Davis, Raymond, Jr (1914–2006)

US radiochemist who was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physics (with Japanese physicist Masatoshi Koshiba and Italian-born US astrophysicist Riccardo Giacconi) for his contribution to the field of astrophysics, especially for his work in the detection of neutrinos.

Davis developed a new form of neutrino detector comprising of a tank filled with 615 tonnes of tetrachloroethylene fluid. He correctly reasoned that a proportion of neutrinos from the sun would react with the chlorine in the fluid to produce argon atoms. Over a 20-year period the detector successfully captured around 2,000 neutrinos and proved that fusion was the source of energy from the sun. His discoveries led to the formation of neutrino-astronomy, a new field of scientific research.

He was a staff member of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, 1948–84, and was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1982.