Articles and books on the neutron history

Some Aspects of Neutron Scattering in India and Asia-Oceania Region: 1958-2012

Tribute to Frank Moore

• Contribution to crystallography

• Brian’s story

• Data Rejection Criteria and Estimates of Standard Deviations of Diffraction Data
  By Frank Moore (1972)

• Frank Moore’s slides
  By Frank Moore (1972)

• Neutron scattering at HIFAR – glimpses of the past in Australia
  By M. Elcombe

• Harwell Old and New – a perspective
  By Michael Jewess, Dec 2019

• Fifty Years of Neutron Diffraction (790 kB)
  By Bacon, Egelstaff & Squires, 1950s

• Willis – a Tribute (580 kB)
  By Gerry Lander, Oct 2016

• Anecdotal Autobiography on Harwell days (85 kB)
  By Peter Schofield, January 2017

• 1960s (98 kB)
  By Derry Jones

• 1963-1975 (116 kB)
  By John White

• 1970 (585 kB)
  By Peter Egelstaff

• 1975 (869 kB)
  By C. G. Windsor and R. N. Sinclair

• 1978 report on the ‘Neutron Beam Instruments at Harwell’:
  By A.H. Baston and D.H.C. Harris
  • Part 1
  • Part 2

• 1990 (194 kB)
  By Mike Hutchings

• Harwell Laboratory Neutron Scattering Instrumentation and Ancillary Equipment for Sale:
  By Mike Hutchings
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4

Picture: September 1973. Margaret Thatcher, Minister of Education visits the Badger diffractomoeter in Harwell. David Worcester is on the right. Walter Marshal is between him and Margaret Thatcher, Graham Low is on the left. (from the Harwell Bulletin, kindly sent to G. Saccai by DW).

• ISIS – The evolution of neutron reflectometry: personal recollections (326 kB)
  By Jeff Penfold, June 2016

• Das HZB – entstanden aus Hahn-Meitner-Institut und BESSY (490 kB)
  HZB website

• Planning Europe’s High Flux Reactor
  By Laurence Passell, November 2018

• History of the ILL 1967 – 2007
  By Bernard Jacrot, 2006 (translated by Ron Ghosh, 2016). Courtesy of ILL.

• ILL celebrates 40 years in the service of science
  F. Vauquois and C. Sutton, CERN Courier (2007)

• History of the ILL from a personal perspective (2011)
  A. Hewat

• The Backscattering Story: a personal view (826 kB)
  By A. Heidemann, ILL, August 2014

• Neutrons in Biology: Personal reminiscences of early days (330 kB)
  By G. (Joe) Zaccai (CNRS IBS, ILL), September 2014

• Dr. Denis Guthleben of the CNRS addresses the 50^th celebration (19 Jan 2017) of the ILL’s founding with a look back at the very early history of the ILL project in French
  For a transcript see ILL: At the origins of a remarkable international adventure .

• Paul Ageron’s 1964 paper on the design of the High-flux reactor
  Mentioned on p. 4 of the Guthleben pdf is the famous paper presented at the 1963 Geneva Conference and describing the proposed reactor in Grenoble. Although, some of the design was based on the BNL HFBR, then under construction, there were many unique features to the proposed ILL design, especially of the cold source. Paul Ageron went on to a long and distinguished career at the ILL, see: Ageron Obituary

• FRM II – 40 years atom-egg – 40 Jahre Atom-Ei (7MB)

• From the Atomic Egg to the FRM II (27 kB)
  TUM – FRM II website

• Neutrons in Germany (1.42 MB)

Delft 50th anniversary (811kB)

Some remarks on the Petten (Holland) High-Flux-Reactor

After the end of WWII, the promise of nuclear energy spurred many countries to start programmes connected with nuclear energy. Holland was no different, and in fact in the country two centers were started. The largest at Petten has been in use since Nov. 1961 and since 1970 runs at 45 MW. The reactor was furnished by Allis-Chalmers.

The HFR is now the property of the European Commission and is operated by the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG). The life span of the current HFR will end soon and it is hoped that a new reactor (Pallas) will be constructed on the site.

A recent presentation by G-J de Haas from 2013 (see A) gives an overview of present activities, the most important of which are neutron irradiations of materials and the production of medical isotopes. Further details, especially of the connection to the fusion programme of the European Commission can be found in the Annual Report from 2014 (see B).

In the early days, Dutch groups were involved at Petten in performing some pioneering scattering experiments. Perhaps the best-known work coming out of Petten was the “Rietveld Analysis”. Bob van Laar and Henk Schenk have told that story (see C).

But this was not the only work in scattering from those times, and we have acquired a translation from a Dutch historian Cees Andriesse of part of a book he wrote about the history of the Petten reactor, and that is attached (see D). I appreciate his efforts to help to fill in the gaps on some of the earlier work.

The Dutch programme on neutron scattering no longer uses Petten, but the JRC of the European Commission does have a small scattering effort with two diffractometers set up for residual stress measurements that are used in activities related to nuclear component safety. An example of a recent publication is attached (see E). In addition, Carsten Ohms has given the link to his thesis work, performed at Petten.

https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid%3A75b3e3a8-399c-4584-ad7b-647a76908415?collection=research

I would be happy to receive any further comments on the History of Petten’s HFR for the website.

Gerry Lander, July 2018

1. G-J de Haas Presentation 2013
2. Annual Report 2014
3. Powder profile refinement at Petten – a history
4. History of the Petten reactor – Cees Andriesse
5. Residual stress from Petten 2016 – Sz. Szávai

• Des neutrons pour explorer la matière. Orphée, réacteur de recherche à Saclay (7 MB)
  Pages 1 – 63. By Denis Mazzucchetti. Courtesy of LLB.

• Des neutrons pour explorer la matière. Orphée, réacteur de recherche à Saclay (5 MB)
  Pages 64 – 113. By Denis Mazzucchetti. Courtesy of LLB.

• Let’s scatter neutrons / Diffusions les neutrons 2018-9
  This comic-book from the Orphee reactor is designed to present the daily life at the reactor as its time comes to an end.
  French version
  English version

• 50 Years of Swiss Neutron Diffraction Instrumentation (691 kB)
  By P. Fischer, J. Schefer, L. Keller, O. Zaharko, V. Pomjakushin, D. Sheptyakov, N. Aliouane and M. Frontzek

• On the History of Neutron Spectrometers in Switzerland (864 kB)
  By Albert Furrer

• Neutron Scattering in Switzerland in the 20^th Century (701 kB)
  By P. Fischer and A. Furrer, Swiss Neutron News, March 2016

• The Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ: From Idea to Realization (3,37 MB)
  By Albert Furrer, Swiss Neutron News, April 2017

History of pulsed research reactors at JINR, Dubna

Original article and related video can be found at http://flnph.jinr.ru/en/history/history-of-reactors

Neutron sources at Dubna by Valery N. Shvetsov, 2017

Brockhouse and the Nobel Prize – Obituary (291 kB)
By E.C. Svensson and J.M. Rowe. Courtesy of the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre.

Canada’s Neutron Source, the NRU reactor, closes (1.15MB)
Daniel Banks, Neutron News, 29(2), 25-31

1 Holden_CRNL 1949-1959 CP18.pdf
The First Decade of Neutron Scattering at Chalk River: 1949-59
by Thomas M. Holden

2 Greedan_CRNL 1949-2017 CP18.pdf
Powder Neutron Diffraction and Materials Chemistry/Physics Research in Canada (1949-2017)
by John E. Greedan, Christopher R. Wiebe, and Dominic H. Ryan

3 Enderle_Evidence of topological quantum state CP18.pdf
Early experimental evidence of a topological quantum state: The signature of the Haldane
ground state revealed by scattered neutrons
by Mechthild Enderle, Michel Kenzelmann, and W.J.L. (Bill) Buyers

4 Root & Banks_CNBC CP18.pdf
The Canadian Neutron Beam Centre: 1985 to the Present Day
by John Root and Daniel Banks

5 Canadian Neutron Beam Centre_2019.pdf
CANADIAN NEUTRON BEAM CENTRE – Final Activity Report

6 Banks & Harroun_Facets_2019.pdf
Seventy years of scientific impact using neutron beams at the Chalk RiverLaboratories
Daniel Banks and Thad A. Harroun

The first two decades of neutron scattering at the Chalk River Laboratories
by Thomas M. Holden in Quantum Beam Science 2021

How Argonne’s Intense Pulsed Neutron Source Came to Life and Gained Its Niche (548 kB)
The View from an Ecosystem Perspective. By Catherine Westfall. Published in Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 40 (2010): 350-98.

The NIST Center for Neutron Research: Over 40 Years Serving NIST/NBS and the Nation (5 MB)
By John J. Rush and Ronald L. Cappelletti. Courtesy of NIST: http://www.ncnr.nist.gov/NCNRHistory_Rush_Cappelletti.pdf

• Reactor Research in the 1950s (6 MB)
  In Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1946-1961 (chapter 8, 152-176) by Robert P. Crease

• Reactor Research in the 1950s (4 MB)
  In Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1946-1961 (chapter 8, pp. 177-199) by Robert P. Crease

• The High Flux Beam Reactor (5 MB)
  In Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1961-1972 (chapter 12) by Robert P. Cease

• History of the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s High Flux Beam Reactor (250 kB)
  Compiled by S. M. Shapiro. Courtesy of BNL.

• Anxious history: The High Flux Beam Reactor and Brookhaven National Laboratory (200 kB)
  By Robert P. Crease

• The Fiftieth Anniversary of Brookhaven National Laboratory: A Turbulent Time (454kB)
  By Peter D. Bond

Photo by BNL.

• A History of Neutron Scattering at ORNL (1.9MB)
  Jeremy Rumsey (2018), NeutronNews, 29:1

The discovery of the neutron and its consequences Valery Nesvizhevsky and Jacques Villain

The Summer of 1954 and Paths to the Institut Laue-Langevin
by Worcester et al.

Neutron Spectroscopy: How it all began
By Laurence Passal. Article prepared for a Los Alamos Workshop held at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab (LBL) in California in the late 1980s.

US Neutron Facility Development in the Last Half-Century: A Cautionary Tale
By John J. Rush

The birth of time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction at pulsed sources
By Izabela M. Soshowska. Published in Crystal Research and Technology 50(9-10)(2015), 705-715.