Neutrino History

The "neutrino" was proposed by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930. This particle had to have no electrical charge so Enrico Fermi called this particle "neutrino" which means "little neutral one" in Italian.

Neutrinos don't interact much with matter so they are difficult to detect. In 1956, physicists Reines and Cowan found evidence of neutrinos coming from a nuclear reactor.

The existence of the "neutrino" was proposed by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930. This particle had to be electrically neutral so Enrico Fermi called this particle "neutrino" which means "little neutral one" in Italian.

Neutrinos have little interaction with matter so they are difficult to detect. In 1956, physicists Reines and Cowan eventually found evidence of neutrino interactions originating in a nuclear reactor. Fred Reines was a co-winner of the Noble Prize in physics in 1995.

The existence of the "neutrino" was proposed by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930 as a possible explanation for what was at the time an unresolved problem in nuclear physics: the process of "beta decay". By studying momentum and energy conservation in beta decay, Pauli proposed that a third particle was needed for momentum and energy to be conserved. This particle had to be electrically neutral. Enrico Fermi called this particle "neutrino" which in Italian means "little neutral one".

Neutrinos have little interaction with matter and are difficult to detect. In 1956 physicists Reines and Cowan eventually found evidence of neutrino interactions originating in a nuclear reactor. Fred Reines was a co-winner of the Noble Prize in physics in 1995.