For 20 years nuclear physicists have used neutrinos (small, uncharged particles) in their calculations. Neutrinos are necessary: without them many nuclear equations would not balance, and the massive branches of nuclear theory might fall to the ground. But no known apparatus has ever detected neutrinos. They were reasoned into existence by Nobel Prizewinners Enrico Fermi and Wolfgang Pauli to fill a theoretical need, and the gnawing suspicion has long persisted that they do not exist. Last week from the Atomic Energy Commission came big news. Neutrinos do exist.
Detecting neutrinos with ordinary instruments...
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