SNO is the first neutrino telescope sensitive enough to measure not only ordinary electron neutrinos, but also the much more rare muon and tau neutrinos. This allows scientists to investigate the long-standing mystery of "missing" neutrinos from the sun and to test the hypothesis that solar neutrinos change from one flavor to another on their way to Earth. SNO's unprecedented sensitivity was made possible by a design that maximizes its light-collecting capabilities. Gary Koehler, a mechanical engineer in Berkeley Lab’s Engineering Division, served as the SNO project’s senior designer. His team designed a sphere surface built up from repeating patterns of hexagons, making possible the honeycomb pattern that covers 70 percent of the sphere with photomultiplier tubes.

   
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