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Nuclear magic numbers, which emerge from the strong nuclear force based onquantum chromodynamics, correspond to fully occupied energy shells of protons,or neutrons inside atomic nuclei. Doubly magic nuclei, with magic numbers forboth protons and neutrons, are spherical and extremely rare across the nuclearlandscape. While the sequence of magic numbers is well established for stablenuclei, evidence reveals modifications for nuclei with a largeproton-to-neutron asymmetry. Here, we provide the first spectroscopic study ofthe doubly magic nucleus $^{78}$Ni, fourteen neutrons beyond the last stablenickel isotope. We provide direct evidence for its doubly magic nature, whichis also predicted by ab initio calculations based on chiral effective fieldtheory interactions and the quasi-particle random-phase approximation. However,our results also provide the first indication of the breakdown of the neutronmagic number 50 and proton magic number 28 beyond this stronghold, caused by acompeting deformed structure. State-of-the-art phenomenological shell-modelcalculations reproduce this shape coexistence, predicting further a rapidtransition from spherical to deformed ground states with $^{78}$Ni as turningpoint.

$^{78}$Ni revealed as a doubly magic stronghold against nuclear deformation