Science
Ralph P. Hudson
Cryogenic physicist and parity-test collaborator
Who they are
Ralph P. Hudson was a National Bureau of Standards physicist working in cryogenics and low-temperature magnetism. He joined Chien-Shiung Wu, Ernest Ambler, Raymond Hayward and Dale Hoppes in the cobalt-60 experiment that demonstrated parity violation. His later NIST historical account helps document the team effort behind the result.
His work shows how specialized experimental equipment enabled a challenge to an accepted physical symmetry.
Selected contributions
Selected works
Academic paper · 1957 · Historical journal article
Experimental Test of Parity Conservation in Beta Decay
Wu, Ambler, Hayward, Hoppes and Hudson report an asymmetry in electrons emitted by polarized cobalt-60 nuclei. The experiment tests parity conservation in a specified weak decay rather than establishing a claim about all physical processes.
Reading scope & citation
Reused prior inspected evidence: Supporting original-paper passages read from publisher PDF; raw counts and statistical analysis not independently reproduced. Publication date checked on article page. Reuses documented prior inspection: Supporting original-paper passages read from publisher PDF; raw counts and statistical analysis not independently reproduced. Publication date checked on article page.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev.105.1413
In the timeline
Biography sources
- Experimental Test of Parity Conservation in Beta Decay ↗Physical Review 105, 1413–1415, American Physical Society
- Reversal of the Parity Conservation Law in Nuclear Physics ↗National Institute of Standards and Technology; prepared by Ralph P. Hudson