The physics experiment that went wrong
Discovery Notebook
I’m reading a helpful book, Story Genius, by Lisa Cron, about narrative technique that I…
Before I turn the page for good on the doppelganger Stanley Ruby, I can't resist this tidbit…
Deeper searches for "Dr. Stanley Ruby" are returning some hits related to the Advanced Research…
Sorry to have dropped the ball on the saga of Stan's experiment. I'm working intensely on a…
The other mine of information available at my home is the rolling filing cabinet of genealogical…
I managed to get seriously ill two weeks ago and had to set aside the blogging project right at…
Before I move on to the details of Stan's academic career, I realize that I overlooked…
It is time to look more closely at the famous Chien-Shiung Wu. How does a Chinese woman born in…
By the time my train arrived at Oakland's Jack London station well past midnight, late due to…
We pick up with the Amtrak San Joaquin pulling north out of Fresno and me struggling to absorb…
Allan Franklin is a physics historian and philosopher of science from the University of Colorado…
So far on this blog we have covered many aspects our family history: our father's family roots…
Story Events
Citations
Citations
Selected | Image | Date | Publication | Author(s) | Title | Comments |
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January 16, 1934 | Zeitschrift fur Physik | E. Fermi | Attempt at a Theory of Beta Rays | Fermi introduces theory of beta decay, including supposition of the neutrino. Translation published by Fred L. Wilson in the American Journal of Physics, Dec. 1968. |
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February 15, 1937 | Physical Review | G. Gamow and E. Teller | Some Generalizations of the Beta Transformation Theory | |||
February 15, 1949 | Physical Review | James S. Allen, H. R. Paneth, and A. H. Morrish | Electron-Neutrino Angular Correlation in the Beta-Decay of He6 | Predecessor He-6 experiment |
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October 1950 | Reviews of Modern Physics | Chien-Shiung Wu | Recent Investigation of the Shapes of Beta-Ray Spectra | Invited paper at APS New York 1950 summarized Wu's beta-decay experimental work. |
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September 15, 1952 | Physical Review | C. S. Wu, B. M. Rustad, V. Perez-Mendez, and L. Lidofsky | The Beta-Spectrum of He6 | Used Columbia spectrometer to calculate revised comparative lifetime of He6 |
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December 1, 1952 | Physica | C. S. Wu | BETA DISINTEGRATION, ALLOWED AND FORBIDDEN DECAY | Wu overiew of the coupling constant problem. Covers recalculation of He6 endpoint. Cites prepublication R-R work via private communication. |
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February 15, 1953 | Physical Review | Brice M. Rustad and Stanley L. Ruby | Correlation Between Electron and Recoil Nucleus in He6 Decay | First publication of Rustad-Ruby results. Together with Allen-Jentschke, seen as definitive determination of Tensor coupling in GT interactions |
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March 1, 1953 | Physical Review | D. C. Peaslee | The Fermi Term in Beta-Neutrino Correlation | Success of Rustad-Ruby for GT interactions leads to search for similar experiment for F interactions. Peaslee was in the Wu orbit at Columbia and clearly had early knowledge of the Rustad-Ruby results. His letter was submitted before RR was published. Then the Peaslee letter was published in the very next issue. |
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September 18, 1954 | Nature | Bellamy and Moorhouse | Report by Bellamy and Moorhouse on Nuclear and Meson Physics International Conference in Glasgow | Report by Bellamy and Moorhouse on Nuclear and Meson Physics International Conference in Glasgow includes summary of Wu’s talk on the interaction in beta decay |
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February 15, 1955 | Physical Review | B. M. Rustad and S. L. Ruby | Gamow-Teller Interaction in the Decay of He6 | The classic He-6 recoil experiment by Rustad-Ruby |
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September 15, 1956 | Physical Review | A. Schwarzschild, B. M. Rustad, and C. S. Wu | Decay of A41 | Note the three authors . Rustad remained in the fold before and after the reversal of the Rustad-Ruby experiment. Schwarzchild would later collaborate with Wu on the Critical Examination report. |
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October 1, 1956 | Physical Review | O. C. Kistner, A. Schwarzschild, and B. M. Rustad | Decay of A35 | Finds that A35 is a suitable source for identifying the Fermi invariant in the beta- decay interaction by an angular correlation experiment. Later, such an experiment by Hammersfeld was a key piece of evidence in the RR reversal. |
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January 16, 1957 | New York Times | Harold M. Schmeck, Jr. | Basic Concept in Physics Is Reported Upset in Tests; Conservation of Parity Law in Nuclear Theory Challenged by Scientists at Columbia and Princeton | Big media splash by Columbia on parity violation discoveries. Page One above the fold. Franklin remembers they stopped classes for the announcement. |
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February 15, 1957 | Physical Review | C. S. Wu, E. Ambler, R. W. Hayward, D. D. Hoppes, and R. P. Hudson | Experimental Test of Parity Conservation in Beta Decay | Wu’s famous experiment that confirmed the Lee-Yang suggestion that left-right symmetry is not conserved in weak interactions. Another concurrently published experiment by Garwin and Lederman confirmed the theory in meson decays. |
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April 1957 | 7th Annual Rochester Conference on High energy nuclear physics, VII | C, N. Wang and others | Weak Interactions | Wu continued to favorably cite RR three months after her parity experiment. I am uncertain if her first reference to He6 (in relation to the Coulomb part) is about RR. |
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June 15, 1957 | Physical Review | E. AMBLER, R. W. HAYWARD, D. D. HOPPE, R. P. HUDSON, AND C. S. WU | Further Experiments on β Decay of Polarized Nuclei | These results were reported at the New York Meeting of the American Physical Society of February 2, 1957 (C. S. Wu, post-deadline paper). Positive R-R citation |
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July 15, 1957 | Physical Review Letters | W. B. Herrmannsfeldt, D. R. Maxson, P. Stahelin, and J. S. Allen | Electron-Neutrino Angular Correlation in the Positron Decay of Argon35 | The first experiment with contadictory results from He-6 . Paper cites Kistner-Schwarzschild-Rustad paper on suitability of A35 for correlation experiment. Received 5/28/57. |
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September 1957 | Proceedings of the Rehovot Conference on Nuclear Structure | E. J. Konopinski | Theory of the Classical Beta-Decay Measurements | Beta decay theorist E.J. Konopinski frames the experimental conundrum. |
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September 22, 1957 | Proc. of the Conference on Mesons and Newly-Discovered Particles, Padua-Venice | E. C. G. Sudarshan and R. E. Marshak | The Nature of the Four-Fermion Interaction | Marshak gives Sudarshan’s experimental review at Padua conference, calling for the He6 experiment to be redone. This paper is the basis for Sudarshan and Marshak's claim of priority over Feynman and Gell-Mann for the V–A theory. |
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December 11, 1957 | Physical Review | M. Goldhaber, L. Grodzins, and A. W. Sunyar | Helicity of Neutrinos | More experimental support for VA; He6 is an outlier. |
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January 1, 1958 | Proceedings of the Rehovot Conference on Nuclear Structure | Harry J.Lipkin | POST-CONFERENCE SUMMARY OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN BETA-DECAY | Lipkin's Editor's Note added in proof describes the yet-unpublished Brookhaven experiment on helicity of neutrinos. |
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January 1, 1958 | Physical Review | R. P. Feynman and M. Gell-Mann | Theory of the Fermi Interaction | Feynman calls for He6 experiment to be reviewed Classic VA paper beat Marshak-Sudarshan to publication. |
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January 28, 1958 | American Physical Society meeting | B. M. Rustad and S. L. Ruby | Post-deadline paper by Rustad and Ruby | Text and abstract not recorded. Franklin summarizes as “mea culpa” . Other papers cite as acknowledgement of error. Image is not from the Rustad-Ruby session. |
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March 1, 1958 | Physical Review | E. C. G. Sudarshan and R. E. Marshak | Chirality Invariance and the Universal Fermi Interaction | Sudarshan-Marshak cite private communication with Wu |
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April 21, 1958 | Unpublished | C. S. Wu and A. Schwarzschild | A Critical Examination of the He6 Recoil Experiment of Rustad and Ruby | Wu repudiates Rustad-Ruby experiment in unpublished CU-173 Columbia University report. Franklin says letter from Wu to Cavanaugh suggests reexamination was done in November. |
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July 15, 1958 | Physical Review Letters | W. B. Herrmannsfeldt, R. L. Burman, P. Stahelin, J. S. Allen, and T. H. Braid | Determination of the Gamow-Teller Beta-Decay Interaction From the Decay of Helium-6 | Experiment of He6 decay by Illinois team cites Rustad-Ruby He6 half-life calculation while reaching contradictory result. |
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December 15, 1963 | Physical Review | Joseph B. Vise and Brice M. Rustad | Electron-Neutrino Angular Correlation in the Decay of He6 | Complete redo by Rustad and Joseph Vise in 1963. |
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December 11, 1967 | Physics Letters | C.J.CHRISTENSEN, A.NIELSEN, A.BAHNSEN, W.K.BROWN and B.M.RUSTAD | THE HALF-LIFE OF THE FREE NEUTRON | Rustad's posthumous final publication. |
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1985 | Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman | Richard P. Feynman | The 7 Percent Solution | pp. 226-234. Feynman’s aha moment was when he saw the figure in Rustad-Ruby |
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1989 | Biographical Memoirs | Herbert L. Anderson | John Ray Dunning 1907-1975 | Dunning was the driving force in Columbia's nuclear research program. Anderson recalls the events around the early nuclear fission and uranium enrichment projects at Columbia. A highlight is the full text of Dunning's letter to Alfred Nier requesting U235 sample for testing (important to us because this connection is what brought Rustad to Columbia). |
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1990 | Allan Franklin | Experiment Right or Wrong | The first half of the book recounts the history of theory and experiments about beta decay and the weak interaction, including detailed analysis of the Rustad-Ruby experimental error. |
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July 25, 1992 | Current Science | R. E. Marshak | The Pain and Joy of a Major Scientific Discovery | Extensive excerpts are published because of their relevance to Rustad-Ruby experiment. Marshak reports that Wu remains strongly supportive of RR three months after her parity experiment. |
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1996 | Monographs and Texts in Physics and Astronomy | C.S. Wu and S.A. Moszkowski | Beta Decay | Wu's readable textbook about Beta Decay includes a historical review, including a more distant review of the He6 events |
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1999 | Robert P. Crease | Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1946-1972 | The author appears to be confused about Wu's comments at Rochester. She described her own unpublished helicity work, not new work by Rustad-Ruby. The Goldhaber anecdote leads in to a description of his neutrino helicity experiment, performed in November 1957, which further discredited the RR experiment. |
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March 1, 2001 | Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society | Leon Lidofsky | CHIEN-SHIUNG WU 29 May 1912-16 February 1997 | Lidofsky's appreciation of Wu's career does not address the Rustad-Ruby affair, but is nonetheless illuminating. |
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2014 | Chiang Tsai-Chien and Wong Tang-Fong, translator | Madame Wu Chien-Shiung The First Lady of Physics Research | Originally published in Chinese in 1996. Stan Ruby was interviewed and is cited as a source. Wu's involvement in the Rustad-Ruby affair is documented. |
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December 13, 2021 | Washington Post Style | Jada Yuan | Discovering Dr. Wu | Article by Wu's granddaughter about her own journey of discovery about her famous relative. |