Aston, Francis William
Published: August 21, 2008, 8:48 pm
Updated: August 21, 2008, 8:48 pm
This article has been reviewed by the following Topic Editor:
Tom Lawrence
Francis William Aston.
Francis William Aston (1877-1945), British physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1922 for his development of the mass spectrograph, a device capable of separating atoms or molecular fragments of different masses and measuring those masses with remarkable accuracy. Aston used the mass spectrograph to discover a large number of nuclides, or nuclear species, that differ in mass. This device led to his discovery that the helium nucleus was less massive than the two hydrogen nuclei that could have formed it, implying that the missing mass could somehow be converted into energy through the process of nuclear fusion. The mass spectrograph is still widely used today in geology, chemistry, biology, and nuclear physics.
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Citation
Cutler J. Cleveland (Lead Author);Tom Lawrence (Topic Editor) "Aston, Francis William". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth August 21, 2008; Last revised Date August 21, 2008; Retrieved May 19, 2013 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aston,_Francis_William>
The Author
Cutler J. Cleveland is Professor of Earth and Environment at Boston University, where he also is on the faculty of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Professor Cleveland is Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Energy (Elsevier, 2004), winner of an American Library Association award, the Dictionary of Energy (Elsevier, 2005), Handbook of Energy (Elsevier, forthcoming), and is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Earth. He is the recipient of the Adelma ... (Full Bio)
Francis William Aston.
Francis William Aston (1877-1945), British physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1922 for his development of the mass spectrograph, a device capable of separating atoms or molecular fragments of different masses and measuring those masses with remarkable accuracy. Aston used the mass spectrograph to discover a large number of nuclides, or nuclear species, that differ in mass. This device led to his discovery that the helium nucleus was less massive than the two hydrogen nuclei that could have formed it, implying that the missing mass could somehow be converted into energy through the process of nuclear fusion. The mass spectrograph is still widely used today in geology, chemistry, biology, and nuclear physics.
Further Reading
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