Holborn is a station on the London Underground. Opened in 1906, it is in the centre of the city, near the British Museum. Holborn also has an interesting connection to particle physics. In 1930 Wolfgang Pauli postulated the existence of a massless (almost), chargeless, weakly-interacting particle called a 'neutrino'. This set off a flurry of attempts to discover the particle. Yet the neutrino interacted so rarely that most detectors were overwhelmed with interference from the barrage of strongly-interacting particles. So in 1943 British physicist Maurice Nahmias was granted permission to set up a particle detector in Holborn station, about 100 ft underground. It was his hope that deep underground he would be shielded from unwanted particles. Although he failed to detect any neutrinos, he did demonstrate that indeed neutrino detectors work better underground, and other scientists began following his example. Holborn has continued to be used over the years for scientific experiments that require a deep location. As for the elusive neutrino, one was finally detected in 1956, also underground. The discovery was rewarded in 1995 with a Nobel Prize.
Bonus:
Perhaps Nahmias would have had better luck had he chosen a deeper station. Amersham Station is the best he could have done, at 249 ft underground.
-E
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