DISCOVERY OF ANTI-MATTER, THE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CARL DAVID ANDERSON, THE SECOND YOUNGEST MAN TO WIN THE NOBEL PRIZE

by David A K Anderson

In 1936, at age 31, Carl David Anderson became the second youngest Nobel laureate for his discovery of antimatter when he observed positrons in a cloud chamber.He is responsible for developing rocket power weapons that were used in World War II.He was born in New York City in 1905 and was educated in Los Angeles. He served for many years as a physics professor at California Institute of Technology. Prior to Oppenheimer, Anderson was offered the job of heading the Los Alamos atomic bomb program but could not assume the role because of family obligations.He was a pioneer in studying cosmic rays at high altitudes, first atop Pike's Peak, then after the war in a specially equipped B-29.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Kevin Orrman-Rossiter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an edited 'autobiography' completed by Anderson in his eighties and aimed at his growing grandchildren. Edited by his daughter-in-law it is then best read as a memoir rather than an historical primary source. That aside it is a captivating read, illustrating a time, particularly pre-war (World War II) when physics was a small-scale and equipment was 'hand-built'. It does present an interesting perspective on the discovery by Anderson and his co-worker Seth Neddermeyer of both the positron and the muon. Anderson was a pioneer in cloud chamber analysis of cosmic rays and was awarded (a half-share) in the 1936 Nobel Prize in physics, becoming the youngest ever winner of that prize. His interesting relationship with Robert Millikan, the doyen of early American experimental physics is glimpsed tantalisingly, without revealing any of what would have been a fascinating generational exchange between two creative and persistent experimentalists. The autobiography is sadly light on his non-scientific life; his marriage, "the most important event in my life", rates barely a page in total. An introductory read, it is sadly the only biographical book on carl Anderson written to date.