Word: proton
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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When hit by a fast-moving proton, they shatter into many fragments. The list of these sub-atomic objects (mesons, V-par-ticles, etc.) is growing rapidly, and with it grows the baffled curiosity of the physicists...
...even create negative protons, which would be really sensational. Ordinary protons are positively charged. Combined with one or more negative electrons, they form the familiar atoms of ordinary matter. But scientists have already created positive electrons (positrons). This suggests that it may be possible to create negative protons (not yet named nega-tons). Combined with positrons, these should form "reversed matter." An atom of "anti-hydrogen," for instance, would have a negative proton as its nucleus, with a positron instead of an electron revolving around...
Astronomer Fritz Zwicky of Cal Tech thinks there is another way to pack matter tightly. Normal atoms contain one electron for each proton in the nucleus. If the electrons could be persuaded to unite with the protons, each pair would form a neutron. This reaction does not take place under normal conditions; the electrons circle forever, and the protons stay in the nucleus. But Zwicky believes that under the strange and violent conditions that exist in certain large stars, electrons may unite with protons...
Under the Alpher-Herman hypothesis, the gas, constantly expanding, soon cooled enough to allow an occasional proton to join with a neutron, forming the two-part nucleus of heavy hydrogen. Then, little by little, larger nuclei were formed, such as lithium, boron and carbon. Most of the nuclei grew by capturing more neutrons. When they captured too many, they became unstable. Then some of the neutrons inside them turned into protons and electrons. The electrons shot off as high-energy beta particles...
Before a select audience of 250 rapt ladies and a dozen faintly bored gentlemen, some 13 bosomy A.E. Associates in flowing evening gowns gyrated gracefully about a stage in earnest imitation of atomic forces at work. An ample electron in black lace wound her way around two matrons labeled "proton" and "neutron" while an elderly ginger-haired Geiger counter clicked out their radioactive effect on a pretty girl named Agriculture. At a climactic moment, a Mrs. Monica Davial raced across the stage in spirited representation of a rat eating radioactive cheese. Mrs. Davial, it was noted in the program...