W and Z Bosons
1983Direct discovery of the W boson (Jan 1983) and Z boson (May 1983) by the UA1 collaboration at CERN's SppS collider (independently confirmed by UA2), verifying the electroweak unification theory of Glashow (1961), Weinberg (1967) and Salam (1968), which had already been indirectly supported by the 1973 Gargamelle neutral-currents discovery. Companion Z-boson paper: OpenAlex W1996888950. Rubbia and van der Meer shared the 1984 Nobel Prize.
Discovery Velocity
Normalized OpenAlex paper velocity, one point per year.
Originators
- Carlo Rubbia
- Simon van der Meer
Landmark Paper
Checked 2026-08-30 — interim signal only, see docs/BASIC_ROADMAP.md Phase 10
Connections
No verified edges into the applied tree or elsewhere in Basic yet — never rendered as fabricated, just absent.
Cross-Domain Connections
No verified cross-domain connections indexed for W and Z Bosons yet. Verified links are admitted under FSTP epistemic audit standards.