Hess Discovers Cosmic Rays Through High-Altitude Ionizations
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Science and Technology Series
- Categories: Science
- Subcategories: Scientists, Physics, Physicists, Earth Sciences, Astronomy, Astronomers, Cosmology
- Curriculum: 20th & 21st Century European History
- Geographical Location: Austria
- Date: August 7 and 12, 1912
Article abstract: Hess pioneered dangerous high-altitude balloon experiments, which revealed that air ionization increases with height, indicating the existence of cosmic rays originating outside Earth and its solar system.
Summary of Event
Shortly before and after the turn of the twentieth century, a series of discoveries of surprising radiations marked a new direction in physics. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen created X rays within an evacuated tube in his laboratory, then Antoine-Henri Becquerel discovered radioactive rays emitted from elements in the earth;...
[The entire page is 1873 words long]
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