Celestial Messengers Cosmic Rays: The Story of a Scientific Adventure /

• Main Author: Bertolotti, Mario. (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg : Imprint: Springer, 2013.
• Series: Astronomers' Universe,
• Subjects: Physics.; Mathematics.; History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics.; Particle and Nuclear Physics.; Astronomy, Observations and Techniques.; Popular Science in Mathematics/Computer Science/Natural Science/Technology.
• Online Access: https://ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28371-0

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. Co...

Table of Contents:

• Prehistory - The electron, the proton and X-rays
• Prehistory - Radioactivity
• Cosmic rays - The antefacts
• The discovery - Victor F. Hess and the balloon flights
• The confirmation - Robert Millikan and the <U+001c>birth cry of the borning atoms
• A turning point - Things are not as they look
• The earth magnetic field and the geomagnetic effects
• The positive electron
• The electromagnetic showers
• The muon
• The discovery of the °-meson, nuclear emulsions and the first <U+001c>strange particles
• The extended showers
• Nuclear stars
• The neutrino: elusive and capricious particles able to come from very far away
• What are the primary cosmic rays?
• The origin of cosmic rays
• X- and gamma rays from space.