|
 |
|
A shower of particles
entering the cloud chamber at the top. In the
middle of the chamber is a 3 cm lead plate in
which more particles are produced. On the right
below the plate is a forked track, representing
a spontaneous decay of what is today called a
K-meson, containing a strange quark.
|
|
|
|
The first evidence for strange
particles, particles containing a strange quark, came
from the study of cloud chamber photographs. The
chamber was moved to high altitude mountains where
the flux of cosmic ray protons, that can create new
particles in interactions, is much higher than at
ground. Patrick Blackett received the 1948 Nobel
Prize for his works using the cloud chamber to study
nuclear reactions and cosmic rays. With this chamber
it was also possible to study electromagnetic showers
and properties of nuclear reactions.
|
The Nobel Prize in
Physics 1948 - Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett »
