that the thorium-233 becomes first protactinium-233 and then uranium-233.

If a thorium shell surrounds a nuclear reactor, fissionable uranium-233 is formed within it and is easily separated from the thorium. In this way, thorium is also added to the list of earth’s potential nuclear fuels.[4]

If all the uranium and thorium in the earth’s crust (including the thin scattering of those elements through granite, for instance) were available for use, we might get up to 100 times as much energy from it as from all the coal and oil on the planet. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that we will ever be able to make use of all the uranium and thorium. It is widely and thinly spread through the crustal rocks and much of it could not be extracted without using up more energy than would be supplied by it once isolated.

Another problem rests with the nature of the fission reaction. When the uranium-235 nucleus (or plutonium-239 or uranium-233) undergoes fission, it breaks up into any of a large number of middle-sized nuclei that are radioactive—much more intensely radioactive than the original fuel. (It was from among these “fission products” that isotopes of element 61 were first obtained in 1945. Coming from the nuclear fire, it reminded its discoverers of Prometheus, who stole fire from the sun in the Greek myths, and so it was called “promethium”.)

The fission products still contain energy and some of them can be used in lightweight “nuclear batteries”. Such nuclear batteries were first built in 1954. Some batteries, using plutonium-238 rather than fission products, have been put to use in powering artificial satellites over long periods.

Unfortunately, only a small proportion of the fission products can be put to profitable use. Most must be disposed of. They are dangerous because the radiations they give off are deadly and cannot be detected by the ordinary senses. They are very difficult to dispose of safely, and they must not be allowed to get into the environment, especially since some of them remain dangerous for decades or even centuries.

The Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 2 building complex in Idaho. The reactor is in the dome-shaped structure.

As it happens, though, nuclear fission is not the only route to useful nuclear energy.

Aston’s studies in the 1920s had shown that it was the middle-sized nuclei that were most tightly packed. Energy would be given off if middle-sized nuclei were produced from either extreme. Not only would energy be formed by the breakup of particularly massive nuclei through fission, but also through the combination of small nuclei to form larger ones (“nuclear fusion”).

In fact, from Aston’s studies it could be seen that, mass for mass, nuclear fusion would produce far more energy than nuclear fission. This was particularly true in the conversion of hydrogen to helium; that is, the conversion of the individual protons of 4 separate hydrogen nuclei into the 2-proton—2-neutron structure of the helium nucleus. A gram of hydrogen, undergoing fusion to helium, would deliver some fifteen times as much energy as a gram of uranium undergoing fission.

As early as 1920, the English astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882-1944) had speculated that the sun’s energy might be derived from the interaction of subatomic particles. Some sort of nuclear reaction seemed, by then, to be the most reasonable way of accounting for the vast energies constantly being produced by the sun.

The speculation became more plausible with each year. Eddington himself studied the structure of stars, and by 1926 had produced convincing theoretical reasons for supposing that the center of the sun was at enormous densities and temperatures. A temperature of some 15,000,000 to 20,000,000°C seemed to characterize the sun’s center.

At such temperatures, atoms could not exist in earthly fashion. Held together by the sun’s strong gravitational field,they collided with such energy that all or almost all their electrons were stripped off, and little more than bare nuclei were left. These bare nuclei could approach each other much more closely than whole atoms could (which was why the center of the sun was so much more dense than earthly matter could be). The bare nuclei, smashing together at central-sun temperatures, could cling together and form more complex nuclei. Nuclear reactions brought about by such intense heat (millions of degrees) are called “thermonuclear reactions”.

As the 1920s progressed further studies of the chemical structure of the sun showed it to be even richer in hydrogen than had been thought. In 1929 the American astronomer Henry Norris Russell (1877-1957) reported evidence that the sun was 60% hydrogen in volume. (Even this was too conservative; 80% is considered more nearly correct now.) If the sun’s energy were based on nuclear reactions at all, then it had to be the result of hydrogen fusion. Nothing else was present in sufficient quantity to be useful as a fuel.

More and more was learned about the exact manner in which nuclei interacted and about the quantity of energy given off in particular nuclear reactions. It became possible to calculate what might be going on inside the sun by considering the densities and temperatures present, the kind and number of different nuclei available, and the quantity of energy that must be produced. In 1938 the German-American physicist Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906-)and the German astronomer Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1912-)independently worked out the possible reactions, and hydrogen fusion was shown to be a thoroughly practical way of keeping the sun going.

Thanks to the high rate of energy production by thermonuclear reactions and to the vast quantity of hydrogen in the sun, not only has it been possible for the sun to have been radiating energy for the last 5,000,000,000 years or so,but it will continue to radiate energy in the present fashion for at least 5,000,000,000 years into the future.

Hans Bethe

Even so, the sheer quantity of what is going on in the sun is staggering in earthly terms. In the sun 650,000,000 tons of hydrogen are converted into helium every second, and in the process each second sees the disappearance of 4,600,000 tons of mass.

Could thermonuclear reactions be made to take place on earth? The conditions that exist in the center of the sun would be extremely difficult to duplicate on the earth, so there was a natural search for any kind of nuclear fusion that would produce similar energies to those going on in the sun but which would be easier to bring about.

There are 3 hydrogen isotopes known to exist. Ordinary hydrogen is almost entirely hydrogen-1, with a nucleus made up of a single proton. Small quantities of hydrogen-2 (deuterium) with a nucleus made up of a proton plus a neutron also exist and such atoms are perfectly stable.

In 1934 Rutherford, along with the Australian physicist Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant (1901-)and the Austrian chemist Paul Harteck (1902-)sent hydrogen-2nuclei flying into hydrogen-2 targets and formed hydrogen-3 (also called “tritium” from the Greek word for “third”) with a nucleus made up of a proton plus 2 neutrons. Hydrogen-3 is mildly radioactive.

Hydrogen-2 fuses to helium more easily than hydrogen-1 does and, all things being equal, hydrogen-2 will do so at lower temperatures than hydrogen-1. Hydrogen-3 requires lower temperatures still. But even for hydrogen-3 it still takes millions of degrees.

Hydrogen-3, although the easiest to be forced to undergo fusion, exists only in tiny quantities.

Hydrogen-2, therefore, is the one to pin hopes on especially in conjunction with hydrogen-3. Only 1 atom out of every 6000 hydrogen atoms is hydrogen-2, but that is enough. There exists a vast ocean on earth that is made up almost entirely of water molecules and in each water molecule 2 hydrogen atoms are present. Even if only 1 in 6000 of these hydrogen atoms is deuterium that still means there are about 35,000 billion tons of deuterium in the ocean.

What’s more, it isn’t necessary to dig for that deuterium or to drill for it. If ocean water is allowed to run through separation plants, the deuterium can be extracted without very much trouble. In fact, for the energy you could get out of it, deuterium from the oceans, extracted by present methods and without allowing for future improvement, would be only one-hundredth as expensive as coal.

The deuterium in the world’s ocean, if allowed to undergo fusion little by little, would supply mankind with enough energy to keep us going at the present rate for 500,000,000,000 years. To be sure, to make deuterium fusion practical, it may be necessary to make use of rarer substances such as the light metal lithium. This will place a sharper limit on the energy supply but even if we are careful, fusion would probably supply mankind with energy for as long as mankind will exist.

Then, too, there would seem to be no danger of hydrogen fusion plants running out of control. Only small quantities of deuterium would be in the process of fusion at any one time. If anything at all went wrong, the deuterium supply could be automatically cut off and the fusion process, with so little involved, would then stop instantly. Moreover, there would be less reason to worry about atomic wastes, for the most dangerous products—hydrogen-3 and neutrons—could be easily taken care of.

It seems ideal, but there is a catch. However clear the theory, before a fusion power station can be established some practical method must be found to start the fusion process, which means finding some way for attaining temperatures in the millions of degrees.

One method for obtaining the necessary temperature was known by 1945. An exploding fission bomb would do it. If, somehow, the necessary hydrogen-2 was combined with a fission bomb, the explosion would set off a fusion reaction that would greatly multiply the energy released. You would have in effect a “thermonuclear bomb”. (To the general public, this was commonly known as a “hydrogen bomb” or an “H-bomb”.)

In 1952 the first fusion device was exploded by the United States in the Marshall Islands. Within months, the Soviet Union had exploded one of its own and in time thermonuclear bombs thousands of times as powerful as the first fission bomb over Hiroshima were built and exploded.

All thermonuclear bombs have been exploded only for test purposes. Even testing seems to be dangerous, however, at least if it is carried on in the open atmosphere. The radioactivity liberated spreads over the world and may do slow but cumulative damage.

However effective a fusion bomb may be in liberating vast quantities of energy, it is not what one has in mind whenspeaking of a fusion power station. The energy of a fusion bomb is released all at once and its only function is that of utter destruction. What is wanted is the production of fusion energy at a low and steady rate—a rate that is under the control of human operators.

The sun, for instance, is a vast fusion furnace 866,000 miles across, but it is a controlled one—even though that control is exerted by the impersonal laws of nature. It releases energy at a very steady and very slow rate. (The rate is not slow in human terms, of course, but stars sometimes do release their energy in a much more cataclysmic fashion. The result is a “supernova” in which for a short time a single star will increase its radiation to as much as a trillion times its normal level.)

The sun (or any star) going at its normal rate is controlled and steady in its output because of the advantage of huge mass. An enormous mass, composed mainly of hydrogen, compresses itself, through its equally enormous gravitational field, into huge densities and temperatures at its center, thus igniting the fusion reaction—while the same gravitational field keeps the sun together against its tendency to expand.

There is, as far as scientists know, no conceivable way of concentrating a high gravitational field in the absence of the required mass, and the creation of controlled fusion on earth must therefore be done without the aid of gravity. Without a huge gravitational force we cannot simultaneously bring about sun-center densities and sun-center temperatures; one or the other must go.

On the whole, it would take much less energy to aim at the temperatures than at the densities and would be much more feasible. For this reason, physicists have been attempting, all through the nuclear age, to heat thin wisps of hydrogen to enormous temperature. Since the gas is thin, the nuclei are farther apart and collide with each other far fewer times per second. To achieve fusion ignition, therefore, temperatures must be considerably higher than those at the center of the sun. In 1944 Fermi calculated that it might take a temperature of 50,000,000° to ignite a hydrogen-3 fusion with hydrogen-2 under earthly conditions, and 400,000,000° to ignite hydrogen-2 fusion alone. To ignite hydrogen-1 fusion, which is what goes on in the sun (at a mere 15,000,000°), physicists would have to raise their sights to beyond the billion-degree mark.

A supernova photographed on March 10, 1935.

The same star on May 6.

This would make it seem almost essential to use hydrogen-3 in one fashion or another. Even if it can’t be prepared in quantity to begin with, it might be formed by neutron bombardment of lithium, with the neutrons being formed by the fusion reaction. In this way, you would start with lithium and hydrogen-2 plus a little hydrogen-3. The hydrogen-3 is formed as fast as it is used up. Although in the end hydrogen is converted to helium in a controlled fusion reaction as in the sun, the individual steps in the reaction under human control are quite different from those in the sun.

Still, even the temperatures required for hydrogen-3 represent an enormous problem, particularly since the temperature must not only be reached, but must be held for a period of time. (You can pass a piece of paper rapidly through a candle flame without lighting it. It must be held in the flame for a short period to give it a chance to heat and ignite.)

The English physicist John David Lawson (1923-)worked out the requirements in 1957. The time depended on the density of the gas. The denser the gas, the shorter the period over which the temperature had to be maintained. If the gas is about one hundred-thousand times as dense as air, the proper temperature must be held, under the most favorable conditions, for about one thousandth of a second.

There are a number of different ways in which a quantity of hydrogen can be heated to very high temperatures—through electric currents, through magnetic fields, throughlaser beams and so on. As the temperature goes up into the tens of thousands of degrees, the hydrogen atoms (or any atoms) are broken up into free electrons and bare nuclei. Such a mixture of charged particles is called a “plasma”. Ever since physicists have begun to try to work with very hot gases, with fusion energy in mind, they have had to study the properties of such “plasma”, and a whole new science of “plasma physics” has come into existence.

But if you do heat a gas to very high temperatures, it will tend to expand and thin out to uselessness. How can such a super-hot gas be confined in a fixed volume without an enormous gravitational field to hold it together?

An obvious answer would be to place it in a container, but no ordinary container of matter will serve to hold the hot gas. You may think this is because the temperature of the gas will simply melt or vaporize whatever matter encloses it. This is not so. Although the gas is at a very high temperature, it is so thin that it has very little total heat. It does not have enough heat to melt the solid walls of a container. What happens instead is that the hot plasma cools down the moment it touches the solid walls and the entire attempt to heat it is ruined.

What’s more, if you try to invest the enormous energies required to keep the plasma hot despite the cooling effect of the container walls, then the walls will gradually heat and melt. Nor must one wait for the walls to melt and the plasma to escape before finding the attempt at fusion ruined. Even as the walls heat up they liberate some of their own atoms into the plasma and introduce impurities that will prevent the fusion reaction.

Any material container is therefore out of the question.

Fortunately, there is a nonmaterial way of confining plasma. Since plasma consists of a mixture of electrically charged particles, it can experience electromagnetic interactions. Instead of keeping the plasma in a material container, you can surround it by a magnetic field that is designed tokeep it in place. Such a magnetic field is not affected by any heat, however great, and cannot be a source of material impurity.

In 1934, the American physicist Willard Harrison Bennett (1903-)had worked out a theory dealing with the behavior of magnetic fields enclosing plasma. It came to be called the “pinch effect” because the magnetic field pinched the gas together and held it in place.

The first attempt to make use of the pinch effect for confining plasma, with eventual ignition of fusion in mind, was in 1951 by the English physicist Alan Alfred Ware (1924-). Other physicists followed, not only in Great Britain, but in the United States and the Soviet Union as well.

The first use of the pinch effect was to confine the plasma in a cylinder. This, however, could not be made to work. The situation was too unstable. The plasma was held momentarily, then writhed and broke up.

Plasma in a magnetic field.

Enormous machines and complex equipment, such as the Scyllac machine shown above, are required for nuclear fusion research.

Attempts were made to remove the instability. The field was so designed as to be stronger at the ends of the cylinder than elsewhere. The particles in the plasma would stream toward one end or another and would then bounce back producing a so-called “magnetic mirror”.

In 1951 the American physicist Lyman Spitzer, Jr. (1914-)had worked out the theoretical benefits to be derived from a container twisted into a figure-eight shape. Eventually, such devices were built and called “stellarators” from the Latin word for “star”, because it was hoped that it would produce the conditions that would allow the sort of fusion reactions that went on in stars.

All through the 1950s and 1960s, physicists have been slowly inching toward their goal, reaching higher and higher temperatures and holding them for longer and longer periods in denser and denser gases.

In 1969 the Soviet Union used a device called “Tokamak-3” (a Russian abbreviation for their phrase for “electric-magnetic”) to keep a supply of hydrogen-2, a millionth as dense as air, in place while heating it to tens of millions of degrees for a hundredth of a second.

A little denser, a little hotter, a little longer—and controlled fusion might become possible.[5]

Is there anything that lies beyond fusion?

When hydrogen undergoes fusion and becomes helium, only 0.7% of the original mass of the hydrogen is converted to energy. Is it possible to take a quantity of mass and convert all of it, every bit, to energy? Surely that would be the ultimate energy source. Mass for mass, that would deliver 140 times as much energy as hydrogen fusion would; it would be as far beyond hydrogen fusion as hydrogen fusion is beyond uranium fission.

And, as a matter of fact, total annihilation of matter is conceivable under some circumstances.

In 1928 the English physicist Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902-)presented a treatment of the electron’s properties that made it appear as though there ought also to exist a particle exactly like the electron in every respect except that it would be opposite in charge. It would carry a positive electric charge exactly as large as the electron’s negative one.

If the electron is a particle, this suggested positively charged twin would be an “antiparticle”. (The prefix comes from a Greek word meaning “opposite”.)

P. A. M. Dirac

The first picture of the positron (left) was taken in a Wilson cloud chamber. On the right is C. D. Anderson, the discoverer of the positron.

The proton isnotthe electron’s antiparticle. Though a proton carries the necessary positive charge that is exactly as large as the negative charge of the electron, the proton has a much larger mass than the electron has. Dirac’s theory required that the antiparticle have the same mass as the particle to which it corresponded.

In 1932 C. D. Anderson was studying the impact of cosmic particles on lead. In the process, he discovered signs of a particle that left tracks exactly like those of an electron, but tracks that curved the wrong way in a magnetic field. This was a sure sign that it had an electric charge opposite to that of the electron. He had, in short, discovered the electron’s antiparticle and this came to be called the “positron”.

Positrons were soon detected elsewhere too. Some radioactive isotopes, formed in the laboratory by the Joliot-Curies and by others, were found to emit positive beta particles—positrons rather than electrons. When an ordinary beta particle, or electron, was emitted from a nucleus, a neutron within the nucleus was converted to a proton. When a positive beta particle, a positron, was emitted, the reverse happened—a proton was converted to a neutron.

A positron, however, does not endure long after formation. All about it were atoms containing electrons. It could not move for more than a millionth of a second or so before it encountered one of those electrons. When it did, there was an attraction between the two, since they were of opposite electric charge. Briefly they might circle each other (to form a combination called “positronium”) but only very briefly. Then they collided and, since they were opposites, each cancelled the other.

The process whereby an electron and a positron met and cancelled is called “mutual annihilation”. Not everything was gone, though. The mass, in disappearing, was converted into the equivalent amount of energy, which made its appearance in the form of one or more gamma rays.

(It works the other way, too. A gamma ray of sufficient energy can be transformed into an electron and a positron. This phenomenon, called “pair production”, was observed as early as 1930 but was only properly understood after the discovery of the positron.)

Of course, the mass of electrons and positrons is very small and the amount of energy released per electron is not enormously high. Still, Dirac’s original theory of antiparticles was not confined to electrons. By his theory, any particle ought to have some corresponding antiparticle. Corresponding to the proton, for instance, there ought to be an “antiproton”. This would be just as massive as the proton and would carry a negative charge just as large as the proton’s positive charge.

An antiproton, however, is 1836 times as massive as a positron. It would take gamma rays or cosmic particles with 1836 times as much energy to form the proton-antiproton pair as would suffice for the electron-positron pair. Cosmic particles of the necessary energies existed but they were rare and the chance of someone being present with a particle detector just as a rare super-energetic cosmic particle happened to form a proton-antiproton pair was very small.

The Bevatron began operation in 1954.

Physicists had to wait until they had succeeded in designing particle accelerators that would produce enough energy to allow the creation of proton-antiproton pairs. This came about in the early 1950s when a device called the “Cosmotron” was built at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island in 1952 and another called the “Bevatron” at the University of California in Berkeley in 1954.

Using the Bevatron in 1956, Segrè (the discoverer of technetium who had, by that time, emigrated to the United States), the American physicist Owen Chamberlain (1920-), and others succeeded in detecting the antiproton.

The antiproton was as unlikely to last as long as the positron was. It was surrounded by myriads of proton-containing nuclei and in a tiny fraction of a second it would encounter one. The antiproton and the proton also underwent mutual annihilation, but having 1836 times the mass, they produced 1836 times the energy that was produced in the case of an electron and a positron.

There was even an “antineutron”, a particle reported in 1956 by the Italian-American physicist Oreste Piccioni(1915-)and his co-workers. Since the neutron has no charge, the antineutron has no charge either, and one might wonder how the antineutron would differ from the neutron then. Actually, both have a small magnetic field. In the neutron the magnetic field is pointed in one direction with reference to the neutron’s spin; in the antineutron it is pointed in the other.

Bubble chamber photograph of an antiproton annihilation.

In 1965 the American physicist Leon Max Lederman (1922-)and his co-workers produced a combination of an antiproton and an antineutron that together formed an “antideuteron”, which is the nucleus of antihydrogen-2.

This is good enough to demonstrate that if antiparticles existed by themselves without the interfering presence of ordinary particles, they could form “antimatter”, whichwould be precisely identical with ordinary matter in every way except for the fact that electric charges and magnetic fields would be turned around.

If antimatter were available to us, and if we could control the manner in which it united with matter, we would have a source of energy much greater and, perhaps, simpler to produce than would be involved in hydrogen fusion.

To be sure, there is no antimatter on earth, except for the submicroscopic amounts that are formed by the input of tremendous energies. Nor does anyone know of any conceivable way of forming antimatter at less energy than that produced by mutual annihilation, so that we might say that mankind can never make an energy profit out of it—except that with the memory of Rutherford’s prediction that nuclear energy of any kind could never be tapped, one hesitates to be pessimistic about anything.

Physical theory makes it seem that particles and antiparticles ought to exist in the universe in equal quantities. Yet on earth (and, we can be quite certain, in the rest of the solar system and even, very likely, in the rest of the galaxy) protons, neutrons, and electrons are common, while antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons are exceedingly rare.

Could it be that when the universe was first formed there were indeed equal quantities of particles and antiparticles but that they were somehow segregated, perhaps into galaxies and “antigalaxies”? If so, there might occasionally be collisions of a galaxy and an antigalaxy with the evolution of vast quantities of energy as mutual annihilation on a cosmic scale takes place.

There are, in fact, places in the heavens where radiation is unusually high in quantity and in energy. Can we be witnessing such enormous mutual annihilation?

Indeed, it is not altogether inconceivable that we may still have new types of forces and new sources of energy todiscover. Until about 1900, no one suspected the existence of nuclear energy. Are we quite sure now that nuclear energy brings us to the end, and that there is not a form of energy more subtle still, and greater?

In 1962, for instance, certain puzzling objects called “quasars” were discovered far out in space, a billion light-years or more away from us. Each one shines from 10 to 100 times as brilliantly as an entire ordinary galaxy does, and yet may be no more than a hundred-thousandth as wide as a galaxy.

This is something like finding an object 10 miles across that delivers as much total light as 100 suns.

It is very hard to understand where all that energy comes from and why it should be concentrated into so tiny a volume. Astronomers have tried to explain it in terms of the four interactions now known, but is it possible that there is a fifth greater than any of the four?

If so, it is not impossible that eventually man’s restless brain may come to understand and even utilize it.

[1]SeeThe First Reactor, another booklet in this series.[2]SeeNuclear ReactorsandNuclear Power Plants, companion booklets in this series.[3]SeeBreeder Reactors, another booklet in this series.[4]SeeThorium—and the Third Fuel, another booklet in this series.[5]SeeControlled Nuclear Fusion, another booklet in this series.

[1]SeeThe First Reactor, another booklet in this series.

[2]SeeNuclear ReactorsandNuclear Power Plants, companion booklets in this series.

[3]SeeBreeder Reactors, another booklet in this series.

[4]SeeThorium—and the Third Fuel, another booklet in this series.

[5]SeeControlled Nuclear Fusion, another booklet in this series.

Basic Laws of Matter(revised edition), Harrie S. W. Massey and Arthur R. Quinton, Herald Books, Bronxville, New York, 1965, 178 pp., $3.75. Grades 7-9. A nontechnical presentation of atoms and the laws governing their behavior.Biography of Physics, George Gamow, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1961, 338 pp., $6.50 (hardback); $2.75 (paperback). Grades 9-12. A history of theoretical physics.Discoverer of X Rays: Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, Arnulf K. Esterer, Julian Messner, New York, 1968, 191 pp., $3.50. Grades 7-10. This interesting biography includes a brief, but very helpful, pronouncing gazetteer of the German, Swiss, and Dutch names in the text.Ernest Rutherford: Architect of the Atom, Peter Kelman and A. Harris Stone, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1969, 72 pp., $3.95. Grades 5-7. A well-done biography of this famous atomic scientist. Many of the drawings illustrate theoretical ideas very well for the elementary grades. A glossary is included.Enrico Fermi: Atomic Pioneer, Doris Faber, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1966, 86 pp., $3.95. Grades 5-8. A biography of the man who built the first reactor.Giant of the Atom: Ernest Rutherford, Robin McKown, Julian Messner, New York, 1962, 191 pp., $3.50. Grades 7-12. The life and accomplishments of a great physicist.The History of the Atomic Bomb, Michael Blow, American Heritage Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1968, 150 pp., $5.95. Grades 5-9. This sumptuously illustrated history provides an informative explanation of nuclear physics in addition to comprehensive coverage of the bomb’s development and use.Inside the Atom, Isaac Asimov, Abelard-Schuman, Ltd., New York, 1966, 197 pp., $4.00. Grades 7-10. This comprehensive, well-written text explains nuclear energy and its applications.Madame Curie: A Biography, Eve Curie, translated by Vincent Sheean, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1937, 385 pp., $5.95 (hardback); $0.95 (paperback). Grades 9-12. This superb biography, which won the 1937 National Book Award for Nonfiction, illustrates dramatically the full spectrum of Marie Curie’s life.Men Who Mastered the Atom, Robert Silverberg, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1965, 193 pp., $3.49. Grades 7-9. Atomic energy history is told through the work of pioneer scientists from Thales to present-day researchers.The Neutron Story, Donald J. Hughes, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1959, 158 pp., out of print. Grades 7-9. A substantial and interesting account of neutron physics.Niels Bohr: The Man Who Mapped the Atom, Robert Silverberg, MacRae Smith Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1965, 189 pp., $3.95. Grades 8-12. An exciting, suspenseful, and humorous biography of one of the pioneers in atomic energy. Includes a glossary and references.The Questioners: Physicists and the Quantum Theory, Barbara Lovett Cline, Crowell Collier and MacMillan, Inc., New York, 1965, 274 pp., $5.00 (hardback); available in paperback with the titleMen Who Made A New Physics: Physicists and the Quantum Theory, New American Library, Inc., New York, $0.75. Grades 9-12. An exceptionally well-delineated and personable account of the development of the quantum theory by physicists in the first quarter of this century.The Restless Atom, Alfred Romer, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1960, 198 pp., $1.25. Grades 9-12. Astimulating nonmathematical account of the classic early experiments that advanced knowledge about atomic particles.Roads to Discovery, Ralph E. Lapp, Harper and Row, Publishers, New York, 1960, 191 pp., out of print. Grades 10-12. Historical survey of nuclear physics beginning with Roentgen’s discovery of X rays and concluding with the discoveries of the rare elements.Secret of the Mysterious Rays: The Discovery of Nuclear Energy, Vivian Grey, Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1966, 120 pp., $3.95. Grades 4-8. This outstanding history of nuclear research from Roentgen to Fermi is dramatically presented. The uncertainty of the unknown, the accidental discovery and the often lengthy and tedious research are woven in this story of scientists from around the world who pooled their knowledge and experience to unlock “the secrets of the mysterious rays”.Wilhelm Roentgen and the Discovery of X Rays, Bern Dibner, Franklin Watts, Inc., New York, 1968, 149 pp., $2.95. Grades 5-8. This detailed biography, illustrated with line drawings, historical photographs, and papers, is a fine addition to Watts’ “Immortals of Science” Series.Working with Atoms, Otto R. Frisch, Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1965, 96 pp., $4.95. Grades 9-12. Dr. Frisch presents a history of nuclear energy research and provides experiments for the reader. He gives a personal account of the pioneering work in which he and Lise Meitner explained the splitting of uranium and introduced the term “nuclear fission”.

Biography of Physics, George Gamow, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1961, 338 pp., $6.50 (hardback); $2.75 (paperback). Grades 9-12. A history of theoretical physics.

Discoverer of X Rays: Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, Arnulf K. Esterer, Julian Messner, New York, 1968, 191 pp., $3.50. Grades 7-10. This interesting biography includes a brief, but very helpful, pronouncing gazetteer of the German, Swiss, and Dutch names in the text.

Ernest Rutherford: Architect of the Atom, Peter Kelman and A. Harris Stone, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1969, 72 pp., $3.95. Grades 5-7. A well-done biography of this famous atomic scientist. Many of the drawings illustrate theoretical ideas very well for the elementary grades. A glossary is included.

Enrico Fermi: Atomic Pioneer, Doris Faber, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1966, 86 pp., $3.95. Grades 5-8. A biography of the man who built the first reactor.

Giant of the Atom: Ernest Rutherford, Robin McKown, Julian Messner, New York, 1962, 191 pp., $3.50. Grades 7-12. The life and accomplishments of a great physicist.

The History of the Atomic Bomb, Michael Blow, American Heritage Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1968, 150 pp., $5.95. Grades 5-9. This sumptuously illustrated history provides an informative explanation of nuclear physics in addition to comprehensive coverage of the bomb’s development and use.

Inside the Atom, Isaac Asimov, Abelard-Schuman, Ltd., New York, 1966, 197 pp., $4.00. Grades 7-10. This comprehensive, well-written text explains nuclear energy and its applications.

Madame Curie: A Biography, Eve Curie, translated by Vincent Sheean, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1937, 385 pp., $5.95 (hardback); $0.95 (paperback). Grades 9-12. This superb biography, which won the 1937 National Book Award for Nonfiction, illustrates dramatically the full spectrum of Marie Curie’s life.

Men Who Mastered the Atom, Robert Silverberg, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1965, 193 pp., $3.49. Grades 7-9. Atomic energy history is told through the work of pioneer scientists from Thales to present-day researchers.

The Neutron Story, Donald J. Hughes, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1959, 158 pp., out of print. Grades 7-9. A substantial and interesting account of neutron physics.

Niels Bohr: The Man Who Mapped the Atom, Robert Silverberg, MacRae Smith Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1965, 189 pp., $3.95. Grades 8-12. An exciting, suspenseful, and humorous biography of one of the pioneers in atomic energy. Includes a glossary and references.

The Questioners: Physicists and the Quantum Theory, Barbara Lovett Cline, Crowell Collier and MacMillan, Inc., New York, 1965, 274 pp., $5.00 (hardback); available in paperback with the titleMen Who Made A New Physics: Physicists and the Quantum Theory, New American Library, Inc., New York, $0.75. Grades 9-12. An exceptionally well-delineated and personable account of the development of the quantum theory by physicists in the first quarter of this century.

The Restless Atom, Alfred Romer, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1960, 198 pp., $1.25. Grades 9-12. Astimulating nonmathematical account of the classic early experiments that advanced knowledge about atomic particles.

Roads to Discovery, Ralph E. Lapp, Harper and Row, Publishers, New York, 1960, 191 pp., out of print. Grades 10-12. Historical survey of nuclear physics beginning with Roentgen’s discovery of X rays and concluding with the discoveries of the rare elements.

Secret of the Mysterious Rays: The Discovery of Nuclear Energy, Vivian Grey, Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1966, 120 pp., $3.95. Grades 4-8. This outstanding history of nuclear research from Roentgen to Fermi is dramatically presented. The uncertainty of the unknown, the accidental discovery and the often lengthy and tedious research are woven in this story of scientists from around the world who pooled their knowledge and experience to unlock “the secrets of the mysterious rays”.

Wilhelm Roentgen and the Discovery of X Rays, Bern Dibner, Franklin Watts, Inc., New York, 1968, 149 pp., $2.95. Grades 5-8. This detailed biography, illustrated with line drawings, historical photographs, and papers, is a fine addition to Watts’ “Immortals of Science” Series.

Working with Atoms, Otto R. Frisch, Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1965, 96 pp., $4.95. Grades 9-12. Dr. Frisch presents a history of nuclear energy research and provides experiments for the reader. He gives a personal account of the pioneering work in which he and Lise Meitner explained the splitting of uranium and introduced the term “nuclear fission”.

An American Genius: The Life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Herbert Childs, E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., New York, 1968, 576 pp., $12.95. This well-written, scientifically accurate, and very interesting biography captures the excitement of Lawrence’s life. Ernest Lawrence was the inventor of the cyclotron, a major member of the wartime atomic energy development, and the director of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.The Atom and Its Nucleus, George Gamow, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1961, 153 pp., $1.25. A popular-level discussion of nuclear structure and the applications of nuclear energy.Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, Henry D. Smyth, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1945, 308 pp., $4.00. A complete account of the wartime project that developed the first nuclear weapons and of the considerations that prompted their use.Atomic Quest, Arthur H. Compton, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 1956, 370 pp., $7.95. A personal narrative of the research that led to the release of atomic energy on a useful scale by a scientist who played a principal part in the atomic bomb project during World War II.The Atomists(1805-1933), Basil Schonland, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 1968, 198 pp., $5.60. This book, which can be understood by anyone who has had a high school physics course, presents atomic theory development from Dalton through Bohr. It achieves a good balance between popular treatments and highly technical works without slighting the technical aspects.Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi, Laura Fermi, Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1954, 267 pp., $5.00 (hardback); $2.45 (paperback). Laura Fermi writes about her husband, Enrico Fermi, the physicist who led the group that built the first nuclear reactor.The Born-Einstein Letters: The Correspondence Between Albert Einstein and Max and Hedwig Born from 1916 to 1955, commentaries by Max Born, translated by Irene Born, Walker and Company, 1971, 240 pp., $8.50. These interesting letters reveal the scientific and personal lives of these two atomic scientists.Einstein: His Life and Times, Philipp Frank, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1953, 298 pp., $6.95. A brilliant biography that reveals the richness of Einstein’s life and work and the tremendous impact he made upon physics.Enrico Fermi, Physicist, Emilio Segrè, Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1970, 288 pp., $6.95. This biography tells of Enrico Fermi’s intellectual history, achievements, and his scientific style. The scientific problems faced or solved by Fermi are explained in layman’s terms. Emilio Segrè was a friend and scientific collaborator who worked with Fermi for many years.An Introduction to Physical Science: The World of Atoms(second edition), John J. G. McCue, The Ronald Press Company, New York, 1963, 775 pp., $9.50. This textbook was written for college humanities students.J. J. Thomson: Discoverer of the Electron, George Thomson, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1966, 240 pp., $1.45. This biography, written by J. J. Thomson’s son, describes his research at the famed Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England.John Dalton and the Atom, Frank Greenaway, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1966, 256 pp., $7.50. A biography for the general reader and the high school science student. Dalton is famous for his development of chemical combinations based on atomic theory. This provided the basis for modern structural theories of chemistry.John Dalton and the Atomic Theory: The Biography of a Natural Philosopher, Elizabeth C. Patterson, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1970, 320 pp., $6.95(hardback); $1.95 (paperback). The drama of Dalton’s life—his rigorous self-teaching, scientific work, and struggle to overcome class barriers in 19th century England—is well presented. Quotations from letters, diaries, and published works give a clear picture of Dalton’s atomic theory research and his time.Man-made Transuranium Elements, Glenn T. Seaborg, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, 120 pp., $6.95 (hardback); $2.95 (paperback). The discovery, properties, and applications of elements heavier than uranium are considered in this book, which is designed as an introduction to the subject. Glenn Seaborg was co-discoverer of nine of the twelve transuranium elements.The Nature of Matter: Physical Theory from Thales to Fermi, Ginestra Amaldi, translated by Peter Astbury, Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1966, 332 pp., $5.95. A nontechnical history of atomic energy.Niels Bohr: His Life and Work as Seen by His Friends and Colleagues, S. Rozental (Editor), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1967, 355 pp., $5.95. An articulate and scholarly biography by the friends and co-workers of this outstanding atomic pioneer.Niels Bohr: The Man, His Science, and the World They Changed, Ruth Moore, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1966, 436 pp., $7.95. An interesting biography of one of the pioneers in the study of the internal structure of the atom.Otto Hahn: My Life, Otto Hahn, translated by Ernest Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, Herder and Herder, Inc., New York, 1970, 240 pp., $6.50. Autobiography of the man who discovered that the atom could be split.Otto Hahn: A Scientific Autobiography, Otto Hahn, Willy Ley, editor and translator, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1966, 320 pp., $9.95. Otto Hahn, winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize for his work in atomic fission, reviews thepioneer days in which a new science was created, and the role he played in its development.Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations, Werner Heisenberg, translated by Arthur J. Pomerans, Harper and Row, Publishers, New York, 1970, 247 pp., $7.95. Werner Heisenberg, a Nobel Prize physicist, presents his autobiography in the form of conversations with such men as Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Ernest Rutherford, Otto Hahn, and Enrico Fermi.Physics for Poets, Robert H. March, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New. York, 1970, 302 pp., $7.50. A physics textbook for nonscience students. The book covers certain developments of classical mechanics, relativity, and atomic and quantum physics. With this book the author won the 1971 American Institute of Physics—U. S. Steel Foundation Science Writing Award in Physics and Astronomy.Sourcebook on Atomic Energy(third edition), Samuel Glasstone, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1967, 883 pp., $15.00. An excellent standard reference work, written for both scientists and the general public.The Swift Years: The Robert Oppenheimer Story, Peter Michelmore, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1969, 273 pp., $6.95. Oppenheimer’s complex personality is delineated in this well-written biography. In the bibliography is a list of books that Oppenheimer felt “had done the most to shape his vocational attitude and philosophy of life”.The World of the Atom, 2 volumes, Henry A. Boorse and Lloyd Motz (Eds.), Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1966, 1873 pp., $35.00. Contains the actual text of landmark documents in the history of atomic physics, each preceded by commentary that places it in the context of the discoverer’s personal life and in the conditions prevailing in science and in society in his time.

The Atom and Its Nucleus, George Gamow, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1961, 153 pp., $1.25. A popular-level discussion of nuclear structure and the applications of nuclear energy.

Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, Henry D. Smyth, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1945, 308 pp., $4.00. A complete account of the wartime project that developed the first nuclear weapons and of the considerations that prompted their use.

Atomic Quest, Arthur H. Compton, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 1956, 370 pp., $7.95. A personal narrative of the research that led to the release of atomic energy on a useful scale by a scientist who played a principal part in the atomic bomb project during World War II.

The Atomists(1805-1933), Basil Schonland, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 1968, 198 pp., $5.60. This book, which can be understood by anyone who has had a high school physics course, presents atomic theory development from Dalton through Bohr. It achieves a good balance between popular treatments and highly technical works without slighting the technical aspects.

Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi, Laura Fermi, Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1954, 267 pp., $5.00 (hardback); $2.45 (paperback). Laura Fermi writes about her husband, Enrico Fermi, the physicist who led the group that built the first nuclear reactor.

The Born-Einstein Letters: The Correspondence Between Albert Einstein and Max and Hedwig Born from 1916 to 1955, commentaries by Max Born, translated by Irene Born, Walker and Company, 1971, 240 pp., $8.50. These interesting letters reveal the scientific and personal lives of these two atomic scientists.

Einstein: His Life and Times, Philipp Frank, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1953, 298 pp., $6.95. A brilliant biography that reveals the richness of Einstein’s life and work and the tremendous impact he made upon physics.

Enrico Fermi, Physicist, Emilio Segrè, Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1970, 288 pp., $6.95. This biography tells of Enrico Fermi’s intellectual history, achievements, and his scientific style. The scientific problems faced or solved by Fermi are explained in layman’s terms. Emilio Segrè was a friend and scientific collaborator who worked with Fermi for many years.

An Introduction to Physical Science: The World of Atoms(second edition), John J. G. McCue, The Ronald Press Company, New York, 1963, 775 pp., $9.50. This textbook was written for college humanities students.

J. J. Thomson: Discoverer of the Electron, George Thomson, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1966, 240 pp., $1.45. This biography, written by J. J. Thomson’s son, describes his research at the famed Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England.

John Dalton and the Atom, Frank Greenaway, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1966, 256 pp., $7.50. A biography for the general reader and the high school science student. Dalton is famous for his development of chemical combinations based on atomic theory. This provided the basis for modern structural theories of chemistry.

John Dalton and the Atomic Theory: The Biography of a Natural Philosopher, Elizabeth C. Patterson, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1970, 320 pp., $6.95(hardback); $1.95 (paperback). The drama of Dalton’s life—his rigorous self-teaching, scientific work, and struggle to overcome class barriers in 19th century England—is well presented. Quotations from letters, diaries, and published works give a clear picture of Dalton’s atomic theory research and his time.

Man-made Transuranium Elements, Glenn T. Seaborg, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, 120 pp., $6.95 (hardback); $2.95 (paperback). The discovery, properties, and applications of elements heavier than uranium are considered in this book, which is designed as an introduction to the subject. Glenn Seaborg was co-discoverer of nine of the twelve transuranium elements.

The Nature of Matter: Physical Theory from Thales to Fermi, Ginestra Amaldi, translated by Peter Astbury, Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1966, 332 pp., $5.95. A nontechnical history of atomic energy.

Niels Bohr: His Life and Work as Seen by His Friends and Colleagues, S. Rozental (Editor), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1967, 355 pp., $5.95. An articulate and scholarly biography by the friends and co-workers of this outstanding atomic pioneer.

Niels Bohr: The Man, His Science, and the World They Changed, Ruth Moore, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1966, 436 pp., $7.95. An interesting biography of one of the pioneers in the study of the internal structure of the atom.

Otto Hahn: My Life, Otto Hahn, translated by Ernest Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, Herder and Herder, Inc., New York, 1970, 240 pp., $6.50. Autobiography of the man who discovered that the atom could be split.

Otto Hahn: A Scientific Autobiography, Otto Hahn, Willy Ley, editor and translator, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1966, 320 pp., $9.95. Otto Hahn, winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize for his work in atomic fission, reviews thepioneer days in which a new science was created, and the role he played in its development.

Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations, Werner Heisenberg, translated by Arthur J. Pomerans, Harper and Row, Publishers, New York, 1970, 247 pp., $7.95. Werner Heisenberg, a Nobel Prize physicist, presents his autobiography in the form of conversations with such men as Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Ernest Rutherford, Otto Hahn, and Enrico Fermi.

Physics for Poets, Robert H. March, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New. York, 1970, 302 pp., $7.50. A physics textbook for nonscience students. The book covers certain developments of classical mechanics, relativity, and atomic and quantum physics. With this book the author won the 1971 American Institute of Physics—U. S. Steel Foundation Science Writing Award in Physics and Astronomy.

Sourcebook on Atomic Energy(third edition), Samuel Glasstone, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1967, 883 pp., $15.00. An excellent standard reference work, written for both scientists and the general public.

The Swift Years: The Robert Oppenheimer Story, Peter Michelmore, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1969, 273 pp., $6.95. Oppenheimer’s complex personality is delineated in this well-written biography. In the bibliography is a list of books that Oppenheimer felt “had done the most to shape his vocational attitude and philosophy of life”.

The World of the Atom, 2 volumes, Henry A. Boorse and Lloyd Motz (Eds.), Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1966, 1873 pp., $35.00. Contains the actual text of landmark documents in the history of atomic physics, each preceded by commentary that places it in the context of the discoverer’s personal life and in the conditions prevailing in science and in society in his time.

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