Sándor Szalay (physicist)

Sandor Szalay, Sr. (October 4, 1909-October 11, 1987) was a Hungarian physicist.

He discovered a natural mecanism for uranium enrichment, which led to the discovery of several uranium deposits including an enriched deposit in the Mecsek Mountains of Hungary. In 1955 he collaborated with Gyula Csikai to discover the neutrino, a weakly-interactive particle. In a photograph of a cloud chamber, they found a nucleus changing direction, which they interpreted as the emission of a neutrino. (The antineutrino was detected by Frederick Reines and Clyde Cowan in 1953, a discovery for which Reines was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics.) Sandor also founded the Insitute of Nuclear Research, a branch of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He is considered the father of Hungarian nuclear physics. [cite book
first=Andrew L. | last=Simon | year=1999
title=Made in Hungary: Hungarian Contributions to Universal Culture
publisher=Simon Publications LLC
id=ISBN 0966573420 ]

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