Henry Moseley

Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley (November 23, 1887-August 10, 1915) was an English physicist. His main contribution to science, the justification of the concept of atomic number, advanced chemistry.

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Moseley was born in Weymouth, England. In 1906 he entered Trinity College of the University of Oxford, and on graduation from that institution went to Manchester University to work with Ernest Rutherford. For his first year at Manchester, he had a full teaching load, but after a year he was relieved of his teaching duties and began full-time research.

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In 1913, by using x-ray spectra obtained by diffraction in crystals, he found a systematic relation between wavelength and atomic number, Moseley's law. Previous to this, atomic numbers had been thought of as an arbitrary number, based on sequence of atomic weights, but altered when necessary (for example, by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev) to put an element in the appropriate place in the periodic table. Moseley's discovery showed that atomic numbers were not arbitrary but had an experimentally measurable basis. In addition, Moseley showed that there were gaps in the sequence at numbers 43, 61 and 75 (now known to be radioactive, non-naturally-occurring, technetium and promethium, and the last discovered naturally-occurring element rhenium, respectively). Mendeleev had previously predicted technetium, and Bohuslav Brauner had previously predicted promethium; Moseley confirmed their predictions, predicted one additional undiscovered element, and showed there were no other gaps in the periodic table between aluminum and gold.

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In 1914 he resigned at Manchester to return to Oxford to pursue his research, but when World War I broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers. He fought at Gallipoli, where he was killed in action.

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Only twenty-seven years old at death, Moseley could in many scientists' opinions have contributed much to the knowledge of atomic structure had he lived a bit longer.

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1887: 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar)....

August 10: August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 143 days remaining....

1915: 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar)....

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