Editing Weak interaction (section)

== History ==
In 1933, [[Enrico Fermi]] proposed the first theory of the weak interaction, known as [[Fermi's interaction]]. He suggested that [[beta decay]] could be explained by a four-[[fermion]] interaction, involving a contact force with no range.<ref name="Fermi's theory">{{cite journal | last=Fermi | first=Enrico | year=1934 | title=Versuch einer Theorie der β-Strahlen. I | language=de | trans-title=Search for a theory for beta-decay | bibcode=1934ZPhy...88..161F | journal=[[Zeitschrift für Physik A]] | volume=88 | issue=3–4 | pages=161–177 | doi=10.1007/BF01351864 | s2cid=125763380 }}</ref><ref name="Fermi's theory translation">{{cite journal | last=Wilson | first=Fred L. | date=December 1968 | title=Fermi's theory of beta decay | journal=American Journal of Physics | volume=36 | issue=12 | pages=1150–1160 | doi=10.1119/1.1974382|bibcode = 1968AmJPh..36.1150W }}</ref>

In the mid-1950s, [[Chen-Ning Yang]] and [[Tsung-Dao Lee]] first suggested that the handedness of the spins of particles in weak interaction might violate the [[conservation law]] or symmetry. In 1957, the [[Wu experiment]], carried by [[Chien Shiung Wu]] and collaborators confirmed the [[Parity_(physics)#Parity_violation|symmetry violation]].<ref>
{{cite web
 |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics
 |year=1957
 |website=NobelPrize.org
 |publisher=Nobel Media
 |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1957/
 |access-date=26 February 2011
}}
</ref>

In the 1960s, [[Sheldon Glashow]], [[Abdus Salam]] and [[Steven Weinberg]] unified the electromagnetic force and the weak interaction by showing them to be two aspects of a single force, now termed the electroweak force.<ref>{{cite web |title=Steven Weinberg, weak interactions, and electromagnetic interactions |url=http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/weinberg.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809083339/https://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/weinberg.html |archive-date=2016-08-09}}</ref><ref name="Salam">{{cite press release |website=Nobel Prize |title=Nobel Prize in Physics |year=1979 |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706082221/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/ |archive-date=6 July 2014 |df=dmy }}</ref>

The [[W and Z bosons#Discovery|existence of the {{math|W}} and {{math|Z}}&nbsp;bosons]] was not directly confirmed until 1983.<ref name=Cottingham-Greenwood-1986-2001>
{{cite book
 | first1=W. N.  | last1=Cottingham
 | first2=D. A.  | last2=Greenwood
 | title=An introduction to nuclear physics
 | publisher=Cambridge University Press
 | orig-year=1986
 | year=2001
 | edition=2nd  | page=30
 | isbn=978-0-521-65733-4
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VIpJPn-qWoC&pg=PA30
}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p=8}}