Why do you think that scientists in the 20th century thought that it was important to “unlock” the structures of the atom?

The 20th century saw huge advances in our understanding and use of the nucleus. For instance, in 1939 scientists Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch discovered nuclear fission – a process by which radioactive materials release energy when they are induced to split.

Realising the huge amount of energy that such a reaction produces, scientists were tasked with developing this new knowledge initially for harm in nuclear weapons. Just six years after fission’s discovery, it was harnessed in the atom bombs that destroyed the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and controversially ended the Second World War. Later, much more powerful hydrogen bombs were developed that combined fission with the process powering the Sun – fusion.

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