New Astronomical Observations: Joseph Weber’s Contribution to Gravitational Waves and Neutrinos Detection

Abstract

Joseph Weber, form Maryland University, was a pioneer in the experimental research of gravitational waves and neutrinos. Today these two techniques are very promising for astronomical observation, since will allow to observe astrophysical phenomena under a new light. We review here almost 30 years of Weber’s career spent on gravity waves and neutrinos; Weber’s experimental results were strongly criticized by the international community, but his research, despite critics, boosted the brand new (in mid-sixties of last century) research field of gravity waves to become one of the most important in XXI century. On neutrino side, he found an unorthodox way to reduce the size of detectors typically huge and he claimed to observe neutrinos flux with a small pure crystal of sapphire.