Ronald Wilfred Gurney Explained

Ronald Wilfred (or Wilfrid) Gurney (1898, in Cheltenham,^[1] England – 14 April 1953, in New York, New York)^[2] was a British theoretical physicist and research pupil of William Lawrence Bragg at the Victoria University of Manchester during the 1920s and 1930s, Bristol University during the 1930s and later in the US,^[2] where he died.

Radioactive decay processes

Whilst at the Palmer Physical Laboratory at Princeton University from 1926 to 1928,^[1] he discovered alpha decay via quantum tunnelling, together with Edward Condon and independently of George Gamow. In the early 1900s, radioactive materials were known to have characteristic exponential decay rates or half lives. At the same time, radiation emissions were known to have certain characteristic energies. By 1928, Gamow had solved the theory of the alpha decay of a nucleus via quantum tunnelling and the problem was also solved independently by Gurney and Condon.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Books

• Elementary quantum mechanics, Cambridge [Eng.] The University Press, 1934.^[6]
• Introduction to statistical mechanics, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1949.
• Electronic Processes in Ionic Crystals (1940, physics; with N.F. Mott)^[7]

See also

• Mott–Gurney law
• Gurney equations

Notes and References

1. https://www.jstor.org/pss/2990276 Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 371, 56-66 (1980) "Memories of early days in solid state physics", N F Mott FRS, Accessed 7 April 2010
2. http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/history/11.%20mott's%20memories.pdf Bristol (University) Physics in the 1930s, Sir Neville Mott, Melville Wills Chair of Theoretical Physics, Bristol University 1933-ca.1953
3. R W Gurney and E U Condon, "Quantum Mechanics and Radioactive Disintegration" Nature 122, 439 (1928); Phys. Rev. 33, 127 (1929)
4. http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4504_1.html Interview
5. Book: Friedlander, Gerhart . Kennedy, Joseph E . Miller, Julian Malcolm . Nuclear and Radiochemistry, 2nd edition. 1964 . John Wiley & Sons . New York, London, Sydney . 978-0-471-86255-0 . 225–7.
6. Hoyt, F. C.. Review of Elementary Quantum Mechanics by R. W. Gurney. Astrophysical Journal. September 1935. 82. 224. 10.1086/143670. 1935ApJ....82..224H.
7. Leighton. Philip A.. Review of Electronic Processes in Ionic Crystals by N. F. Mott and R. W. Gurney. Journal of Chemical Education. 18. 5. 1941. 249. 0021-9584. 10.1021/ed018p249.1. free.