Giuseppe Occhialini Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Giuseppe Occhialini and Patrick Blackett combined electronic counters with a cloud chamber to photograph rare penetrating-radiation events. A coincidence signal selected moments when a particle crossed the apparatus, greatly improving the yield over unselected expansions. The resulting magnetic-field photographs recorded groups of tracks and evidence for light positive particles. The method connected fast electronic selection with a detailed image that could be examined after the event.[ref]
Figure 1. . Unknown author; source Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (unimib.it), Giuseppe Occhialini: dagli atomi alle stelle. Public domain (PD-anon-70-EU). Source usage terms, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.
Patrick Blackett Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Patrick Blackett helped turn the cloud chamber into a selectively triggered particle detector. With Giuseppe Occhialini, he used coincident counter signals to operate the chamber when penetrating particles passed. Magnetic curvature and associated tracks then gave more information than a simple particle count, including evidence relevant to electron-Positron production. The experiment illustrates how triggering can make a slow, detailed recording device useful for rare events.[ref]
Figure 1.
Portrait of Patrick Blackett
. GFHund; photograph from Friedrich Hund’s estate, prepared for Wikipedia in August 2010. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.