fermion
(ˈfɜːmɪən)
[f. the name of E. Fermi (see Fermi) + -on.]
A particle that obeys the Fermi-Dirac statistics. Cf. boson.
| 1947 P. A. M. Dirac Princ. Quantum Mech. (ed. 3) ix. 210 It leads to a special statistics, which was first studied by Fermi, so we shall call particles for which only antisymmetrical states occur in nature fermions. 1953, 1955 [see boson]. 1963 New Scientist 1 Aug. 255/1 Only one fermion can exist in a particular state at any given time. 1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics iii. 59 It is found experimentally that electrons, protons, and neutrons are all fermions and that they have intrinsic spin s = ½ (h/2π). |