Neutrinos in the News
Through the years, there have been countless articles in the mass media describing the plight of the neutrino. Here are just a few:
“The Mystery of the Missing Neutrinos” [1]
Published 1971. Its subtitle: “The search for solar neutrinos in South Dakota gold mine has turned up fewer than theory predicts.” It concludes: “Nuclear physicists, who have repeatedly measured the cross sections of the various interactions involved, insist that the numbers they supply to the theorists are accurate. Dr. David and his colleagues are sure that their experiment is virtually flawless. For the moment the discrepancy is a mystery to which no one can supply the key.”
“Vanishing Solar Neutrinos” [2]
Published 1987. It begins: “Failure to detect the number of neutrinos believed to be emitted by the Sun continues to embarrass scientists. Except for a few speculative ideas involving new and exotic elementary particles (S&T: November 1985, page 431) the problem seems no nearer solution that it did when first uncovered almost two decades ago.”
“Puzzling Particle” [3]
Published 1991. It begins: “The ‘little neutral one’ is unique in that it has no electrical charge, moves at the speed of light and has either an infinitesimal mass or no mass at all–scientists are not yet sure.”
“Reopening the Solar Neutrino Question” [4]
Published 1992. It begins: “The solar neutrino problem has been with us now for 20 years, since Ray Davis and his colleagues announced that hey had observed, at their under ground Homestake detector, fewer than half as many neutrinos from the sun as theorists had expected.” It concludes: “Meanwhile, the GALLEX result provides an unambiguous proof that p-p (proton-proton) reactions (among others) power the Sun and that the solar neutrino problem is as slippery as ever.”
References
- Science New, Volume 100, November 25th, 1971
- Sky & Telescope, February, 1987
- Los Angeles Times, December 9th, 1991
- Nature, Volume 357, June 11th, 1992