Are There Really Neutrinos?

Look, let it be said upfront that no physicist credibly doubts that neutrinos exist. A couple of Nobels have been awarded to Cowan and Reines for in fact detecting these.But Franklin has chosen neutrinos as a pedagogic vessel. He shows how in the early years, when neutrinos were first postulated, in order to "save" the law of conservation of energy, that the evidence for them was indeed flimsy. Not totally lacking, but sketchy. A touch of faith was required.He traces the history of neutrino research, and shows how, painfully slowly, evidence was accumulated. Along the way, you can see scientific logic in action, not just in one scientist's work, but in an entire community.