Origins & Early Life

Raymond Davis Jr. (October 14, 1914 – May 31, 2006) was an American chemist and physicist. He is best known as the leader of the Homestake experiment in the 1960s-1980s, which was the first experiment to detect neutrinos emitted from the Sun; for this he shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics. Davis was born in Washington, D.C., where his father was a photographer for the National Bureau of Standards.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He spent several years as a choirboy to please his mother, although he could not carry a tune. He enjoyed attending the concerts at the Watergate before air traffic was loud enough to drown out the music. His brother Warren, 14 months younger than he, was his constant companion in boyhood. He received his B.S. from the University of Maryland in 1938 in chemistry, which is part of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

He also received a master's degree from that school and a Ph.D. from Yale University in physical chemistry in 1942. After entering the Army as a reserve officer in 1942, Davis spent most of World War II at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah observing the results of chemical weapons tests and...

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