Lesson Five : History of the Neutron Star
The neutron, an elementary particle with neutral charge in the nucleus of atoms, was predicted by Ernest Rutherford in 1920. Twelve years later, James Chadwick found experimental proof of the existence of neutrons and later received the Nobel Prize for his discovery. Only two years after this discovery, astrophysicists predicted the existence of neutron stars.
In 1934, after months of rigorous calculations regarding star death and of analysis of the properties of neutrons, Fritz Zwicky and Walter Baade published the paper Supernovae and Cosmic Rays. In this paper, they predict, “With all reserve we advance the view that supernovae represent the transitions from ordinary stars into neutron stars, which in their final stages consist of extremely closely packed neutrons.” They believed that these neutron stars were rapidly spinning, dense remnants of dead stars.
Ernest Rutherford
Fritz Zwicky
James Chadwick
Walter Baade
