The Elusive Neutrino: A Subatomic Detective Story

This easy-to-read introduction to the neutrino tells the story of how scientists came to discover and learn about the properties of one of the most mysterious subatomic particles in the universe. It was the implied existence of the neutrino (presumed many decades before its detection) that led to the development of the concept of the 'weak force', one of the four forces identified in nature (the others being gravity, electromagnetism and the 'strong force'). Using research into neutrinos as a navigational aid, the author conducts the reader through the mind-boggling world of particle physics: from the discovery of radioactivity in the late nineteenth century through the theory of weak interaction physics to current speculation about the origin of elementary particles and of the universe itself.