John Mitchell Nuttall Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
An experimental nuclear physicist who, with Hans Geiger, related the range of emitted alpha particles to a radioactive substance's transformation period. The Geiger-Nuttall law connects the particle's escape energy with the enormous variation in alpha decay lifetimes. It began as an empirical correlation, before quantum tunnelling supplied a mechanism for nuclear escape.[ref]
The ranges of the alpha particles from various radioactive substances and a relation between range and period of transformation by Hans Geiger and John Mitchell Nuttall. Original title and range–transformation-period relation, pp. 613–621