No Easy Answers: Science and the Pursuit of Knowledge

Abstract

Introduction -- Experiment--Making or Breaking Theories -- The Violation of Parity Conservation -- The Meselson-Stahl Experiment: "The Most Beautiful Experiment in Biology" -- Emil Konopinski and the Theory of?-Decay -- The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force -- The Search for What Is There -- The Discovery of the Electron -- The Road to the Neutrino -- How Many Neutrinos? -- The Appearance and Disappearance of the 17-keV Neutrino -- The Missing Solar Neutrinos -- Blas Cabrera and the Search for Magnetic Monopoles -- The Trouble with Scientists -- Robert Millikan and the Charge of the Electron -- The Early Searches for Gravity Waves -- Atomic Parity Violation: Do Mutants Die of Natural Causes? -- Conclusion: No Easy Answers. The violation of parity conservation -- The Meselson-Stahl experiment : "the most beautiful experiment in biology" -- Emil Konopinski and the theory of β-decay -- The rise and fall of the fifth force -- The discovery of the electron -- The road to the neutrino -- How many neutrinos-- The appearance and disappearance of the 17-keV neutrino -- The missing solar neutrinos -- Blas Cabrera and the search for magnetic monopoles -- Robert Millikan and the charge of the electron -- The early searches for gravity waves -- Atomic parity violation : do mutants die of natural causes-- Conclusion : no easy answers.