The Neutrino
In a letter written the very afternoon that he first received the news of the experimental proof of non-conservation of parity in beta decay, Professor W. Pauli expressed his thoughts and reactions to this unexpected development. His thoughts seemed to focus especially on the problem of the neutrino. Ending his letter in a reflective mood, Pauli wrote that ‘this particle neutrino, of the existence of which I am not innocent, still persecutes me’. Later generations, having seen the triumphant success of the neutrino hypothesis, probably will never fully appreciate the courage and insight it took to put forth such an outlandish idea as the existence of an elusive particle, the neutrino. In recent years, Pauli again concerned himself with the problem of the neutrino.
The linear combination of S and T was strongly favored before May 1957, as concluded from Table II. This dominating (S,T) combination was not questioned or challenged until the results of A35 were reported in May 1957. Now, the conclusion about the beta interactions based on recoil results is predominantly (V,A) combination. The cause and the unjustified assumptions which led to the erroneous conclusion of T for He6 were examined and analyzed in a report by Wu and Schwarzschild.