The word magic is not often used in the context of science. But in the early 1930s, scientists discovered that some atomic nuclei — the center part of atoms, which make up all matter — were more stable than others. These nuclei had specific numbers of protons or neutrons, or magic numbers, as physicist Eugene Wigner called them.
The race to figure out what made these nuclei so stable began. Understanding these magic numbers would allow scientists to predict the properties of other nuclei, such as their mass or how long they are expected to live. With that, scientists could also predict which combinations of protons and neutrons can result in a nucleus.
The solution to the puzzle came in 1949 from two directions simultaneously. In the U.S., physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer published an explanation, while a group of scientists led by J. Hans D. Jensen in Germany found the same solution.
