Frances Pleasonton

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Frances Pleasonton
ORNL’s Arthur Snell and Frances Pleasonton with a device to count neutron decays
Alma materBryn Mawr College
Known forNeutron decay
Scientific career
InstitutionsOak Ridge National Laboratory

Frances Pleasonton (1912–1990) was a Particle Physicist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She was an active teacher and researcher, and a member of the team who first demonstrated neutron decay in 1951.

Early life and education

Pleasonton earned her bachelor's degree at

Rochelle salt.[4]

Research

Pleasonton was an active researcher in neutron decay.[5] There were several attempts to measure neutron half-life before the second world war, all of which failed due to the lack of availability of intense neutron sources.[5] Arthur Snell and Leonard Miller built the Oak Ridge Graphite Reactor, which could focus beams of neutrons and allow scientists to observe their decay.[5] They measured the half-life of a neutron in 1951.[6] Pleasonton was supported by the United States Atomic Energy Commission and published broadly.[7][8][9] In 1958 they examined the decay of helium-6, Pleasonton and Snell monitoring the directions of neutrinos and electrons.[10] This result confirmed the electron-neutrino theory of beta decay.[6] In 1973 she authored several sections of the report for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.[11] At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pleasonton's laboratory was visited by the Queen of Greece and the King of Jordan.[10] Pleasonton went on to study the ionisation of xenon x-rays.[12]

Pleasonton remained in Tennessee after her retirement from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and was involved in citizens groups to protect the environment.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bryn Mawr College Calendar. Bryn Mawr College. 1944.
  2. ^ "Bryn Mawr College Yearbook. Class of 1934". Bryn Mawr College. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  3. ^ a b Bryn Mawr College (1944). Bryn Mawr College Calendar, 1943-1944. Special Collections Bryn Mawr College Library. Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr College.
  4. doi:10.1119/1.1990525
    .
  5. ^ a b c "The short life of a neutron | ORNL". www.ornl.gov. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  6. ^ a b "History of Fundamental and Applied Sciences Achievements in Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics – Discovery of America by Queltanews - Technopark QUELTA". tp.quelta.com.ua. Archived from the original on 2018-07-15. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  7. S2CID 94933142
    .
  8. ^ "Fragment-mass and kinetic-energy distributions from the spontaneous fission of $sup 246$Cm | Sci-napse | Academic search engine for paper". Scinapse. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  9. ISSN 0375-9474
    .
  10. ^
    ISSN 0029-5582
    .
  11. doi:10.2172/4469547
    . Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  12. ^ Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Mathematical and physical sciences. Harrison and Son. 1957.
  13. ^ "TENNESSEE CITIZENS FOR WILDERNESS PLANNING" (PDF). 1981-11-09. Retrieved 2018-07-15.[permanent dead link]
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