February 26, 1936
Bohr publishes his theory of the compound nucleus. He visualized a nucleus made up of neutrons and protons closely packed together rather than a single particle. In this model, a neutron, upon colliding with a heavy nucleus, does not interact with just a single nucleon, but rather distributes its energy throughout the nucleus. This creates a slightly unstable nucleus which, in a distinct second stage, would lose its extra energy by decaying in a number of different ways.

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