Francis William Aston:
Francis William Aston was a British chemist, physicist and Nobel laureate.
Birth:
September 1, 1877 in Harborne, Birmingham, England
Death:
November 20, 1945 in Cambridge, England
Claim to Fame:
Aston was a British chemist and physicist who was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his invention of the mass spectrometer and the discovery of isotopes of non-radioactive elements. Mass spectrometers separate ions by mass by accelerating them through a magnetic field. The charged particles will curve through the magnetic field and the more massive the charged particle, the less its path will bend.
Aston used his device to identify 212 natural isotopes and formulated a Whole Number Rule. The rule states the mass of oxygen isotope is defined at 16, all other isotopes will have masses equal to whole numbers.
Aston used his device to identify 212 natural isotopes and formulated a Whole Number Rule. The rule states the mass of oxygen isotope is defined at 16, all other isotopes will have masses equal to whole numbers.
