Sir Eddington Doesn't Believe in Neutrinos

Just now nuclear physicists are writing a great deal about hypothetical particles called neutrinos supposed to account for certain peculiar facts observed in ß-ray disintegration. We can perhaps best describe the neutrinos as little bits of spin-energy that have got detached. I am not much impressed by the neutrino theory. In an ordinary way I might say that I do not believe in neutrinos... But I have to reflect that a physicist may be an artist, and you never know where you are with artists. My old-fashioned kind of disbelief in neutrinos is scarcely enough. Dare I say that experimental physicists will not have sufficient ingenuity to make neutrinos? Whatever I may think, I am not going to be lured into a wager against the skill of experimenters under the impression that it is a wager against the truth of a theory. If they succeed in making neutrinos, perhaps even in developing industrial applications of them, I suppose I shall have to believe—though I may feel that they have not been playing quite fair.

Notes:

But he's not willing to bet against their existence, because a physicist might invent them through reason and experimentation. A fascinating thought that this summary cannot do justice.

Folksonomies: science art creativity

Taxonomies:
/science/physics (0.671697)
/law, govt and politics/government/courts and judiciary (0.228270)
/home and garden/bed and bath/bedroom (0.221527)

Keywords:
neutrinos (0.984501 (positive:0.010111)), certain peculiar facts (0.874604 (neutral:0.000000)), Sir Eddington (0.707991 (negative:-0.579691)), fascinating thought (0.686042 (neutral:0.000000)), hypothetical particles (0.681006 (neutral:0.000000)), nuclear physicists (0.677810 (neutral:0.000000)), ß-ray disintegration (0.675588 (neutral:0.000000)), sufficient ingenuity (0.659917 (positive:0.203394)), little bits (0.654830 (negative:-0.404489)), great deal (0.653979 (neutral:0.000000)), ordinary way (0.653458 (negative:-0.551287)), old-fashioned kind (0.653376 (positive:0.840473)), experimental physicists (0.649790 (positive:0.203394)), neutrino theory (0.647624 (negative:-0.387025)), industrial applications (0.633967 (neutral:0.000000)), wager (0.528109 (negative:-0.516171)), disbelief (0.469973 (positive:0.840473)), experimentation (0.466565 (negative:-0.337160)), experimenters (0.466523 (negative:-0.516171)), reason (0.459104 (negative:-0.337160)), existence (0.458625 (negative:-0.579691)), impression (0.456316 (negative:-0.516171)), Dare (0.452371 (positive:0.203394)), summary (0.450849 (neutral:0.000000)), justice (0.450755 (neutral:0.000000)), skill (0.447458 (negative:-0.516171)), spin-energy (0.446483 (negative:-0.404489))

Entities:
physicist:JobTitle (0.785829 (negative:-0.337160)), Sir Eddington:Person (0.670190 (negative:-0.579691))

Concepts:
Experiment (0.951882): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Truth (0.886658): dbpedia | freebase
Hypothesis (0.788955): dbpedia | freebase
Theory (0.725324): dbpedia | freebase
Empiricism (0.711268): dbpedia | freebase
Scientific method (0.678765): dbpedia | freebase
Particle physics (0.576176): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Cognition (0.563794): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc

 The Philosophy of Physical Science
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Eddington , Sir Arthur Stanley and (Sir.) , Arthur Stanley Eddington (1949), The Philosophy of Physical Science, CUP Archive, Retrieved on 2012-04-26
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  •