Wolfgang Pauli proposed the existence of a neutral, light-weight particle present in the nucleus of an atom. This suggestion helped safeguard the fundamental law of the conservation of energy by explaining the apparent loss of energy during decay of certain atomic nuclei.
Scientists elaborated Pauli’s idea in the 1930s. The neutral particle discovered by James Chadwick in 1932 was named neutron. However, neutron was too heavy to be what Pauli predicted.
While developing a theory of weakly interacting particles, Enrico Fermi introduced the name ‘neutrino’ which means ‘little neutral one’ for Pauli’s particle.
Neutrino is electrically neutral and has a rest mass so negligibly small, it was considered to be zero. Neutrino is smaller than other known elementary particles. As a neutrino abstains from strong interactions, it can pass through normal matter without obstruction and evade detection.
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