How did Rubbia discover the W and Z bosons?
We discovered the W and Z bosons by converting the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron into a proton-antiproton collider—a bold move that required modifying the machine to accelerate both particles in opposite directions. I insisted on this because colliding matter and antimatter at high energy was the only way to produce these massive particles, which weigh about 80-90 times a proton. We built the UA1 detector, a huge apparatus with layers of calorimeters and tracking chambers, to capture the decay products. The key was to look for high-energy electrons and muons with missing energy—signatures of neutrinos from the W decay. In January 1983, we saw the first clear events. The experiment is the only thing that matters; we let nature decide, and it confirmed the theory beautifully.
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