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The subject at hand was a particle known then as the “deuton.”

Lawrence’s excitement about the possibilities of the deuton matched Lewis’s.

The deuton, however, had twice the heft of the proton but not the additional charge, so it should be better at penetrating a target’s electromagnetic field.

But even Ernest was unprepared for how effective the deuton turned out to be.

As they prepared for the formal unveiling of their deuton results to the world in the July 1933 issue of Physical Review, the Rad Lab team noticed that every bombardmenr, no matter the target, emitted protons of identical energy and range—eighteen centimeters, or about seven inches, in air.