The book describes from a historical point of view how cosmic rays were discovered. The book describes the research in cosmic rays. The main focus is on how the knowledge was gained, describing the main experiments and the conclusions drawn. Biographical sketches of main researchers are provided. Cosmic rays have an official date of discovery which is linked to the famous balloon flights of the Austrian physicist Hess in 1912. The year 2012 can therefore be considered the centenary of the discovery.
Author(s): Mario Bertolotti (auth.)
Series: Astronomers' Universe
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 330
Tags: History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics;Particle and Nuclear Physics;Astronomy, Observations and Techniques;Popular Science in Mathematics/Computer Science/Natural Science/Technology
Front Matter....Pages i-xiv
Cosmic Rays: Prologue....Pages 1-31
The Discovery: Victor F. Hess and the Balloon Ascents....Pages 33-44
The Confirmation: Millikan and the “Birth Cry” of Created Atoms....Pages 45-59
A Turn: Things are not as they are Assumed to be....Pages 61-73
The Earth’s Magnetic Field and the Geomagnetic Effects....Pages 75-103
The Positive Electron (Positron)....Pages 105-126
Electromagnetic Showers....Pages 127-143
The Muon....Pages 145-174
The Discovery of the π Meson, the Nuclear Emulsions, and the First “Strange” Particles....Pages 175-203
The Extended Showers....Pages 205-228
The Neutrino or, More Precisely, the Neutrinos: Elusive and Weird Particles, Able to Arrive from Very Far Away....Pages 229-252
Which are the Primary Cosmic Rays?....Pages 253-289
The Origin of Cosmic Rays....Pages 291-317
Back Matter....Pages 319-330
