The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded last week to the two leaders of research groups that experimentally solved a puzzle about neutrinos, which has important implications for our understanding of the basic laws of physics. The experimental discoveries that earned this year’s Nobel Prize were made about 15 years ago, so it may seem anti-climactic to award the prize now. It took a while for the discoveries to be confirmed, and for the community of physicists to realize the consequences. “Waiting for the dust to settle” in physics takes time. Really major physics experiments involving fundamental particles require huge facilities and equipment and are conducted by large research groups. The key published papers from 1998, 2001, and 2002 had long lists of authors, but it was understood that these were group efforts. The leaders of the research organizations were awarded the Nobel Prize: Arthur McDonald, for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory; and Takaaki...(Read Full Article)