Diagnosing Disagreements: The Authentication of the Positron 1931-1934

TL;DR

This paper examines the historical context and scientific debates surrounding the prediction and discovery of the positron between 1931 and 1934, emphasizing authentication and differing perspectives among key physicists.

Contribution

It introduces a novel historiographical approach by integrating the concepts of research tradition crystallisation, particle authentication, and scientific perspectives.

Findings

Highlights the role of authentication in scientific disagreements.

Shows how research tradition influences scientific consensus.

Analyzes differing views of Dirac, Bohr, and Pauli on the positron.

Abstract

This paper bridges a historiographical gap in accounts of the prediction and discovery of the positron by combining three ingredients. First, the prediction and discovery of the positron are situated in the broader context of a period of 'crystallisation' of a research tradition. Second, the prediction and discovery of the positron are discussed in the context of the 'authentication' of the particle. Third, the attitude of the relevant scientists to both prediction and discovery are conceptualised in terms of the idea of 'perspectives'. It will be argued that by examining the prediction and discovery of the positron in the context of authentication within a period of crystallisation, we can better understand disagreements regarding the positron between relevant scientists (Dirac, Bohr, and Pauli) in the period 1931-34.