Cavendish Laboratory : Smekal, Lise Meitner and Hans Geiger in 1928

Cavendish Laboratory

<p style='text-align: justify;'>In 1927 C. Ellis persuaded Lise Meitner that the spectrum of β-rays in radioactive decay was continuous. In order to consolidate this new agreement, which contrasted with the Cambridge-Vienna controversy (and, as some people said, to make sure that they had not left anything important out of their book), Rutherford and Chadwick held this β and γ ray conference in Cambridge in 1928. It was a rather informal event, with never more than three lectures on any of the five days and including one day of rest. A month after the conference, Geiger sent one of his new counting tubes to Rutherford. (A.Brown, 'The Neutron and the Bomb', OUP 1997)</p>