Discovery of the Muon-Neutrino, 1988

BNL's next Nobel Prize was awarded in 1988, when a trio of researchers received the physics prize for their 1962 discovery of the muon-neutrino.

Leon Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger, at the time all of Columbia University, made their discovery at the brand-new Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS). At the time, only the electron-neutrino was known, and the scientists wondered if they could find more types of these ghostlike particles that pass through everything. The AGS, then the most powerful accelerator in the world, was capable of producing the beam needed.

(L to R) Leon Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger

The experiment used a beam of the AGS's energetic protons to produce a shower of pi mesons, which traveled 70 feet toward a 5,000-ton steel wall made of old battleship plates. On the way, they decayed into muons and neutrinos, but only the latter particles could pass through the wall into a neon-filled detector called a spark chamber. There, the impact of neutrinos on aluminum plates produced muon spark trails that could be detected and photographed -- proving the existence of muon-neutrinos.

The experiment's use of the first-ever neutrino beam paved the way for scientists to use these particles in research at the AGS and around the world.

Melvin Schwartz was a former Brookhaven Associate Director for High Energy and Nuclear Physics.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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