Frederick Reines
Facts
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Frederick Reines
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1995
Born: 16 March 1918, Paterson, NJ, USA
Died: 26 August 1998, Orange, CA, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Prize motivation: “for the detection of the neutrino”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
During the beta decay of a nucleus, a neutron is converted to a proton and an electron is produced. In studying the electron’s velocity, it was clear that this decay violated energy-conversation and other laws. It was thus proposed that an additional particle—a neutrino—was formed during beta decay. In the early 1950s, Frederick Reines passed radiation from a nuclear reactor through a water tank and discovered reactions that proved the neutrino’s existence.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
