沃尔顿:从实验家到大先生  

Walton:From experimenter to great master

作　　者：姜雨婧 陆建隆[1] JIANG Yu-jing;LU Jian-long(College of Teacher Education,Nanjing Normal University,Nanjing Jiangsu 210023,China)

机构地区：[1]南京师范大学教师教育学院,江苏南京210023

出　　处：《大学物理》2022年第8期52-58,共7页College Physics

摘　　要：相对论是爱因斯坦对人类做出的最伟大科学贡献,特别是脍炙人口的质能方程.但世人却对用实验证明爱因斯坦质能方程的物理学家们不甚了解,直到曼哈顿工程造出原子弹才知晓.其实早在1932年,来自爱尔兰的沃尔顿和来自英国的科克罗夫特在分裂原子的过程中,他们成功通过实验的方式证实了爱因斯坦质能方程的等价性.沃尔顿和科克罗夫特两人由于1932年“用人工加速粒子产生原子核嬗变”这项伟大成就共享了1938年的休斯勋章以及1951年的诺贝尔物理学奖.相比于科克罗夫特的热情与外向,沃尔顿为人低调温和、谦虚内敛,也许正是因为他安静的性格,使得许多人忽视了他杰出的科研成就与卓越的社会贡献.本文以质能方程验证90周年为契机,向广大读者详细全面地介绍这位低调却备受爱尔兰人民爱戴的物理学家——沃尔顿.Relativity is Einstein’s greatest scientific contribution to mankind, especially the popular mass-energy equation. However, physicists who proved Einstein’s mass-energy equation by experiments were not known much until the Manhattan Project created the atomic bomb. In fact, as early as 1932, Walton from Ireland and Cockcroft from Britain successfully proved the equivalence of Einstein’s mass-energy equation in the process of experiments of splitting atoms. Walton and Cockcroft shared the Hughes Medal in 1938 and the Nobel Prize in physics in 1951 for their great achievement of “disintegration of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles” in 1932. Comparing with Cockcroft’s enthusiasm and extroversion, Walton was low-key, modest and introverted. His quiet personality perhaps have led many people to overlook his outstanding scientific achievements and social contributions. Taking the 90 th anniversary of the verification of the mass-energy equation as an opportunity, this paper gives a detailed and comprehensive introduction to Walton who is a low-key but much-loved Irish physicist.

关 键 词：沃尔顿 质能方程 原子核嬗变 诺贝尔物理学奖 

分 类 号：O4-1[理学—物理]