Rossi Astroparticle Physics

2011

Rossi's career paralleled the evolution of cosmic-ray physics. Starting from the early 1930s his pioneering work on the nature and behavior of cosmic rays led to fundamental contributions in the field of experimental cosmic-ray physics and laid the foundation for high-energy particle physics. After the war, under his leadership the Cosmic Ray group at MIT investigated the properties of the primary cosmic rays elucidating the processes involved in their propagation through the atmosphere, and measuring the unstable particles generated in the interactions with matter. When accelerators came to dominate particle physics, Rossi's attention focused on the new opportunities for exploratory investigations made possible by the availability of space vehicles. He initiated a research program which led to the first in situ measurements of the density, speed and direction of the solar wind at the boundary of Earth's magnetosphere and inspired the search for extra-solar X-ray sources resulting in the detection of what revealed to be the most powerful X-ray source in Earth's skies. The discovery of Scorpius X-1 marked the beginning of X-ray astronomy, which soon became a principal tool of astrophysics research.

arXiv: History and Philosophy of Physics, 2018

From the late 1920s to the early 1950s, cosmic rays were the main instrument to investigate what we now call "high-energy physics". In approximately 25 years, an intense experimental and theoretical work brought particle physics from its childhood to its maturity. The data collected at that time played a crucial role in order to outline the quantum theories of fundamental interactions - electromagnetic, weak and strong - and they were an excellent training field for many young scientists. The knowledge acquired on cosmic rays constituted the basis of the extraordinary progresses that were to be achieved in fundamental physics with the introduction of particles accelerators. Many papers on this subject have already been published, both by historians and by the scientists who personally worked at that time. However, a complete historical reconstruction of those 25 years of cosmic-ray researches has not been written yet. In particular, an overall description of the researches...

2013

The contribution of Italian scientists and Italian institutions to the study of cosmic rays will be covered from the precursor experiments in 1908-1910 up to the identification of the muon by Piccioni in 1945-1946 experiments.

1910

Abstract: The discovery of cosmic rays, a milestone in science, comprised scientists in Europe and in the New World and took place during a period characterised by nationalism and lack of communication. Many scientists that took part in this research a century ago were intrigued by the penetrating radiation and tried to understand the origin of it. Several important contributions to the discovery of the origin of cosmic rays have been forgotten and in particular that of Domenico Pacini, who in June 1911 demonstrated by studying the ...

RadioGraphics, 2008

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Revista de Ensino, Educação e Ciências Humanas, 2018

The discovery of x-rays, one of the most beautiful experiments ever carried out, generates numerous controversies and these, in turn, can trigger a series of counterproductive information regarding not only the History of Science but also the teaching activity. The aim of this article is to resolve these controversies concerning what ocurred and highlight the important role of the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, highlighting not only his genius but, especially in this case in particular, his condition of second-order observer. It is not uncommon to find information in various media refering to this discovery under the claim that it was the result of a fortuitous event, and this denotes a profound lack of knowledge about the facts or a disrespect for the renowned discoverer. Such allegations about the event depreciate the extraordinary discovery that impacts humanity, from the deed to the present. Thus, through a brief historical reconstruction, it was tried to present her...

1983

THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN PHYSICS. Proceedings of a Conference Commemorating a Century of Physics Berlin 22-24 March 1995., 1996

Studying the establishing of the nature of X rays appears to provide interesting insights into the ways that new physical theories are offered and adopted. This paper deals only with the initial stage of this process, which encompasses the first two years after Roentgen's discovery. This period is selected because it was long enough for all competing theories to emerge and for physicists to realize that the solution of the problem was not at all close.

This work is a research product developed at Brazilian public schools, where high school physics teachers had the opportunity to discuss, to plan and to apply teaching activities related to the Modern and Contemporary Physics in their classes. It is related to experiences done with activities of investigative character that brought the use of X rays as the physical content. Our intention is to present these activities, describing them and at the same time, emphasizing aspects that, for the teachers who applied these activities, were considered decisive to obtain the good results. Materials that could accomplish a behavior change of the students during the classes were sought, to remove them out of the usual passivity and of the simple reception of the information, so that they could participate more actively of their own process of the learning construction.