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Article ID: CBB299379530

‘Let the Stars Shine in Peace!’ Niels Bohr and Stellar Energy, 1929–1934 (2017)

Kragh, Helge S. (Author)

Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Volume: 74
Issue: 2
Pages: 126-148

URI: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00033790.2017.1318171

DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2017.1318171

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Faced with various anomalies related to nuclear physics in particular, in 1929 Niels Bohr suggested that energy might not be conserved in the atomic nucleus and the processes involving it. By this radical proposal he hoped not only to get rid of the anomalies but also saw a possibility to explain a puzzle in astrophysics, namely the energy generated by stars. Bohr repeated his suggestion of stellar energy arising ex nihilo on several occasions but without ever going into detail. In fact, it is not very clear what he meant or how seriously he took the stellar energy hypothesis. This paper relates Bohr's comments to the period's attempts to find a mechanism for stellar energy and also to the role played by astrophysics at the Copenhagen institute. Moreover, it looks at how Bohr's hypothesis was received not only by physicists but also by astronomers. In this regard the disciplinary status of astrophysics and its contemporary relation to the new quantum mechanics is of relevance. It turns out that, with very few exceptions, the hypothesis was met with silence by astronomers and astrophysicists concerned with the problem of stellar energy production. And yet, for a brief period of time it did have an impact on how physicists thought about the interior of the stars.

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