Radioactive Transformations

Radioactive Transformations describes Ernest Rutherford's Nobel Prize-winning investigations into the mysteries of radioactive matter. In this historic work, Rutherford outlines the scientific investigations that led to and coincided with his own research-including the work of Wilhelm R?ntgen, J. J. Thomson, and Marie Curie-and explains in detail the experiments that provided a glimpse at special relativity, quantum mechanics, and other concepts that would shape modern physics.

This new edition features a comprehensive introduction by Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek which engagingly explains how Rutherford's early research led to a better understanding of topics as diverse as the workings of the atom's nucleus, the age of our planet, and the fusion in stars.