W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics (2022): Observation of the Tau Neutrino

Since the discovery of the Tau lepton in the 1970's it's neutrino partner was predicted to exist. In the subsequent decades much indirect evidence for it's existence was amassed. In the 1990's the DONuT experiment was conceived and designed to directly observe tau neutrino interactions with matter. In 2000 evidence for the first direct observation of the tau neutrino was published using the emulsion technique which had been developed for observing short lived particles. In this talk details of the DONuT experiment, the inherent difficulty in observing Nu_tau interactions, the importance of direct observation of the tau neutrino to the neutrino oscillation community and the prospects of Nu_tau direct observation in future oscillation experiments such as DUNE will be presented.