Ronald Wilfred (or Wilfrid) Gurney (1898– 14 April 1953)Bristol (University) Physics in the 1930s, Sir Neville Mott, Melville Wills Chair of Theoretical Physics, Bristol University 1933-ca.1953
/ref> was a British

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

and research pupil of

William Lawrence Bragg Sir William Lawrence Bragg (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his father William Henry Bragg "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by ...

at the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. A ...

during the 1920s and 1930s,

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

during the 1930s and later in the US, where he died in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

in 1898.''Proc. R. Soc. Lond.'' A 371, 56-66 (1980) "Memories of early days in solid state physics", N F Mott FRS, Accessed 7 April 2010
/ref>

Radioactive decay processes

Whilst at the Palmer Physical Laboratory at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

from 1926 to 1928, he discovered

alpha decay Alpha decay or α-decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle (helium nucleus). The parent nucleus transforms or "decays" into a daughter product, with a mass number that is reduced by four and an a ...

via

quantum tunnelling In physics, quantum tunnelling, barrier penetration, or simply tunnelling is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which an object such as an electron or atom passes through a potential energy barrier that, according to classical mechanics, shoul ...

, together with

Edward Condon Edward Uhler Condon (March 2, 1902 – March 26, 1974) was an American nuclear physicist, a pioneer in quantum mechanics, and a participant during World War II in the development of radar and, very briefly, of nuclear weapons as part of the Ma ...

and independently of

George Gamow George Gamow (sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov; ; 4 March 1904 – 19 August 1968) was a Soviet and American polymath, theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was an early advocate and developer of Georges Lemaître's Big Ba ...

. In the early 1900s, radioactive materials were known to have characteristic

exponential decay A quantity is subject to exponential decay if it decreases at a rate proportional to its current value. Symbolically, this process can be expressed by the following differential equation, where is the quantity and (lambda Lambda (; uppe ...

rates or half lives. At the same time, radiation emissions were known to have certain characteristic energies. By 1928, Gamow had solved the theory of the

of a nucleus via quantum tunnelling and the problem was also solved independently by Gurney and Condon.

Books

*''Elementary quantum mechanics'', Cambridge

ng. Ng, ng, or NG may refer to: * Ng (name) (吳黄伍), (吳 being the most common), a surname of Chinese origin Arts and entertainment * N-Gage (device), a handheld gaming system * Naked Giants, Seattle rock band * '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a vide ...

The University Press, 1934.
''Introduction to statistical mechanics''
New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1949. *''Electronic Processes in Ionic Crystals'' (1940, physics; with N.F. Mott)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurney, Ronald Wilfried 1898 births 1953 deaths Academics of the University of Bristol Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester British nuclear physicists British physicists

Radioactive decay processes

Books

See also

References