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From the history of physics


Who discovered cosmic rays, and when?

 
Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, prosp. 60-letiya Oktyabrya 7a, Moscow, 117312, Russian Federation

A brief essay on the history of the discovery of cosmic rays. Emphasis is on the strange circumstances as to why D lV 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.

Fulltext pdf (346 KB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2024.08.039728
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/j/
Citation: Lidvansky A S "Who discovered cosmic rays, and when?" Phys. Usp. 67 943–949 (2024)
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Received: 20th, February 2024, 2nd, August 2024

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