Mezei F.: History of neutrons and neutron scattering. In: Bassani F. [Ed.] : Encyclopedia of condensed matter physicsAmsterdam: Elsevier, 2005. - ISBN 0-12-227610-8, p. 76-83
Abstract:
The idea that neutrons can reveal precious information about the structure of solids, liquids, and to some extend also gases, was born shortly after neutrons were discovered by Chadwick in 1932. Practical neutron scattering started as a parasitic activity on research reactors built in the 1940s for developing nuclear energy. Since the 1960s several facilities around the world have been specifically designed, built and dedicated primarily for neutron scattering research to serve by the end of the twentieth century a worldwide community of 7000 users of neutrons as one of their tools in the study of a vast variety of topicsin condensed matter research, including physics, chemistry, biology , geology, archeology, and engineering. In 1994, Shull and Brockhouse, the two outstanding pioneers of neutron scattering in the 1950s, were awarded the Nobel prize in physics for discovering how the neutrons show "where the atoms are and what they do".