In 1934, Pontecorvo contributed to Fermi's famous experiment showing the properties of slow neutrons that led the way to the discovery of nuclear fission. Pontecorvo's name was included on the Via Panisperna boys' patent "To increase the production of artificial radioactivity with neutron bombardment". He was made a temporary assistant at the Royal Institute of Physics on 1 November 1934 and the University of Rome, and on 7 November, he was listed as co-author, along with Fermi and Rasetti, of a landmark paper on slow neutrons that reported that hydrogen slowed neutrons more than heavy elements, and that slow neutrons were more easily absorbed. An Italian patent was granted for the process in October 1935, in the name of Fermi, Pontecorvo, Edoardo Amaldi, Franco Rasetti and Emilio Segrè. A US patent was granted on 2 July 1940.