Do neutral nuclei exist?

Discusses arguments put forward in literature regarding the existence of neutral nuclei. The possible sources of neutral nuclei are considered. An experiment carried out with a proton synchrocyclotron in CERN is described using as a source of neutral nuclei tungsten foil irradiated with a 24 GeV proton beam and as a detector of the neutral nuclei a highly pure sample of zinc. The experiment has proved indirectly the existence of neutral nuclei of the /sup A/n type. The detection of the neutral nuclei was based on the assumption that the nuclei /sup A/n reacted with the Zn nuclei resulting in /sup 72/Zn with further decay to /sup 72/Ga. (1 refs).