Clyde Cowan (PhD, Nobel)

Dr. Clyde Lorrain Cowan Jr., an American physicist, was one of the co-discoverers of the neutrino, a sub-atomic particle with nearly zero mass(weight). For this work, he and his collaborator Frederick Reines devised an experiment aimed at revealing the properties of the elusive neutrino. This work earned them the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics. Dr. Cowan obtained his PhD in 1949 from Washington University in St. Louis before becoming a member of the scientific team at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico. He married Betty Eleanor in 1943 and had 3 surviving children. Dr. Cowan was a devout Catholic which provided him strength during multiple family tragedies, including the deaths several children in their infancy. He was an active member of several Catholic organizations including the Society of Catholic Scientists and the Knights of Columbus.