Cesar Lattes and the Nobel Prize: The Logic of Scientific Prestige in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Using sources from the Nobel Prize archive, this article seeks to understand why Cesar Lattes did not share the 1950 Nobel Prize with Cecil Powell for the discovery of the π meson. To do so, we contextualize and discuss the Prize based on secondary literature that helps us understand how the Swedish Academy of Sciences historically selects its laureates. Next, we discuss the nomination letters that Lattes, Powell and Giuseppe Occhialini received for their work on the development of the photographic emulsion technique and detecting the π meson, the evaluations that the Nobel physics committee made of this work and its justification for only awarding Powell. We conclude with a reflection on the dynamics of the distribution of prestige and recognition for scientific discoveries based on the episode.