Rubbia, Carlo

Rubbia, Carlo, 1934–, Italian physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Pisa, 1957. A professor of physics at the Univ. of Rome and later at Harvard, Rubbia did his most important work with Simon van der Meer at CERN. The pair discovered the subatomic particles W and Z, which convey the weak force, one of nature's four fundamental forces. For their discovery, the pair was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physics. Rubbia also led a research team that produced theoretical evidence for a sixth quark, called “top.” See elementary particles.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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