BUBBLES IN BEER AND THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS.

BUBBLES IN BEER AND THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS. The research into the Guinness bubbles is not the first time that bubbles in beer have been linked with a scientific breakthrough. I remembered that a Nobel Prize in physics had been awarded for the invention of the bubble chamber. This wikipedia article gives the story. Donald Glaser received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1960 for his invention of the bubble chamber in 1952. The newspapers at the time gave attention to the story that Glaser had been inspired by looking at the bubbles in a glass of beer. Sadly the wikipedia article questions this story, although beer apparently played an different and important part in the development of the bubble chamber: “Supposedly, Glaser was inspired by the bubbles in a glass of beer; however, in a 2006 talk, he refuted this story, saying that although beer was not the inspiration for the bubble chamber, he did experiments using beer to fill early prototypes.” The wikipedia article explains what a bubble chamber does and its role in physics research.