A brief essay on the history of the discovery of cosmic rays. Emphasis is on the strange circumstances as to why D V Skobeltsyn — who was the first to observe cosmic ray tracks — was not even mentioned in speeches by the winner (V Hess) of and nominator (A Compton) for the Nobel Prize awarded for the discovery of cosmic rays, although he was named first in a speech by C Anderson, who received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the positron.

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Keywords: cosmic rays, high-altitude radiation, Compton effect, positrons PACS: 01.65.+g, 98.70.Sa (all) DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2024.08.039728 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2024/9/i/ Citation: Lidvansky A S "Who discovered cosmic rays, and when?" Phys. Usp. 67 (9) (2024) Received: 20th, February 2024, accepted: 2nd, August 2024 Оригинал: Лидванский А С «Кто и когда открыл космические лучи?» УФН 194 999–1006 (2024); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2024.08.039728