Saturday, January 14, 2012

Conversations with Henry about another Henry

Henry: Henry Moseley really convinced everyone that atomic numbers were real. Atomic number was just Bohr's theory until Henry Moseley proved it true.

Me: Moseley's Law?

Henry: Yes. A theory becomes a law when it gets tested beyond disproof. He proved the atomic number using X-rays.

Me: How come Moseley never got the Nobel Prize like you did?

Henry: He was killed--took a Turkish bullet in the head at Gallipoli in 1915--the same year I was born.
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Henry Moseley (1887-1915)
At the link, Isaac Asimov is quoted: "In view of what he [Moseley] might still have accomplished ... his death might well have been the most costly single death of the War to mankind generally."

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