Two physicists discovered special properties of stable atoms with 'magic numbers' of protons and neutrons 75 years ago

The word magic is not often used in the context of science. But in the early 1930s, scientists discovered that some atomic nuclei--the center part of atoms, which make up all matter--were more stable than others. These nuclei had specific numbers of protons or neutrons, or magic numbers, as physicist Eugene Wigner called them.