fbpx

KidsKonnect

James Chadwick Facts & Worksheets

James Chadwick was an English physicist who won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /People /Figures /James Chadwick Facts & Worksheets

Premium
James Chadwick Worksheets
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

James Chadwick was an English physicist who won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron. Chadwick was also the head of the British team that worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.

See the fact file below for more information on the James Chadwick or alternatively, you can download our 20-page James Chadwick worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY

  • Born on October 20, 1891 in Bollington, Cheshire, James Chadwick, named after his grandfather, was the oldest child of a railway storekeeper, John Joseph Chadwick, and a domestic servant, Anne Mary Knowles.
  • In 1985, his parents moved to Manchester, and he was left in his maternal grandparents’ hands.
  • He had two younger brothers, Harry and Hubert. He also had a sister who died in infancy.

EDUCATION

  • Chadwick studied in Bollington Cross Primary School. He got a scholarship from Manchester Grammar School, but went to Central Grammar School instead, as his family could not afford the fees, and to rejoin his parents.
  • At 16, he passed on two university scholarships, and entered Victoria University of Manchester. He planned to study mathematics but ended up in physics.
  • He was interviewed by a physicist, thinking he wanted to enroll in physics, and he was too shy to confront him.
  • Chadwick started college at 17, and two years later, he was already in the final year of his physics degree, working on a research project in Rutherford’s laboratory.
  • He graduated first in his class in 1911 and earned his master’s degree in physics in 1912.
  • In 1913, he won a scholarship in Berlin and got the opportunity to work in Hans Geiger’s laboratory.
  • However, since it was World War II, he interned in a camp on the west of Berlin until 1918.
  • At 28, he rejoined Rutherford in 1919 to start his doctorate, where Rutherford was now in charge of Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory.
  • Two years later, he got his Ph.D for a thesis about atomic numbers and nuclear forces.

AS A PHYSICIST

  • He became Rutherford’s assistant director of research in the Cavendish Laboratory in 1923.
  • During those times, most scientists believed that there were electrons inside the nucleus; however, Rutherford, Chadwick, and some believed that there might be zero-charged particles in the nucleus.
  • Using Polonium as a source of (what he believed were) neutrons, Chadwick bombarded paraffin wax and released protons which behaved in exactly the manner they ought to if they had been hit by electrically neutral particles with a mass similar to the proton. This is when he discovered the neutron. In 1935, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.
  • The neutron, whose symbol is n or n⁰, is an uncharged subatomic particle, with a mass slightly greater than the proton.
  • Before he received his Nobel Prize, Chadwick was offered the Iyon Jones Chair of Physics at the University of Liverpool. He was already in Liverpool when he heard he won the award.
  • In 1939, he was asked by the British government to assess the feasibility of an atomic bomb. In 1941, his research group discovered that the critical mass of Uranium -235 for nuclear detonation was about 8 kg.
  • In 1944, his family moved to Los Alamos for the Manhattan Project.

HONORS

  • In 1945, the British Government knighted him for his wartime contributions, naming him as Sir James Chadwick.
  • In 1946, the United States Government awarded him the Medal of Merit. He also returned to Britain and became the British scientific adviser to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC).
  • In 1950, he received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society and retired in 1958.

PERSONAL LIFE AND LEGACY

  • Chadwick married Aileen Stewart-Brown, daughter of a Liverpool stockbroker, in August 1925. They had twin daughters, Joanna and Judith, born in February 1927.
  • On July 24, 1974, he died peacefully at the age of 82, in Cambridge, England.
  • One of the moon’s craters was named after him.
  • A laboratory in the University of Liverpool was also named after him – the Chadwick Laboratory.

James Chadwick Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about James Chadwick across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use James Chadwick worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about James Chadwick who was an English physicist who won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron. Chadwick was also the head of the British team that worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • James Chadwick Facts
  • He Who Discovered Neutrons
  • His Timeline of Achievements
  • Fact Check
  • All About Neutrons
  • Subatomic Particles
  • Atomic Models
  • Atomic Models 2.0
  • Subatomic Jingle
  • Letter to Chadwick
  • 1935 Nobel Prize Award

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as James Chadwick Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, October 17, 2019

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources