Aston (Aston), Francis W.

September 1, 1877, Mr.. - November 20, 1945
English chemist Francis William Aston was born in Harborne, near Birmingham, the son of William Aston, a farmer and trader ironmonger, and Fanny Charlotte (Hollis) Aston, daughter of a prosperous Birmingham gunsmith. Francis was the third child among seven children by Aston. He spent his childhood on a farm parents. U A. soon became interested in science: in a makeshift laboratory he set their own scientific experiments. From 1889 to 1891. He studied at harbornskoy parochial school, and from 1891 to 1893. - In Malvernskom College, where he was the first pupil in the class.
In 1893, Mr.. A. entered the Masonic College in Birmingham (now the University of Birmingham), where he studied chemistry at пё.п·. Tilden and P.F. Frankland, and physics - in Dzh.G. Poynting. In 1898, Mr.. Foster, he got a scholarship that allowed him to return to the Masonic College, to work there together with Frankland on the study of optical properties of the products of substitution of tartaric acid. The results of his research he published in 1901. But the fellowship did not provide sufficient funds. A. Therefore, studying the chemistry of fermentation, from 1900 to 1903. worked as a chemist at the brewery. At the same time, he built a laboratory in his father's house and constructed the necessary equipment for the measurement of electrical discharges in vacuum tubes. For this work A. was awarded a scholarship of the newly established University of Birmingham, where from 1903 to 1908. He again worked with the Poynting. Here A. studied the phenomenon known as 'dark space Crookes' (named after the English chemist William Crookes), ie. space that appears between the cathode and negative glow arising when a pipe containing the gas under low pressure, electrical current is passed. He found that the size of this dark space is proportional to pressure and electric current and that there, next to the cathode, there is another, primary, dark space (it is now called 'space Aston').
. After the commission in 1909
. A trip around the world. became assistant Dzh.Dzh. Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University and the Royal Institution in London. A. educated chemist, but the knowledge of the cathode rays and beams that carry positive charges, allowed him to conduct experiments in the field, which lies on the boundary of physics and chemistry. Soon, Thompson has set a. task to improve the device, called a spherical discharge tube, which measures the ratio between the charge and mass for a beam of positively charged particles. At the same time, Thomson was interested in the ideas of Frederick Soddy in the study of isotopy and tried to separate the isotopes of neon. To this end he invented an apparatus for fractional distillation of neon and a bit heavier component, which Thompson called metaneonom. In order to measure the weight of the products of distillation, A. constructed a quartz microbalance, sensitive to the proportion of one-billionth of a gram.
A. achieved encouraging, though not the final results. But that his work was interrupted first world war, and the scientist had to change the direction of research. During the war, A. worked at the Royal Aircraft center at Farnborough, where he studied the influence of atmospheric conditions on the plating of aircraft. However, he managed to find time and opportunities to solve the problem for neon design a new apparatus that he designed in 1919. and called the mass spectrograph. This device increases the speed of positively charged ions that pass through the electric field, using a strong magnetic field to focus these ions on the photographic plate. Because the heavy atoms are rejected to a lesser extent than the lungs, the particles of different masses are separated and form a mass spectrum. Figure, which appears when the particles impact on the photographic plate, allowed a. speculate about their weight and size. Thus, he found that almost all elements have several isotopes.
In further studies A. formulated the rule of integers, according to which the mass of atoms is always expressed in whole numbers. Observations, however, showed that some atomic weights can not be accurately expressed in whole numbers. A. believed that the presence of fractional atomic weights due to the presence of isotopes. For example, scientists have discovered that there are 10 isotopes of neon has an atomic mass of 20 each of neon isotopes with atomic mass 22, resulting in the atomic mass of neon is equal to the usual 20.2. On the chemical properties of the mixture of isotopes of neon, this does not affect. They depend only on the atomic number of neon, ie. from its place in the periodic table. Made a. The discovery was initially seen as experimental confirmation of the hypothesis put forward in 1815, Mr.. British chemist William Prout, according to which all the atoms are formed from the common components. However, more recent studies have shown that this view leads to a too simplistic understanding of the structure of matter.
In 1922, Mr.. scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 'for the statement he using them as invented mass spectrograph opening of a large number of non-radioactive isotopes of elements and rules for the formulation of integers'. From the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences A. represented X.G. Sederbaum. He said: 'Thanks to made a. opening of a mystery over a hundred years had occupied the minds of chemists, finally unraveled and thousands of troubled mankind supposition was confirmed '.
True to its motto of 'More, more, and check again', A. developed a larger and more powerful mass spectrograph (in 1927 and 1935.), with which he was able to measure very small deviations from the rules of integers. Scientific explanation for these deviations of the atomic mass loss as a result of its transformation into energy between the particles inside the nucleus. The more closely related to the nuclear charges, the greater the deviation of their masses depend on the sum of their individual masses. By measuring these deviations, and. stamped them against the serial number of the many elements. The results of his research contributed to understanding the prevalence and stability of elements, and later the release of atomic energy from the nucleus of an atom.
A. enthusiastically engaged in skiing, swimming, mountaineering, cycling, tennis and golf, very fond of sea travel. In addition, he was a skilled photographer and a wonderful local musician. A. never married. Scientist died Nov. 20, 1945, Mr.. Cambridge. In accordance with the testament of his large estate was transferred to Trinity College (Cambridge).
A. served on the Board Trinitikolledzha (where he taught until his death), and as a member of the Royal Society of London, a foreign member of the Italian National Academy of Sciences and Academy of Sciences. He was awarded many prizes, t. h. John Scott Award, which awards Mr.. Philadelphia (1923), medals Hughes (1920) and Royal Medals (1938) Royal Society of London, as well as medals and awards Dadella Physics Institute (1941). From 1936 to 1945. A. was chairman of the Commission on atomic weights of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.