The Antiproton and How It Was Discovered

Abstract

The antiproton celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Although its existence had been suspected since the discovery of the positron in 1932, there was still doubt in some quarters that such a companion particle to the proton could exist. I will try to trace the scientific history of the antiproton from that time to the publication of the definitive paper by Chamberlain, Segrè, Wiegand and Ypsilantis in November 1955, with a brief look at what happened next. The narrative will be supplemented with thoughts and opinions of some of the main actors, both at the time and in retrospect.