Between transuranic elements and nuclear fission: the role played by interdisciplinarity in a scientific discovery

Abstract

Part of the physical and chemical investigations of nuclei gained new perspective as the neutron and artificial radioactivity were discovered in 1932 and 1933. Radiating different elements with neutrons, Enrico Fermi and his coworkers thought they have produced the first transuranic elements. However, over the years, this finding allowed many anomalies to rise. Only in 1939, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann observed that the neutron irradiation of uranium actually produced much lighter elements such as barium, and Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch identified the phenomenon as a nuclear fission. This paper emphasizes that the interdisciplinary character of nuclear research exerted dual role, preventing its discovery in 1934, but gradually offering new methodologies and theoretical possibilities in the years that followed, until 1939, paving the way for the discovery. Finally, some perspectives for Science education are discussed, especially regarding the teaching of certain aspects of the nature of Science.