Patrick Blackett and Giuseppe Occhialini invented the automated cloud chamber with coincidence counters. Following Blackett’s success in imaging the nuclear transmutation of nitrogen into oxygen, he and Occhialini improved the cloud chamber to acquire images only when significant events were detected using the coincidence technique developed by Bothe and Kohlhorster. This instrument was used for studies of cosmic rays and particle physics. Blackett received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1948 for his work with the automated cloud chamber.
