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W and Z Bosons

1983
PhysicsQuantum Field Theory & Particle PhysicsEmpirical Resultfoundational

Direct discovery of the W boson (Jan 1983) and Z boson (May 1983) by the UA1 collaboration at CERN's SppS collider (independently confirmed by UA2), verifying the electroweak unification theory of Glashow (1961), Weinberg (1967) and Salam (1968), which had already been indirectly supported by the 1973 Gargamelle neutral-currents discovery. Companion Z-boson paper: OpenAlex W1996888950. Rubbia and van der Meer shared the 1984 Nobel Prize.

Discovery Velocity

Normalized OpenAlex paper velocity, one point per year.

Originators

  • Carlo Rubbia
  • Simon van der Meer

Landmark Paper

W1674199955 ↗
Not retracted (OpenAlex)

Checked 2026-08-30 — interim signal only, see docs/BASIC_ROADMAP.md Phase 10

Connections

No verified edges into the applied tree or elsewhere in Basic yet — never rendered as fabricated, just absent.