The search for the W boson

19 February 1971
Construction begins on the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS)

The Super Proton Synchrotron is designed to…
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10 August 1972
Simon van der Meer writes about stochastic cooling

Simon van der Meer at CERN writes a paper…
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08 June 1976
The SPS: From accelerator to collider

At the International Neutrino Conference in…
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17 June 1976
SPS reaches its design energy of 400 GeV

At 2.2 kilometres in diameter the Super Proton…
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29 June 1978
UA1 experiment approved

CERN physicist Carlo Rubbia pulls together a team…
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15 October 1979
The weak side of the force

Three physicists, Steven Weinberg, Abdus Salam…
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03 July 1980
First injection of protons into the Antiproton Accumulator

Proton beams are injected and stored for the…
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07 July 1981
First acceleration of antiprotons in the SPS

The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerates…
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10 July 1981
First proton-antiproton collision in the SPS

Carlo Rubbia delays his departure to the Lisbon…
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20 December 1982
Director-General Schopper writes to Thatcher: Discovery imminent

The first person outside CERN to be informed of…
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12 January 1983
Signs of a W particle

At the Topical Workshop on Proton-Antiproton…
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20 January 1983
Reaching the goal

The tension at CERN becomes electric, culminating…
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25 January 1983
The discovery of a W particle

In a press conference on 25 January, CERN…
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17 October 1984
Two CERN researchers, one Nobel prize

The discovery of the W boson is so important that…
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