NEW ATOMIC PARTICLE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28002, 23 June 1956, Page 9

NEW ATOMIC PARTICLE

Discovery By U.S. Scientist ■ i WASHINGTON, June 21. The Atomic Energy Commission today announced that its Los Alamos. New Mexico, laboratory had found a new atomic particle which might provide a clue to the “glue” that holds atomic nuclei together. The particle, called a neutrion, is the second new particle to be detected in less than a year. The first one, identified by the University of California Radiation Laboratory, is the antiproton. Both had been objects of intensive search by scientists since theoretical physicists reasoned out their probable existence more than 20 years ago.

Dr. Willard F. Libby, acting Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. says in a statement accompanying the announcement that the new discovery “confirms the validity of important aspects of current nuclear theory and opens the way to further understanding of nuclear forces.”

In particular. Dr. Libby said: “One of the greatest mysteries facing scientists today is the nature of the ‘glue’ which holds atomic nuclei together. The discovery of the neutrino should help scientists to gain an understanding of this force, which is one of the fundamental properties of matter.” Dr. Libby conceded that no immediate practical application of the discovery was known. But he says that it is of very great importance as an advance in the basic knowledge of which progress in the utilisation of atomic energy depends. On behalf of the commission. Dr. Lib.by offered congratulations to the scientific team “on its magnificent accomplishment” in detecting the new particle.