Solar Neutrino Problem - Measurements

Measurements

In the late 1960s, Ray Davis's and John N. Bahcall's Homestake Experiment was the first to measure the flux of neutrinos from the Sun and detect a deficit. The experiment used a chlorine-based detector. Many subsequent radiochemical and water Cerenkov detectors confirmed the deficit, including the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

The expected number of solar neutrinos had been computed based on the Standard Solar Model which Bahcall had helped to establish and which gives a detailed account of the Sun's internal operation.

In 2002 Ray Davis and Masatoshi Koshiba won part of the Nobel Prize in Physics for experimental work that found the number of solar neutrinos was around a third of the number predicted by the Standard Solar Model.