ABSTRACT
The discovery of parity nonconservation had serious implications for the previous analyses of β decay, suggested new experiments, and paved the way for a final decision concerning the mathematical form of the interaction in Fermi’s theory. Theoretical physicists included parity nonconservation in their re-analyses of these previous results, and some of the conclusions changed. The presence of both the Fermi-type and Gamow-Teller-type transitions was still required, and the new analysis still allowed determination of the proportion of Fermi and Gamow-Teller components and whether it was the S or V interaction responsible for the Fermi transition or the T or A for the Gamow-Teller type. The Fermi theory for allowed spectra was tested by comparing its predictions to experimentally observed forbidden spectra. Only after the theoretical spectra for forbidden transitions were calculated by Konopinski and Uhlenbeck could a valid test be made and the discrepancy resolved. Ironically, this calculation provided arguments against Konopinski and Uhlenbeck’s own modification of Fermi’s theory.
