Chronologie des découvertes de la Physique et de la Radioactivité

Chronologie des découvertes de la Radioactivité et de l'Atome

“On peut concevoir encore que dans des mains criminelles le radium puisse devenir très dangereux, et ici on peut se demander si l'humanité a avantage à connaître les secrets de la nature, si elle est mûre pour en profiter ou si cette connaissance ne lui sera pas nuisible. L'exemple des découvertes de Nobel est caractéristique ; les explosifs puissants ont permis aux hommes de faire des travaux admirables. Ils sont aussi un moyen terrible de destruction entre les mains des grands criminels qui entraînent les peuples vers la guerre. Je suis de ceux qui pensent avec Nobel que l'humanité tirera plus de bien que de mal des découvertes nouvelles.”

Ainsi s'exprimait Pierre Curie en recevant le prix Nobel de physique en 1903.

Voici la chronologie (en anglais) des grandes découvertes concernant la radioactivité et le nucléaire,d'après et avec l'accord de J. Ellsworth Weaver III.

En gras les découvertes françaises, en vert les prix Nobel

En violet, j'indique aussi les dates remarquables de la Radioprotection, en bleu, les découvertes pour l'instrumentation et les unités et en rouge les incidents français significatifs, ainsi que Three Mile Island et les RBMK dont Tchernobyl.

Les renvois en bas de page donnent mes propres interventions et anecdotes dans cette chronologie (à lire à partir de 1937).

1886	H. Hertz characterizes long wave electromagnetic radiation.
1891	H. Hertz, assisted by P. Lenard, studies the penetrating power of cathode rays.
1895	Jean Perrin, Cathode rays are negative particles
1895	Pierre Curie, loss of magnetism at high temperature, (Curie point)
1895	(Nov 8) Roentgen discovers X-rays.
1895	(Dec 22) Roentgen X-radiodiographs his wife's hand.
1895	Rutherford shows that "uranium emanation" has a spectral line of helium
1896	(Jan 1) Roentgen sends radiographs to colleagues.
1896	(Jan 29) First therapeutic applications of X-rays (Grubbe, Voigt, Despeignes)
1896	(Mar 3) Becquerel demonstrates the radioactivity of uranium.
1897	J.J. Thomson demonstrates corpuscular nature of cathode rays. He theorizes that these electrons might be a constituent part of all matter. He reports the mass of the electron.
1898	(Mar) Discovery of radioactivity of thorium by G. Schmidt.
1898	Henri Poincare, questions absolute time and simultaniety. (France)
1898	(Apr 12) Marie Sklodovska Curie announces the probable presence in pitchblende ores of a new element endowed with powerful radioactivity.
1898	(July 13) Polonium isolated from pitchblende by Marie & Pierre Curie.
1898	(July) Marie & Pierre Curie coin word "radioactivity."
1898	(Dec 26) Radium-226 isolated from pitchblende by Marie & Pierre Curie
1898	Becquerel receives skin burn from radium given to him by the Curies that he keeps in his vest pocket. He declares, "I love this radium but I have a grudge against it!"
1899	Radioactive gaseous emanation from thorium is described by Rutherford
1899	André Louis Debierne (France) discovers actinium, a radioactive element (atomic number 89.)
1899	Joseph John Thomson, measurement of the charge and mass of the electron
1899	Rutherford finds two kinds of radiation, which he names alpha and beta, emitted from radium.
1900	Discovery of gamma rays by Paul Villard. (France)
1900	Friedrich Ernst Dorn discovers radon (atomic number 86), a radioactive daughter of uranium.
1900	Marie Curie explains natural transmutation as a decay of an unstable atom to one of a lower atomic weight.
1900	Planck's constant, h = 6.63 E-34 J s, is published.
1900	Henri Becquerel, suggests that beta rays are electrons
1900	Thomson's "plum pudding" model of the atom is proposed.
1901	(Jan 3) First report of death due to X-rays is published.
1901	Becquerel confirms Crookes' statement about uranium not being the origins of the radiation but also shows that if uranium is left standing, its radioactivity increases.
1901	Europium discovered by Eugene Demarcay (France).
1901	Max Planck proposes that atoms could gain and lose energy only in discrete quantities (quantum).
1901	First Nobel prize in physics is awarded to Roentgen.
1902	(Apr) Radioactive spontaneous disintegration, the unaided transmutation of elements, observed and named by Soddy and Rutherford.
1902	Radium-224 (thorium X) discovered by Soddy and Rutherford.
1902	Rollins experimentally shows X-rays can kill higher life forms
1902	Existence of radium verified by Curies by chemical methods; they obtain 0.1 g of pure radium from several tons of pitchblende.
1903	(June 25) Marie Curie accorded the title of doctor of physical science, with the mention of très honorable from the University of Paris, Sorbonne
1903	(Nov 12) Marie and Pierre Curie awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
1903	Sir William Crookes and, independently, Elster and Geitel discover that crystals of zinc sulfide emit tiny flashes of visible light (scintillations) when struck with alpha particles. Rutherford quickly adopts this detector for his work.
1904	Rutherford shows that alpha particles are helium atoms and works out the natural decay series.
1904	Marie Curie publishes an observation that diamonds when exposed to radiation and later heated glow proportional to exposure. This is published in Research on Radioactive Substances . This is the basis for thermoluminescent dosimetry which waits until 1950 to be further developed.
1904	Jean Perrin (France) and H. Nagaoka (Japan) publishes planetary hypothesis of atomic structure. (independant)
1904	Rutherford coins the term "half-life."
1904	Henri Poincare, conjectured light speed as physical limit
1905	Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity E= mc2
1905	Einstein explains the Photoelectric Effect by introducing light quanta (photons of energy E = hv)
1905	Paul Langevin, atomic theory of paramagnetism
1905	Hermann Nernst, third law of thermodynamics
1905	Ionization unit proposed by M. Franklin
1906	(April 19) Pierre Curie killed by a horse-drawn wagon filled with military uniforms driven by Louis Manin on the streets of Paris, France.
1906	Joseph John Thomson is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his theoretical and experimental investigations into the electron and the conduction of electricity by gases.
1907	Lutetium discovered by Georges Urbain (France).
1907	H. N. McCoy and W. H. Ross at the University of Chicago show that two different radioelements might be chemically identical.
1907	Albert Einstein, equivalence principle and gravitational redshift
1908	Ernest Rutherford is awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his observations on radionuclide decay (transmutation).
1909	Ernest Rutherford observes one alpha particle in 8000 being bounced back from a thin gold foil. From this observation, he concludes that most of the atom's mass is concentrated in a small positively-charged nucleus.
1909	Robert Andrews Millikan using oil droplets measures the charge of an electron e= 1.60 E-19 C.
1910	Curie unit defined as activity of 1 gram of radium.
1910	Soddy establishes the existence of isotopes, nuclides with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons.
1910	Jesuit Father Theodor Wulf measures radiation at ground level and at top of Eiffel Tower. Radiation increases at higher elevation. Suspects extraterrestrial origins of this radiation. Suggests balloonists measure dose rates.
1911	(Aug) Rutherford and Geiger discover that atoms are mostly space using alpha particles to bounce off thin gold foil.
*1911*	*Marie Curie awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the separation of radium from pitchblende.*
1911	Soddy suggests that "the expulsion of the alpha particle causes the radioelement to change its position on the periodic table..."
1911	Charles Thomas Rees Wilson (Scotland) invents the cloud chamber which shows tracks of radiation in a supersaturated atmosphere.
1911-1912	Victor Hess (Austrian) takes balloon rides to measure radiation at heights up to 5000 meters. Discovers cosmic radiation which he names "Hoehenstrahlung" (high altitude rays.)
1913	(Jan 31) A. S. Russell put forward that in beta decay the position of the element in the periodic table changes by one place.
1913	Hans Geiger unveils his prototype gas-filled radiation detector.
1913	Niels Bohr (Denmark) applies the newly invented quantum theory to atomic electron orbitals. These stationary orbitals would allow an electron to orbit a nucleus without emitting energy.
1913	Soddy proposes the term "isotope" for atoms with the same number of protons and differing only in number of neutrons.
1914	Franck-Hertz experiment demonstrates discrete atomic energy levels in collisions with electrons.
1915	(Aug) Robert Rich Sharp discovers the Shinkolobwe uranium deposit in the Congo. Mine averages 68% uranium; richest find in history and is on the surface.
1916	A. Sommerfeld (Germany) modifies Bohr's model of electron orbitals to allow elliptical orbits.
1917	Albert Einstein, introduction of the cosmological constant and a steady state model of the universe
1918	Francis Aston, mass spectrometer
1919	Ernest Rutherford, existence of the proton in nucleus
1919	First artificial transformation of an element by performed by Rutherford, now Director of Cavendish laboratory; alpha particle on nitrogen causes the expulsion of oxygen and hydrogen.
1920	Rutherford suggests additional neutral nuclear particle (later called a neutron). "Such an atom would have very novel properties. Its external field would be practically zero, except close to the nucleus, and, in consequence, it should be able to move freely through matter."
1920	James Chadwick in Rutherford's lab uses alpha particle scattering to determine the charges on the nucleus of copper, silver, and platinum.
1921	Suggestion that radium and radium emanation might be causative agent in cancer in miners taken seriously but not proven.
1921	British X-ray and Radium Protection Committee present its first radiation protection standards.
1922	American Roentgen Ray Society adopts radiation protection rules
1922	Niels Bohr is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for describing how orbital electrons absorb and emit energy.
1922	G. Pfahler recommends personnel monitoring with film
1922	Pierre Auger and Francis Perrin determine the charge on the nucleus of argon.
1923	A.H. Compton reports wavelengths lengthened for bounced x-rays and gammas. Leads to Nobel prize for the "Compton Effect".
1923	A. Mutscheller puts forth first "tolerance dose" (0.2R/day).
1924	Louis de Broglie states that an electron has wave properties and assigns a wavelength to an electron much the same way Einstein assigns a mass to an electromagnetic wave in 1905. This standing wave allows an electron to exist a some distance from the nucleus without gaining or losing energy.
1924	Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit ascribe electron with intrinsic spin h/2.
1925	(July 1) First International Congress of Radiology is held, establishes International Commission on Radiological Units (ICRU).
1925	Pauli explusion principle states that two electrons cannot share orbitals and spin in the same atom at the same time.
1925	Heisenberg's first paper on quantum mechanics.
1926	Paul Dirac, distinction between bosons and fermions, symmetry and anti-symmetry of wave function
1926	Erwin Shrodinger publishes the wave theory of matter demonstrating that matter at the atomic level behaves as it consists of waves.
1926	*Jean Perrin is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics*
1926	Edith Quimby devises film badge dosimeter with energy compensating filters.
1927	(Feb) Werner Heisenberg realizes that it is impossible to establish at any given instant both the momentum and location of a subatomic particle. This is published as his Uncertainty Principle.
1927	Dutch Board of Health recommends tolerance dose equivalent to 15 R/year.
1927	H. Muller shows genetic effects of radiation.
1927	Birth of quantum electrodynamics, Dirac's paper on "The Quantum Theory of the Emission and Absorption of Radiation."
1928	Organization and first meeting of International Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection (predecessor of ICRP).
1928	Description of basis for Geiger-Mueller counter by Hans Geiger and Walter Mueller at the Physics Institute in Kiel (Germany).
1928	Second International Congress of Radiology establishes International Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection (predecessor of ICRP) and publishes first set of international radiation protection standards; Roentgen unit accepted.
1928	Organization of US Advisory Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection (predecessor of NCRP).
1928	Dirac's relativistic wave equation of the electron.
1929	R. d'E. Atkinson and F. G. Houtermans (Germany) theorize that energy from stars is a result of nuclear fusion.
1929	"Free air" ionization chambers used as primary standards.
1929	Nuclear track photographic plates developed.
1929	*Louis de Broglie is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics*
1929	Advisory Committee on X-Ray and Radium Protection (ACXRP) formed in the US (forerunner of NCRP).
1930	Bothe and Becker find that after bombarding beryllium with alpha particles a very penetrating, uncharged type of radiation is produced. They assume, wrongly, that it must be an electromagnetic wave. It is later proven by Chadwick to be the neutron.
1930	Invention of the cyclotron by E. O. Lawrence & MS Livingston at Berkeley
1930	Bethe quantum-mechanical stopping-power theory.
1930	Vacuum-tube electrometers gradually replace mechanical ones.
1930	Early count rate meter invented.
1931	(Jan 2) Lawrence operates first cyclotron.
1931	Van de Graaff electrostatic generator constructed.
1931	Linear accelerator is constructed by Sloan & Lawrence at Berkeley.
1931	"Alpha particles are probably the most potent and destructive agent known to science"--Martland
1931	The Roentgen adopted as unit of X radiation.
1932	(Feb 17) Chadwick discovers the neutron using Bothe and Becker's experimental set up. He scoops the Joliot-Curies who believed their "beryllium rays" were another form of electromagnetic radiation.
1932	(Aug 2) Carl Anderson using a specially prepared cloud chamber discovers a particle with the same mass and opposite charge as an electron (positron) in cosmic rays. He wins the Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1936.
1932	"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." --Dr. Albert Einstein
1932	G. Failla suggests limit of 0.1 R/day to whole body and 5 R/day to fingers; introduces concept of higher permissible dose to limited portions of body.
1932	Roentgen unit is defined as producing one E.S.U. of either sign in 1 cc of air at STP.
1932	Werner Heisenberg proposes that the nucleus is composed only of protons and neutrons.
1933	(Sept 12) Leo Szilard envisions nuclear chain reaction.
1933	(Sept 12) "The energy produced by the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine." --Lord Ernest Rutherford (after splitting the atom for the first time)
1933	(Oct) The 7th Solvay Conference in Brussels, Belgium is devoted to nuclear physics for the first time. Attendees include: Marie Curie, Rutherford, Bohr, Lise Meitner, Heisenberg, Pauli, Enrico Fermi, Chadwick, George Gamow, Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie, Patrick Blackett, Rudolf Peierls, Ernest Lawrence.
1933	DuBridge and Brown compensating circuit, vital for gas-filled radiation detectors, is invented
1934	(Jan 11) First artificially produced radionuclide (P-30 from aluminum bombarded with Polonium alpha particles) by Irene Curie and J. F. Joliot, Paris
1934	(July 4) Marie Curie (born Nov 7, 1867) dies in Sancellemoz, France. The disease is aplastic pernicious anemia of rapid, feverish development.
1934	Fermi mistaken reports new element after bombarding uranium with neutrons. Ida Noddack suggests Fermi split the atom; this is ignored.
1934	Evans at MIT starts whole body counting.
1934	"Tolerance Dose" of 0.1 R/day, measured in air, recommended by Advisory Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection.
1934	"Tolerance Dose" of 0.2 R/day, measured at the surface of the body, recommended by the International Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection.
1934	Enrico Fermi works out theory for beta minus decay.
1934	Measurements begin on radium content of natural waters.
1935	Hans Bethe reports new ideas on the prospect of capture by the uranium nucleus of a neutron slowed by collision with hydrogen.
1935	Neils Bohr conceives the "water droplet" model of the nucleus.
1935	Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
1935	Compton and Allison state, "Though it is usually employed to give only qualitative results, the photographic plate can also be adapted to precise quantitative comparisons of x-ray intensities."
1935	Yukawa predicts the existence of mesons, responsible for the short-range nuclear force.
1935	Bragg-Gray principle of charged particle radiation interaction with matter formed.
1936	H. Yukawa and S. Sakata (Japan) predict electron capture process to compete with positron emission.
1937	Lauritsen electroscope used to measure dose.
1937	Extrapolation chamber invented by Failla. (1)
1937	Mesons found in cosmic rays.
1938	(Dec) Nobel Prize awarded to Enrico Fermi (Italy) for his work on transuranics. The Fermi family (Laura, Enrico's wife, is Jewish) escapes from Italian Nazi persecution to New York.
1938	Electron capture radionuclides discovered by L. W. Alvarez (USA).
1938	Tritium discovery by Alvarez & Cornog; produced in accelerators
1938	Hahn and Strassman split the atom repeating Fermi's work.
1939	(Jan 6) Hahn and Strassman's experimental results of fissioning uranium published in "Die Naturwissenschaften."
1939	(Jan 13) Frisch offers experimental proof of fission in a Geiger counter.
1939	(Jan 26) Fermi announces uranium releases a few neutrons on splitting. He speculates upon the possibility of a chain reaction.
1939	(March 3) Szilard and Zinn prove possibility of chain reaction by performing experiment in Pupin Hall, Columbia University which shows many neutrons are released during fission of uranium.
1939	(April) The Joliot-Curies publish a report confirming Szilard and Zinn's finding of neutrons released by uranium fission.
1939	(Aug 2) Einstein signs letter, drafted by Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner, to Roosevelt alerting him to the feasibility of building an atomic bomb and the threat of Germany building one.
1939	Correct description of phenomena of nuclear fission by Meitner and Frisch (Germany).
1939	Enrico Fermi patents first reactor (conceptual plans).
1939	Francium discovered by Marguerite Duray (France).
1940	(Nov 8) First contract is signed with Columbia University to develop bomb material.
1940	Photomultiplier tube is developed by Larson and Salinger which makes scintillation radiation detectors much more useable.
1941	(Feb 25) Plutonium 238 isolated by G.T. Seaborg, J.W. Kennedy, E.M. MacMillan, and A.C. Wohl (United States) at Berkeley from products of neptunium decay.
1941	Max Permissible Body Burden set at 0.1 uCi for radium recommended by Advisory Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection based on radium dial painters.
1941	First standard for radon (10-11 Ci/l), Evans and Goodman National Bureau of Standards report.
1942	(June 23) Werner Heisenberg's fourth experimental atomic pile, the L-IV, explodes spewing burning particles of uranium twenty feet in the air and catching the lab on fire. Heisenberg and Robert Doepel are nearly killed.
1942	(Sept) The Manhattan Project is formed to secretly build the atomic bomb before the Germans.
1942	(Nov 16) Construction begins on Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1) begins.
1942	(Dec 2) First sustained and controlled chain reaction in an atomic pile at University of Chicago. Reactor is graphite moderated. Fermi oversees design and building. Fission products expected. Arthur Compton sends message to James Conant: "The Italian navigator has arrived at the shores of the new world and found the natives were friendly. It is a smaller world than he believed."
1943	(Nov 4) Oak Ridge X-10 Clinton reactor goes into operation at Oak Ridge; first to generate electricity with a model steam engine.
1943	Uranium toxicology studies at U. of Rochester.
1944	(Sept 27) Hanford reactor 100B achieves criticality.
1944	Air limits for plutonium-239 derived by H. Parker at Met Lab.
1944	Curium discovered by G.T. Seaborg, R.A. James, A. H. Ghiorso (United States).
1945	(June 6) Criticality accident at Los Alamos, 14 people exposed, some up to 3000 rem gamma and neutrons.
1945	(July 16) Trinity Test (Alamagordo, NM) cattle receive beta burns. 19 KT yield. First atomic bomb.
1945	(Aug 6) Hiroshima, Japan, is atomic bombed. (Aug 9) Nagasaki, Japan, is atomic bombed.
1945	K. Z. Morgan circulates first comprehensive calculations of maximum permissible body contents and concentrations in air and water for many radionuclides in a Met Lab Report called "Tolerance Concentrations."
1945	Standards developed for plutonium on basis of animal toxicity data. Earliest attempts are on basis of half-life relative to radium, but animal work proves this to be incorrect.
1945-1946	Inhalation experiments at Rochester made basis for revision of standard for uranium. Different levels recommended for soluble versus insoluble salts.
1945	Americium discovered by G.T. Seaborg, R.A. James, L. O. Morgan, and A. Ghiorso (United States).
1947	Improved linear amplifiers make multichannel analyzers possible for nuclide identification.
1947	Early pulse height analyzer used with radiation detectors. Freundlich, Hincks, and Ozeroff report using a 20 channel analyzer with a proportional counter.
1947	Dynamic condenser electrometer invented by Palevsky, Swank, and Grenchik.
1948	Halogen quenching gases introduced in gas-filled detectors.
1948	Transistor invented by Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain.
1948	La première pile atomique française Le 15 décembre 1948, à 12h 12, la pile ZOE (nom proposé par Kowarski : Z comme zéro, la puissance de la pile étant très petite, O comme oxyde d'uranium et E comme eau lourde) divergeait, au fort de Châtillon. C'était un grand succès pour la France, après tant d'années sans recherche nucléaire. La seconde étape concernant la construction d'un grand centre d'études nucléaires fut également menée rondement : une seconde pile fut mise en chantier, à Saclay près de Paris, ainsi que deux accélérateurs de particules.
1949	First Tri-Partite Conference on Internal Dosimetry (Chalk River, Ontario). Accumulated experience of war years utilized.
1949	NCRP lowers basic "Maximum Permissible Dose" for radiation workers to 0.3 rem/week; risk-benefit philosophy introduced; limits for the general public set at 10% of the occupational limit.
1950	ICRP and ICRU reorganized from pre-war committees and expand scope of interest beyond medicine.
1950	ICRP adopts basic MPC of 0.3 R/week for radiation workers.
1951	First organizational recommendations since 1941 for permissible levels of radionuclides, primarily from NCRP.
1951	Raben and Bloembergen introduce liquid scintillation counting for low energy beta minus emitters.
1951	McKay reports using a semiconductor device as an alpha-particle detector.
1953	International Commission on Radiological Units introduces concept of absorbed dose defining the rad as depositing 100 ergs per gram of any substance.
1955	(May 17) Fermi and Szilard patent the CP-1 pile.
1955	caesium atomic clock
1955	(June 13) Decision is made to form the Health Physics Society.
1956	National Academy of Sciences and ICRP recommend lower basic permissible dose for radiation workers to 5 rad/year.
1956	Discovery of nonconservation of parity by Lee and Yang.
1957	NCRP introduces age prorating concept of 5(N-18) for occupational exposure and 0.5 rad/year general public.
1957	American Council of Governmental Industrial Hygienists suggests a single value for air concentration of both soluble and insoluble natural uranium.
1958	Frederic Joliot-Curie (born 1900) dies.
1959	(Apr) Marcoule G2, a GCR, goes on-line in Marcoule, Gard (France); closed Feb 1980. (2)
1959	ICRP 1 published (superseded by ICRP 26); recommends limitation of genetically significant dose to population.
1960	*(Feb 13) France explodes its first A-bomb in Reggane (Sahara). Lire les mémoires d'un ingénieur français. (14)*
1960	(May) Marcoule G3, a GCR, goes on-line in Marcoule, Gard (France); closed July 1984. (2)
1960	ICRP 3 "Report of Committee III on Protection Against X-rays up to Energies of 3 MeV and Beta- and Gamma-rays from Sealed Sources" published.
1960	Theodore Maiman First successful ruby laser.
1961	Fontenay-aux-Roses, France overexposure of one person to plutonium.
1962	Leith and Upatnieks, first hologram
1963	Saclay, France overexposure of 2 to an electron beam doses unknown
1964	(Feb) Chinon A1, a GCR, goes on-line in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire (France); closed April 1973. (3)
1964	(Dec 3) International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) is formed.
1965	(Mar) Chinon A2, a GCR, goes on-line in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire (France); closed July 1985. (3)
1965	(Dec 30) Accidental criticality at Venus a Mol (Belgium) gives operator doses ranging from 4700 rad to the foot, 700 to 1000 rad to gut, 250 rad to spinal chord of mixed neutron and gamma radiation. (4)
1966	France explodes atomic bomb in French Polynesia. Riots ensue in Tahiti.
*1966*	*Alfred Kastler is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics*
1967	(Aug) Chinon A3, a GCR, goes on-line in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire (France); closed June 1990. (3)
1967	Salam and Weinberg independently propose theories that unify weak and electromagnetic interactions.
1968	(2 janvier) Mon arrivée à Saclay dans le Laboratoire de Métrologie des Rayonnement Ionisants “LMRI” du Bureau National de Métrologie “BNM”!!!
1968	(Mar) Mont d'Arree, a GCHWR, goes on-line in Brenilis, Finistere (France); closed July 1985. (5)
1969	(Aug) Saint-Laurent A1, a GCR, goes on-line in Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux, Loir-et-Cher (France); closed Apr 1990.
1969	(Oct 17) Saint Laurent des Eaux (France) Unit 1 GCGMR fuses five fuel elements, 50 kg of uranium dispersed in reactor core; reactor shutdown for a year. Classé niveau 4 accident avec rejets possible extérieur, on l'apprend en 2015. (3)
1969	Unnilquadium, element 104, discovered by A. H. Ghiorso, et al (United States).
1970	Unnilpentium, element 105, discovered.
1972	First beam of 200-GeV protons at Fermilab.
1975	(Sept) Tihange 1, an 870 MWe ACLF PWR, begins commercial operation in Liege, Belgium. (6)
1976	Unnilseptium, element 107, discovered by the Soviets at Dubna (USSR) which is later confirmed by the Heavy Ion Research Laboratory in Germany who makes six nuclei of the element.
1977	(Dec) Essais avant démarrage de Fessenheim 1 (Haut-Rhin, France) (7)
1978	(Dec) Three Mile Island 2, a PWR, goes on-line at Londonderry Twp, PA; closed Mar 1979.
1979	(March 28) Three Mile Island Unit 2 (Middletown, Pa) suffers hydrogen explosions and meltdown completely destroying its core. Releases from the plant are not measurable since most off-site monitors are not working. Accident leads to safety reforms, emergency planning upgrades, and training requirements in the US. (8)
1980	(13 mars) Saint-Laurent A2 est stoppé après la fusion de deux éléments de combustible, cet accident est encore plus dissimulé à l'opinion public et au média que celui de 1969, et pourtant il sera classé niveau 4, avec des rejets dans l'environnement, les rapports 2015 (3)
1981	270 GeV proton-antiproton colliding-beam experiment at European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN); 540 GeV center-of-mass energy equivalent to laboratory energy of 150,000 GeV.
1981	EPA establishes 25 millirem/year whole body (75 millirem thyroid) limit to general public from nuclear fuel cycle activities.
1981	EPA proposes new federal radiation protection guidance; adopts most of ICRP-26 recommendations plus 100 rem lifetime dose limit.
1982	Rupture of central fuel assembly at Chernobyl 1 (USSR) due to operator errors; radioactivity vented to Pripyat; personnel overdosed repairing the "small salamander."
1982	Démarrage des chantiers d'assainissement du site de Mururoa (9)
1982	Unnilennium, element 109, discovered.
1983	Rubbia and collaborators discover field quantum of weak interaction.
1983	Electron-positron colliders show continuing validity of radiation theory up to energy exchanges of 100 GeV and more.
1984	(April) Chernobyl 4, a LGR, goes on-line in Pripyat, Ukraine (USSR); closed April 1986
1985	0.1 rem per year for individuals of general public set by ICRP (exceptions up to 0.5 rem/yr.).
1986	(April 26) Chernobyl 4 (Pripyat, USSR) explodes and burns, spreads contamination worldwide. Thirty one killed from heat and radiation exposure. Worldwide effects from internal contamination harder to measure. 134 overexposed. (10) Classement niveau 7, accident grave
1987	1.5 rem per year for workers set by NRPB (Britain).
1987	Ununnilium, element 110, discovered.
1988	United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation publishes " Sources, Effects and Risks of Ionizing Radiation" a report to the General Assembly.
1991	International Atomic Energy Agency reports on health effects from the April 1986 Chernobyl accident.
*1991*	Pierre-Gilles de Gennes *is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics*
1992	(Mar 24) Sosnovy Bor nuclear power plant in St. Petersburg, Russia (former USSR) leaks iodine and noble gas to atmosphere thru a break in fuel rod "small salamander." RBMK design (like Chernobyl) has levels 10 times normal limits. Level 3 accident vs. a 7 for Chernobyl.
1992	(Sept 2 - 4) "Big chunks of the republic are so poisoned they will not be suitable for human settlement for a very long time. We are talking decades," said Victor Danilov-Danilyan, Russia's (former USSR) minister for the environment. "We in Belarus lost one in four people during the Great Patriotic War (WW II), while as a result of Chernobyl, one in five citizens -- approximately 2 million people, including 800,000 children -- now suffer because they live in contaminated zones," said Anatoly S. Zybovsky, deputy chairman of the Belarus State Committee on Chernobyl.
1992	(Oct 15) Sweden reports trouble at Lithuanian RBMK reactor (built by USSR). Lithuanians report small leak into a mostly confined building at the Ignalina-2. The problem is identified as a 10 mm. crack in one of the 3200 pipes connected to the steam separator drums. Reactor is restarted Oct 21. (11)
1992	*Georges Charpak is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics*
1992	The Hanford Site changes its mission from nuclear materials production to clean up of its facilities. (12)
1993	(Jan 11) An "alarming" suicide rate among soldiers and engineers who helped clean up the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is the result of radiated nervous systems, the breakdown of immune defenses and stress, according to medical experts and social researchers. The San Francisco Examiner reports that nearly seven years after the world's most serious nuclear reactor accident exposed about 500,000 Ukraine residents, reactor workers and cleanup crews to radiation, the death toll stands at 7,000 - - of whom 18 percent have taken their own lives, according to statistics provided by the Russian (former USSR) government. Thousands more are suffering from symptoms caused by excessive radiation, says the article. Studies in Moscow have shown that more than 40 percent of all former Chernobyl workers who ask for medical assistance suffer from severe after-effects, such as permanent memory loss and impaired thinking ability. Says Dr. Alexei Nikiforov, chief of a St. Petersburg research clinic: "We have found a lot of damage. In order to expose the specific reasons for the high rate of suicide, we need more research."
1993	(Dec 2) French deliberately cause a meltdown under almost identical conditions at Three Mile Island in the Phebus reactor in the south of France. Close circuit televisions show a bright blue glow as the fuel rods melt. Environmentalists criticize the experiment as dangerous and unnecessary. (13)
1994	(Nov) Physicists at Darmstadt (Germany) discover element 110 by bombarding a lead target with a beam of nickel atoms.
1994	(Dec 20) Physicists at Darmstadt (Germany) discover element 111 by bombarding a bismuth target with a beam of nickel atoms.
1994	Protocols developed for joint US , Ukraine, Belarus 20 year study of thyroid disease in the 85,000 children exposed to radioiodine following Chernobyl accident in 1986.
1995	(Mar 2) Two teams working independently at the Fermi Lab's Accelerator Laboratory outside of Chicago, IL, announce the discovery of the top quark with a mass-energy of 176 GeV or 199 GeV (approximately 200 times heavier than a proton). The teams use a 1.7 mi. diameter proton / anti-proton accelerator.
1995	(Sept 5) France explodes atomic bomb in French Polynesia. Riots ensue in Tahiti.
1997	(Mar 10) Fire and explosion at Tokai reprocessing plant in Japan.

2011	(11 mars) 2 des quatre centrales de Fukushima explosent, la 3ème entre en fusion, quant à la 4ème elle est vide et en cours d'entretien. Après bien des tergiversations, l'accident est classé niveau 7 (c'est 3 fois 7)
2012	( 4 juillet) Découverte au CERN du boson de Higgs, des équipes du CEA participent.
2015	( 14 septembre) Découverte des ondes gravitationnelles au laboratoire Ligo. Le laboratoire Franco-Italien ne sera opérationnel qu'en 2016...

(1) J'ai utilisé cet instrument pour ma thèse d'ingénieur (1975-1977).	Retour 1937
(2) J'ai participé à l'étude du démontage des deux réacteurs G2 et G3 (1979-1980).	Retour 1959
(3) J'ai participé à plusieurs études pour l'assainissement de ces réacteurs Chinon A1 et A2 (1978) et Saint-Laurent A1 et A2 (1980). Vous trouverez un des rapports de l'IPSN sur les accidents de 1969 et 1980 en cliquant ici, il était temps, plus de 35 ans après et il n'y a pas de cachoteries sur le nucléaire ? Vous trouverez également la preuve scientifique des rejets dans la Loire lors de ces deux accidents, en cliquant ici	Retour 1964
(4) J'ai participé à l'étude du démantèlement des ateliers de plutonium (1977).	Retour 1965
(5) J'ai participé à plusieurs études et mon équipe a participé à l'instrumentation de l'atelier de caractérisation des déchets. (1990).	Retour 1968
(6) Mon premier chantier, encadrement de l'équipe de radioprotection pour le premier arrêt de tranche (1977).	Retour 1975
(7) En attendant la mise en place des équipes d'EDF, je fais la radioprotection du réacteur N°1 pour l'encadrement des équipes de Framatome, et préparation des procédures (Décembre 1977).	Retour 1977
(8) Suite à cet accident STMI se joint aux équipes CEA-EDF pour une étude d'assainissement (1979). ANECDOTE, les américains qui reçoivent notre Directeur Technique (André Charamathieu) sont très impressionnés par le nom de notre société, qu'ils interprètent alors, comme étant une société créée par la France pour cette affaire. En effet STMI pouvait se lire comme Société pour Three Mile Island. Nous aurions fait mieux que “Lucky Luke”!!!.	Retour 1979
(9) En qualité de Chef de mission, avec une équipe de 15 personnes, nous avons démarré l'assainissement des zones de tir aérien (1982) Lire l'histoire en détails	Retour 1982
(10) Voir les autres pages de ce site pour le détail de nos interventions (1998-1999).	Retour 1986
(11) J'ai participé à l'une des études internationales pour l'arrêt et le démontage des RBMK d'Ignalina (1999).	Retour 1992
(12) Ayant une grande connaissance des interventions en milieu hostile (Pu 239) La Hague et Marcoule, j'ai préparé les bases d'une étude pour le démantèlement de l'usine Pu de Hanford (1999).	Retour 1992
(13) Sur l'installation “Phébus” (Cadarache), j'ai participé à l'étude des procédures d'évacuation des effluents de rinçage de l'installation après les tirs. (1992)	Retour 1993
(14) Les mémoires de Pierre Billaud, ingénieur atomiste français ayant directement participé à la première expérience au Sahara. (1960)	Retour 1960

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