Speaker
Christian Spiering
(DESY)
Description
One can write the history of large neutrino telescopes as a story of leaking glass spheres, of light-scattering bubbles in ice, of the impact of the Cold War and of breaking empires, of failures and of over-optimistic assumptions. It was all of that. But more importantly, it was and is a great journey, made possible through stamina, eventual technological breakthroughs, great innovations, scientific brilliance and frequent views to new landscapes.
From the first idea to build underwater neutrino telescopes to the first neutrino skymap with AMANDA-B10, it took 40 years (the usual quantum of historic pilgrimages). From 2000 to now, our sensitivity has improved by nearly a factor of 1000 ( the usual quantum which historically made astronomical discoveries - nearly! - guaranteed). Will we have jumped too short with IceCube, or will we enter the promised land? The next years will show!
Primary author
Christian Spiering
(DESY)
