C. F. Powell (1903-1969)

1. Powell was a prominent English scientist noted for his techniques and discoveries in particle physics. He was also deeply concerned with problems relating to the social responsibility of scientists. Powell was a leader in the World Federation of Scientific Workers in the mid-1950s and was a founder of the Pugwush Conferences on Science and World Affairs in 1957. As a public man and in his published articles Powell stressed the perils of destructive weapons and the need for international cooperation.

2. Powell was born in December 1903 in England. His parents were poor and they were determined to give their children a good education to increase their opportunities for a better life. In 1921 Powell won a scholarship⁵ of one of the colleges at Cambridge which he graduated in 1925 with first-class honours in science. He started his scientific career at the Cavendish laboratory headed by Ernest Rutherford. After gaining his scientific degree at Cambridge in 1928 Powell accepted a position⁶ at the new Physics laboratory in the University of Bristol. Powell spent the rest of his career there advancing to professor in 1948 and director of the laboratory in 1964.

3. In 1947 Powell's Bristol group identified a new particle in the cosmic radiation. Powell and other two scientists discovered the p-meson and demonstrated that this sub-nuclear particle was produced directly in nuclear reactions and rapidly decayed in flight, producing the m-meson. The discovery solved a complicated scientific problem and helped to open a new era of particle physics.

4. Powell continued to develop and apply the photographic method of Bristol, His laboratory became the source of new experimental discoveries in meson physics and an international training centre for physicists of many countries. In 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his development of the photographic method and his meson discoveries.

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For what discovery was Powell awarded the Nobel Prize?

1. for the role he played in the establishment of European Centre for Nuclear Research.

2. for his development of the photographic method and his meson discoveries.

3. for a new technique for detecting high-energy particles.