Almost 50 people gathered in the Pear lecture theatre, University of Manchester for this fascinating meeting organised by Peter Rowlands and Neil Todd for the History of Physics Group in conjunction with the Manchester Branch on October 19th 2013.

After registration and coffee the group enjoyed a masterly tour of the 1912 buildings by Neil Todd — versed in physics, neurology and science history — stopping at significant points outside and inside the buildings, pausing to show details of the rooms and sites of the equipment devoted to Physics and Electro-Technics in 1912. In particular, he indicated where in the lower ground floor Bohr and Moseley occupied adjacent labs in 1912 and 1013. The group was also treated to an audio recording of Neils Bohr delivering the Rutherford lecture at Imperial College in 1958.

After lunch Dr. Todd gave a short talk on the probable interactions of Bohr and Moseley in Manchester. Arthur Schuster had been in charge until 1906; when Rutherford took over in 1907 there was an emphasis on studies in radioactivity. In 1912 Bohr would have undergone the training course of experiments in radioactivity designed by Miss Doris Bailey.

Then followed talks by the two authors of �Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom‘ — upon which much of the talks were based — Dr. Finn Aaserud and Prof. John L Heilbron. Dr. Aaserud, under the title: �At home while away:the private background of Bohr‘s scientific creativity‘ described how Bohr‘s private life affected his creativity. He was first with JJ Thomson in Cambridge but was much happier in Rutherfords Manchester laboratories. Aaserud had been granted access to some 200 letters between Bohr and his fiancé Margrethe, later his wife, and other members of his close and affectionate family. Even on their honeymoon Bohr and his wife first visited Cambridge and Manchester to refine a paper before going up to Loch Lomond.

Prof. Heilbron, of UC Berkeley — though often in the UK — chose as his lecture title �Bohr, Moseley: a fleeting collaboration‘. Although each had close family support, Moseley, the conservative Anglican Englishman, was very different from the free-thinking atheist Bohr and they probably had little contact in that early summer of 1912. Bohr criticised a paper by CG Darwin (though they became friends later) while Moseley thought von Laue had not understood the x-ray diffraction experiment properly. Heilbron is convinced that, had Moseley survived the battlefields of Gallipoli, he would have shared the 1917 Nobel Prize with Charles Barkla.

After this thoroughly enjoyable day many of the group gathered at Hulme Hall, where Bohr stayed in 1912, for a sumptuous wine reception and celebration dinner. Neil Todd had the novel idea of going round the table and encourage each to speak to a toast of their choosing.

It should be mentioned that accommodation had been arranged at the Manchester Business School which was excellent and favourably priced at around £50 B &B .

Report by Derry Jones and Malcolm Cooper

7 August 2014

Neil Todd has recorded the proceedings of some of these lectures which are now live on YouTube, they are bound together in a Playlist "Quantum atom 100 years old" or they can be linked separately:

http://youtu.be/jOoQQ9xVK2U

http://youtu.be/bqRuR9AgW5o

http://youtu.be/EYIhx5YFNg0

Page last updated 29 Aug 2014