50 Years Ago Physics

50 years ago, physicists thought they found the W boson. They hadn’t

Excerpt from the August 21, 1971 issue of Science News

an computer illustration of streaks of yellow bouncing around in loops - showing how the debris from a proton-antiproton collision moved. the straighter path of a high-energy electron is also shown

An experiment at CERN in 1982 captured this image depicting debris from a proton-antiproton collision. The path of a high-energy electron (indicated by a red arrow, bottom right) detected in the smashup’s aftermath was consistent with the expected decay of products of a W boson.

CERN

By Erin Garcia de Jesús

- More than 2 years ago

August 21, 1971 cover of Science News

The W particle may have been found — Science News, August 21, 1971

Physicists distinguish four different kinds of force by which objects in the universe act upon each other: the strong nuclear force, the weak force, electromagnetism and gravity.