Nuclear physics |
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Nuclides (or nucleides, from nucleus, also known as nuclear species) are a class of atoms characterized by their number of protons, Z, their number of neutrons, N, and their nuclear energy state.[1]
The word nuclide was coined by the American nuclear physicist Truman P. Kohman in 1947.[2][3] Kohman defined nuclide as a "species of atom characterized by the constitution of its nucleus" containing a certain number of neutrons and protons. The term thus originally focused on the nucleus.