3 ms·

Neutrino (2010) [pdf]

29 points by joebig 3y ago

joebig 3y ago
Grippingly woven book, albeit at a popular science level.
- dang 3y ago
  (Sorry for offtopicness but can you please email hn@ycombinator.com? I want to send you a repost invite for a different submission. The current one is good too!)
  - joebig 3y ago
    Whoa..hi Dang! Sorry for the response delay... was hopelessly tied up. May I send it now?
    - dang 3y ago
      Of course! please do.
frumiousirc 3y ago
> In 1996, after a year of reconstruction, Kamiokande was ready for more work. With ten times more water and PMTs than before, the detector was renamed SuperKamiokande, or SuperK for short. After finding this I can't help but give two pedantic corrections: the two were distinct detectors and for a while operated contemporaneously in different caverns of the same mine (Kamiokande was eventually upgraded to KamLAND). And, second, the correct spelling of SK is with a hyphen: Super-Kamiokande. The doc includes some interesting bits involving how Davis got Goldhaber to fund Homestake despite Goldhaber being skeptical about astronomers 'being able to say anything correct about anything interesting'. A very Goldhaberesque quote and I'm sure not mean spirited. Reminds me of another quip of Goldhapber's that was about the name of the IMB (Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven) experiment. Goldhaber, who I believe was the sole Brookhaven scientist on that experiment, would say, "IMB stands for 'I Am B'".
webdoodle 3y ago
Thanks for sharing! These tiny little ones are such interesting particles, with applications that are changing the world.
- firebaze 3y ago
  As harmless as they are, even in the numbers we are exposed to every second, they can also be deadly: https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/
- ketanmaheshwari 3y ago
  I haven't read the book but am curious to know what world changing applications does neutrinos have? Googling, I find that they could be used to detect if a country is developing nuclear weapons. Are there any other applications?
  - joebig 3y ago
    Neutrino astronomy. Transparency of interstellar matter to neutrinos permits glimpse into very core of stars and supernova.
i_am_a_peasant 3y ago
Lol I expected it to be a book about QNX. I'm too deep in a rabbit hole here.

29 points by joebig 3y ago

joebig 3y ago

Grippingly woven book, albeit at a popular science level.

dang 3y ago
(Sorry for offtopicness but can you please email hn@ycombinator.com? I want to send you a repost invite for a different submission. The current one is good too!)
- joebig 3y ago
  Whoa..hi Dang! Sorry for the response delay... was hopelessly tied up. May I send it now?
  - dang 3y ago
    Of course! please do.

frumiousirc 3y ago

> In 1996, after a year of reconstruction, Kamiokande was ready for more work. With ten times more water and PMTs than before, the detector was renamed SuperKamiokande, or SuperK for short. After finding this I can't help but give two pedantic corrections: the two were distinct detectors and for a while operated contemporaneously in different caverns of the same mine (Kamiokande was eventually upgraded to KamLAND). And, second, the correct spelling of SK is with a hyphen: Super-Kamiokande. The doc includes some interesting bits involving how Davis got Goldhaber to fund Homestake despite Goldhaber being skeptical about astronomers 'being able to say anything correct about anything interesting'. A very Goldhaberesque quote and I'm sure not mean spirited. Reminds me of another quip of Goldhapber's that was about the name of the IMB (Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven) experiment. Goldhaber, who I believe was the sole Brookhaven scientist on that experiment, would say, "IMB stands for 'I Am B'".

webdoodle 3y ago

Thanks for sharing! These tiny little ones are such interesting particles, with applications that are changing the world.

firebaze 3y ago
As harmless as they are, even in the numbers we are exposed to every second, they can also be deadly: https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/
ketanmaheshwari 3y ago
I haven't read the book but am curious to know what world changing applications does neutrinos have? Googling, I find that they could be used to detect if a country is developing nuclear weapons. Are there any other applications?
- joebig 3y ago
  Neutrino astronomy. Transparency of interstellar matter to neutrinos permits glimpse into very core of stars and supernova.

i_am_a_peasant 3y ago

Lol I expected it to be a book about QNX. I'm too deep in a rabbit hole here.