Dr. Leonard A. Cole is the author of “Chasing the Ghost: Nobelist Fred Reines and the Neutrino.” An expert on bioterrorism and on terror medicine, he is an adjunct professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (Emergency Medicine) and at Rutgers University-Newark (Political Science). At the medical school, he is director of the Program on Terror Medicine and Security. He has written for the The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, Scientific American, and The Sciences. He has testified before congressional committees and made invited presentations to several government agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Office of Technology Assessment. His new book “Chasing the Ghost: Nobelist Fred Reines and the Neutrino” is a unique combination of memoir and biography and a deeply human story about Fred Reines, one of the 20^th century’s true scientific pioneers.

Fred Reines is the winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics. In “Chasing the Ghost,” Cole recounts the life of one of the great scientists of our era; from the years spent on the search for the “unseeable” neutrino, to the “Project Poltergeist” experiment, and to the discovery of the mysterious neutrino. It begins with the story of how in the summer of 1963, Fred Reines, Gus Hruschka, an engineer friend, and Friedel Sellschop, a South African physics professor, entered the East Rand South African gold mine with an experiment in mind. Precautions included water-repellent high-laced shoes, hard hats, and even gas masks, in case sensors detected carbon monoxide or methane. But before continuing that story, Cole, who happens to be Reines’ cousin, goes back to 1956 when Reines and his colleague Clyde Cowan discovered the neutrino. Fun fact: “The miniscule particle is commonly described as elusive. More than half a century after its detection, the neutrino is still referred to as a ghost particle”- hence the title of the book. The book is divided into six parts: Beginnings “Language, Science, and the Ghost Particle,” Becoming “Becoming a Physicist,” Discovery “Explosive Ideas,” Moving “Transition Years at Irvine,” Expressions “Classroom Teacher,” and Validation “The Legacy Grows.” The Epilogue sums up the vast amounts of memorabilia currently in the lobby of Frederick Reines Hall at the University of California Irvine as well as how even after he won the Nobel Prize in 1995, Reines continued to learn more about the particle and how interest in neutrino studies continues to grow.

According to Scientific American, “a neutrino is a subatomic particle that is very similar to an electron, but has no electrical charge and a very small mass, which might even be zero.” Cole expertly explains the science, but understanding physics is not a requirement to read this biography because in the Preface, the author explains that the book is a combination of memoir and biography with a focus on a human story. It is mainly about Fred Reines’ personal life and not so much the science of neutrino physics. Any science described is used to support Fred’s story and is meant to appeal to a general audience, which it does. It alternates between sections explaining physics (subatomic particles), the experiments to detect the neutrino, and Reines’ personal life and career. By using pictures, letters, diagrams, and newspaper accounts, readers are offered a glimpse of this wildly accomplished scientist and teacher who became one of the twentieth century’s true pioneers in physics, all while remaining modest. Standout chapters include Chapter 14: Classroom Teacher, which details how involved he was as a teacher and Chapter 18: The Legacy Grows where it breaks down his legacy: “Interest in the ghost particle has soared, as its centrality in the workings of the cosmos has become increasingly evident.” Despite the overall physics theme, the language is easy to understand and follow. Even if the physics sections are too complicated for some readers, they are few and far between and serve to help understand the mind of Fred Reines. “Chasing the Ghost” by Leonard A. Cole is an incredibly interesting portrait of the man and his contributions to physics and is recommended for readers who appreciate biographies with some science mixed in for fun.

“The story of the neutrino is one of scarcely imaginable extremes. The particle is omnipresent yet proof of its existence had long eluded confirmation. Other than photons – particles of light – neutrinos are the most abundant particle in the universe.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.