Positron Discovery
Anderson’s (1905-91) discovery of the positively charged electron was a groundbreaking achievement that revolutionized the field of physics. Anderson worked with the ”Giant” Robert Millikan (1868-1953) of the famed Millikan oil drop experiment in which an electron is held stationary in an electric field, and by equating the electric force with the gravitational force, one arrives at the formula q=mgV/d, where d is the distance between the plates and V the potential difference, other symbols having their usual meaning and q can then be determined.
The Photoelectric Effect
Remaining with Millikan for a moment, he carried out experimental work on the Photoelectric effect, verifying Einstein’s expression (and thus his interpretation) of the phenomenon and, in so doing, accurately determined Planck’s (1858-1947) constant. Not a bad mentor to have for young Anderson. But this reminds me of one of the most beautiful quotes in Science (In fact, it was said by a Mathematician, but I think it is equally valid in the Sciences):
“It appears that to progress in Mathematics; one must study the Master and not the pupils- N.H.Abel”
| I wrote this on the copy of my Ph.D. thesis that I sent to my late Ph.D. advisor (may he rest in peace) with the additional remark. I said that the quote was not sufficiently general and that one could insert the word ”with” after the word ”study.” |
Anderson, like Rutherford (1871-1937) before him, was a great experimentalist. Both legends were able to not only perform these epoch-making experiments but also to explain the governing theory behind them.
Uncovering the Fascinating World of Physics
Anderson was able to detect a muon and thus was a pivotal figure in the elucidation of the standard theory of elementary particle Physics in this case of a lepton; I could at this point start discussing Bosons and up/down quarks and thus mention people like Bose (1894-1974) and Fermi (1901-54), but that would lead me too far astray. It is interesting to note that the word lepton from the Greek for thin (calling someone leptin in Greek is guaranteed to raise a smile) is also used in Statistics when describing probability distributions (leptokurtic).
Conversely, one would not describe someone as platy in Greek (platykurtic (fat), for fear of unwanted advances). Anderson thought that he had discovered a pion and that he had thus verified the work of Yukawa (1907-81), which is the particle involved in the ”strong force”…. Alas, I have run out of space again.
