Victor Francis Hess

Education Victor Franz Hess was born on 24 June 1883 at Waldstein Castle in Deutschfeistritz, Styria, the son of Vinzens Hess and Serafine Edle von Grossbauer-Waldstätt. His father was a royal forester in Prince Louis of Oettingen-Wallerstein's service.

Hess attended Graz-Gymnasium from 1893 to 1901. He then studied at the University of Graz from 1901 to 1905, and received his Ph.D. in 1906 from the University of Vienna, where he stayed to do postdoctoral research until 1910.

Career In 1910, Hess became an assistant to Stefan Meyer at the Institute for Radium Research in Vienna. In 1920, he was appointed Extraordinary Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Graz. In 1921, he took a leave of absence to become Director of the Research Laboratory at the United States Radium Corporation in New Jersey, as well as Consulting Physicist for the United States Bureau of Mines in Washington, D.C. In 1923, he returned to Graz, where he was appointed Ordinary Professor of Experimental Physics in 1925. In 1931, he was appointed Director of the Institute of Radiology at the University of Innsbruck. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1944.

Discovery of cosmic rays

For many years, scientists had been puzzled by the levels of ionizing radiation measured in the atmosphere. The assumption at the time was that the radiation would decrease as the distance from the earth, the then assumed source of the radiation, increased. The electroscopes previously used gave an approximate measurement of the radiation but indicated that at greater altitude in the atmosphere the level of radiation might actually be higher than that on the ground. He approached this mystery first by greatly increasing the precision of the measuring equipment, and then by personally taking the equipment aloft in a balloon. He systematically measured the radiation at altitudes up to during 1911–1912. The daring flights were made both by day and during the night, at significant risk to himself. His conclusion was that there was radiation penetrating the atmosphere from outer space, and his discovery was confirmed by Robert Millikan, who gave the radiation the name cosmic rays. His discovery opened the door to many new discoveries in particle and nuclear physics. In 1946, he wrote on the topic of the relationship between science and religion in his article "My Faith", in which he explained why he believed in God.

Hess died of Parkinson's disease on 17 December 1964 in Mount Vernon, New York, at the age of 81.

Recognition Awards Year Organization Award Citation 1919 Austrian Academy of Sciences Ignaz Lieben Prize — 1936 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Nobel Prize in Physics "For his discovery of cosmic radiation."

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