Nuclear Physics Breakthrough! Artificial Nuclear Fission! The Academic World Shocked! Professor Bruce, Come Back Quickly!

Britain, Cavendish Laboratory.

The atmosphere in the laboratory had been rather strange lately.

Everyone's faces were filled with curiosity, along with a trace of concern.

"My God!"

"Dr. Cockcroft hasn't left the laboratory for nearly a month, has he?"

"If this keeps up, won't something happen to him?"

As the laboratory's chief steward, Chadwick asked:

"Blackett, you entered the laboratory at the same time as Cockcroft, and the two of you are close."

"Do you know what has been going on with him lately?"

Blackett gave a wry smile and said:

"Isn't it all because of Professor Bruce's nuclear physics lecture half a year ago?"

"Ever since then, Cockcroft has been possessed, conducting experiments like mad every day."

"His first round of bombardment experiments found nothing. He's adjusting the parameters now for a second round."

Hiss!

Chadwick sucked in a sharp breath.

That kid Cockcroft was simply too insane.

Young people really were full of energy.

The "first round" Blackett spoke of meant bombarding the elements on the Periodic Table one by one with protons according to their atomic numbers, to see what would happen.

If nuclear fission truly existed, then protons whose energy had been increased by an accelerator might have a chance of smashing open an atom's nucleus and achieving fission.

And the choice of protons as the bombardment source had been carefully considered as well.

At present, the main bombardment sources in atomic research were the following: Alpha Rays, electrons, protons, X-rays, and Gamma Rays.

Electrons had too little mass; even when accelerated to extremely high speeds, their energy remained limited.

Alpha Rays, on the other hand, were too massive and were not easily accelerated to high-energy states.

X-rays and Gamma Rays were high-energy electromagnetic waves and could not bombard atomic nuclei.

Only protons were neither too