Nagaoka's atomic model and hyperfine interactions

Abstract

The prevailing view of Nagaoka's "Saturnian" atom is so misleading that today many people have an erroneous picture of Nagaoka's vision. They believe it to be a system involving a 'giant core' with electrons circulating just outside. Actually, though, in view of the Coulomb potential related to the atomic nucleus, Nagaoka's model is exactly the same as Rutherford's. This is true of the Bohr atom, too. To give proper credit, Nagaoka should be remembered together with Rutherford and Bohr in the history of the atomic model. It is also pointed out that Nagaoka was a pioneer of understanding hyperfine interactions in order to study nuclear structure.