Cowan and Reines team: reactor detection of the free neutrino

What changed

A previously hypothetical weakly interacting particle became directly experimentally detectable.

Scientific scope

The five-author 1956 confirmation report; prediction, preliminary reports and later detailed apparatus papers are excluded.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is the five-author 1956 confirmation report; earlier preliminary reports and later detailed apparatus papers are separate.

Contributors

• Clyde L. Cowan Jr. · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• Frederick Reines · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• F. B. Harrison · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• H. W. Kruse · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• A. D. McGuire · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• Cowan et al., Detection of the Free Neutrino: a Confirmation (1956)

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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