"We would dig a shaft near 'ground zero' about 10 feet in diameter and about 150 feet deep. We would put a tank, 10 feet in diameter and 75 feet long on end at the bottom of the shaft. We would then suspend our detector from the top of the tank, along with its recording apparatus, and back-fill the shaft above the tank.
As the time for the explosion approached, we would start vacuum pumps and evacuate the tank as highly as possible. Then, when the countdown reached 'zero', we would break the suspension with a small explosive, allowing the detector to fall freely in the vacuum. For about 2 seconds, the falling detector would be seeing antineutrinos and recording the pulses from them while the earth shock [from the blast] passed harmlessly by, rattling the tank mightily but not disturbing our falling detector. When all was relatively quiet, the detector would reach the bottom of the tank, landing on a thick pile of foam rubber and feathers."
Clyde Cowan, discoverer of the neutrino
