How the sun shines

Abstract

This historical essay describes the struggle to understand how the sun shines. The story begins with the disagreement between Kelvin and Darwin over the age of the sun in the middle of the 19th century and continues through the revelations of solar neutrino experiments at the conclusion of the 20th century.

Published by the Nobel e-Museum, June 29, 2000. See http://www.nobel.se/physics/articles . Related material: http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jnb