BNL Link to 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics

October 22, 2015

Brookhaven Lab joins in the worldwide celebration of physicists Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, who were awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for their roles in demonstrating the “flavor-changing” property of neutrinos. Kajita presented the discovery that neutrinos from the atmosphere switch between two identities (“flavors”) on their way to the SuperKamiokande detector in Japan, while McDonald led experiments showing that neutrinos from the Sun were not disappearing on their way to Earth, but rather changing their flavor before arriving at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) in Canada.

Brookhaven Lab scientists made important contributions to both of these neutrino experiments, fueled by the Lab’s legacy in the study of these abundant yet elusive subatomic particles. Scientists working at Brookhaven’s Alternating Gradient Synchrotron in 1962 were the first to demonstrate that there was more than one type of neutrino, earning them the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics. In addition, the 2002 Nobel Prize-winning research of Brookhaven chemist Raymond Davis Jr., the first to detect solar neutrinos, introduced the mystery solved by the work recently honored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

To learn more visit: www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=25984

2015-6017  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom