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The Origins of Neutrinos
In beta decay, a neutron turns into a proton and it emits an electron and this mysterious neutrino. In the 1950s, Fred Reines in Los Alamos realized that the inverse process was also possible. He figured if he could get a sufficiently intense source of anti-neutrinos,. he could detect this reaction that converts a proton to a neutron. But first, being at Los Alamos, he thought he might use a bomb. The difficulty with using a bomb is having your experiments survive the experience.