A Lesson for the Future of Our Science: My Testimony on Lord Patrick M S Blackett

摘要

The book is a tribute to the great experimental physicist Lord Patrick M S Blackett, written by one of his pupils at the Sphynx Observatory, Antonio Zichichi. Blackett is well known for his work on cloud chambers and cosmic rays, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1948. The author offers his personal testimony, from the first time he heard Blackett's name to when he went to work with him, and then about the research he could be involved in. He provides a profile of his subject while giving an overview of Blackett's work and, in particular, of his most significant discoveries, including the so-called vacuum-polarisation effect, the first example of "virtual physics", and strange particles. The important implications of Blackett's pioneering contribution to sub-nuclear physics are also discussed.