arXiv:physics/9901037physics.hist-ph
Certainty and Uncertainty in the Practice of Science: Electrons, Muons, and Taus
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Abstract
During the past one hundred years three related elementary particles - the electron, the muon, and the tau - were discovered by very different scientific techniques. The author, who received the Wolf Prize and the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the tau, uses this history to discuss certainty and uncertainty in the practice of science. While the emphasis is on the practice of scientific research, the paper also explains for the non-physicist some basic ideas in elementary particle science.
I guess it is a little OT, but I was interested to read elswhere that room-temperature fusion is already possible, demonstrated and understood using negative muons to produce proton-deuteron fusion reaction. It just isn't possible to generate additional energy with the process.…
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