CHASING THE GHOST

A biography focuses on one of the American physicists who confirmed the existence of neutrinos.

In 1956, Fred Reines and Clyde Cowan collaboratively made a discovery that changed the landscape of modern physics. They proved the existence of the neutrino, a subatomic particle so elusive Reines called it “ghostly.” The search for the neutrino was born out of the problem of understanding the decay of neutrons in the nuclei of radioactive atoms. How can a neutron, which has no electrical charge, get converted into an electron and proton, both of which are charged? Some speculated there must be an undetected particle in the mix that has no charge itself and no (or very low) mass. Reines and Cowan devised a way to demonstrate the existence of such particles, which are paradoxically everywhere but all but invisible. For this groundbreaking achievement, Reines would eventually share the Nobel Prize in physics with Martin L. Perl in 1995. (Cowan died in 1974.) Cole chronicles Reines’ extraordinary accomplishment in all its iterations. At one point, Reines thought a nuclear explosion could expose the hidden neutrino, a brilliant, if impractical, hypothesis. The author also charts Reines’ early life (Growing up in a “household environment in which erudition and accomplishment were so highly prized might have intimidated some youngsters”) and an eventfully distinguished career that included working on the Manhattan Project. Cole deftly produces a “mixture of memoir and biography”—he is the younger cousin of the physicist—and, as a result, the entire work is infused with a spirit of loving admiration. Fully accounting for Reines’ brilliance requires a deep dive into some prohibitively technical subject matter, but the author manages it with remarkably accessible lucidity. In addition, he paints a full, rich portrait of Reines’ life that is not merely a catalog of professional achievements, chronicling his musical interests, his evolving thoughts on his own Jewish identity, and his admirable dedication to teaching. For all of his analytic rigor, Reines was at heart an idealist, a feature Cole vividly highlights: “Fred’s belief that science could eventually reveal the underpinnings of all physical mysteries is truly a matter of faith. His idealization of science was rooted in his teenage supposition nearly 40 years earlier that science could also end discrimination and injustice.”

A thoughtful and informative account of a scientific giant.