Frederick Reines visiting construction site at UC Irvine.
Gallery of Frederick Reines
In the 1940s, Sylvia and Fred Reines stand at what is now the Anderson Overlook.
Gallery of Frederick Reines
Frederick Reines and F. Sherwood Rowland, 1967.
Gallery of Frederick Reines
Robert Reines stands next to his father’s Nobel Prize medal in the Hans Bethe House.
Gallery of Frederick Reines
Reines (left) and Cowan at the controls of the experiment in Hanford, Washington, where they obtained tentative evidence for the existence of the neutrino.
Reines (left) and Cowan at the controls of the experiment in Hanford, Washington, where they obtained tentative evidence for the existence of the neutrino.
Neutrinos and Other Matters: Selected Works of Frederick Reines
(This volume is a collection of the scientific papers of F...)
This volume is a collection of the scientific papers of Frederick Reines. Its publication is to commemorate the 70th birthday, in 1988, of this distinguished scientist. The selected papers here cover many aspects of his work in neutrino physics, astrophysics and conservation law tests. They have been divided into logical groupings, each introduced by a leading authority in that field, who helps the reader to see the reprinted articles with a better historical and scientific perspective.
Frederick Reines was the American physicist, scientist. He is best known for his studies in the field of neutrino physics and the uncovering of the basic properties of this elusive particle.
Background
Ethnicity:
Father and mother of Frederick Reines were Jewish emigrants from Russia.
Reines was born on March 16, 1918 in Paterson, New Jersey, United States; the son of Israel Reines and Gussie Reines (Cohen).
Education
Reines received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1939 and a Master of Science degree in mathematical physics in 1941 from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. His thesis was "A Critical Review of Optical Diffraction Theory". He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from New York University in 1944.
Reines began his career as a staff physicist in 1944 and later group leader in the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory to work on the Manhattan Project. Following World War II he remained on the staff at Los Alamos and served as director of the Operation Greenhouse experiments on Eniwetok Atoll, engaged in experiments on shock waves and spontaneous fission, and several years later began research on solar and cosmic gamma rays. Together with his laboratory colleague Clyde L. Cowan Jr., Reines embarked on a series of experiments, first at a nuclear reactor in Hanford, Washington and later at one of the new Savannah River Plant reactors in South Carolina, which ultimately led, in 1956, to the first detection of the neutrino.
In 1959, Reines left Los Alamos to become professor and head of the Department of Physics at Case Institute of Technology. During his seven years there, he formed the Neutrino Group working in reactor neutrino physics, double beta decay, electron lifetime studies, searches for nucleon decay and an experiment in a gold mine in South Africa.
In 1966, he became the founding dean of the School of Physical Sciences and held the position until 1974. In 1979 together with physicists from the University of Michigan and Brookhaven National Laboratory, Reines led the formation of the IMB (Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven) collaboration to excavate a giant underground cavity in a mine in Painesville, Ohio, to function as a water Cerenkov detector in a search for proton decay. Reines served as one of the spokespersons for this experiment, which operated for almost a decade. They managed to set stringent lower limits to the lifetime that ruled out many of the new theoretical models. Another major success of that project was the detection of a burst of neutrinos from Supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, approximately 168,000 light years distant.
In 1988 University of California in Irvine elevated Reines to Distinguished Professor of Physics Emeritus, but he continued teaching until 1991 and remained on UCI's faculty until his death.
Reines discovered the nuetrino, a subatomic particle produced by the decay of radioactive elements.
He was awarded Nobel Prize for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics jointly with one half to Martin L. Perl for the discovery of the tau lepton and with one half to Reines for the detection of the neutrino. Also "Reines Hall" at University of California in Irvine was named in his honor.
Quotations:
"You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul."
Membership
Reines was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Personality
Reines was very ambitious and attractive person, who inspire with his enthusiasm to pursue his goals. He was a great scout and possesses a good sense of humor. He resolved every situation he enters. On the other hand, Frederick may often be frustrated, largely because he has extremely high expectations of himself. Reines may also suffer from bouts of confusion and lack of direction. This gives rise to loss of confidence and the onset of deep depression. The cause of these emotional problems is Reines' lack of understanding of his own sensitivity and potential.
Quotes from others about the person
''He was always doing courageous things, expanding the limits of research. He thought of ways to detect neutrinos, showed that it could be done and that was a psychologically important breakthrough in the whole field." - Jonas Schultz
Interests
opera, chorus, vocal groups, boy scout
Music & Bands
Handel's "Messiah"
Gilbert and Sullivan performances Cleveland Symphony Orchestra
Connections
Frederick Reines married Sylvia Samuels in 1940. They have two children and six grandchildren.
Father:
Isreal Reines
He ran a general store in Hillburn, New York.
Mother:
Gussie Reines (Cohen)
Brother:
William Reines
Brother:
David Reines
Sister:
Pauline Reines
Granduncle:
Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines (1839-1915)
He was the founder of the Mizrachi Religious Zionist
movement.
Son:
Robert
Daughter:
Alisa
Friend:
Clyde Cowan
He was a co-discoverer of the neutrino along with Frederick Reines