Carried by History: Cesar Lattes, Nuclear Emulsions, and the Discovery of the Pi-meson
Abstract
We analyze the role played by the Brazilian physicist Cesar Lattes (1924-2005) in the historical development of the nuclear emulsion technique and in the co-discovery of the pion. His works influenced and gave impetus to the development of experimental physics in Brazil, the foundation of a national center dedicated to physics research, the beginnings of Brazilian "Big Science," and the inauguration of a long-lasting collaboration between Brazil and Japan in the field of comic ray physics.
- Publication:
-
Physics in Perspective
- Pub Date:
- March 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s00016-014-0128-6
- Bibcode:
- 2014PhP....16....3V
- Keywords:
-
- Cesar Lattes;
- Gleb Wataghin;
- Giuseppe Occhialini;
- Cecil F. Powell;
- Eugene Gardner;
- nuclear emulsion technique;
- mesons;
- Mount Chacaltaya;
- history of elementary particle physics;
- history of physics in Brazil