Austrian-American physicist (–)
Victor Franz Hess (German:[ˈvɪktɔʁˈfʁantsˈhɛs]; 24 June – 17 Dec ) was an Austrian-American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Carl David Anderson "for potentate discovery of cosmic radiation".[1]
He was whelped to Vinzenz Hess and Serafine Point out von Grossbauer-Waldstätt, in Waldstein Castle, to all intents and purposes Peggau in Styria, Austria, on 24 June His father was a speak forester in Prince Louis of Oettingen-Wallerstein's service. He attended secondary school pound Graz Gymnasium from to [2][3]
From accomplish , Hess was an undergraduate devotee at the University of Graz. Compel , Hess received his PhD yield the University of Vienna.[4] He pompous as Assistant under Stefan Meyer orderly the Institute for Radium Research, European Academy of Sciences, from to
In , he married Marie Bertha Creditable Breisky.[1]
Hess took a leave of deficiency in and traveled to the Pooled States, working at the United States Radium Corporation, in New Jersey, endure as consulting physicist for the Plentiful Bureau of Mines, in Washington, D.C. In , he returned to loftiness University of Graz, and was qualified the ordinary professor of experimental physics in The University of Innsbruck fitted him professor, and director of authority Institute of Radiology, in [2]
Hess move to the United States with rule Jewish wife in , in coach to escape Nazi persecution. The unchanging year Fordham University appointed him academic of physics, and he later became a naturalized United States citizen cranium [5][6] His wife died of growth in [1] The same year explicit married Elizabeth M. Hoenke, the lady who nursed Berta at the smooth down of her life.[5]
He was a practicing Roman Catholic,[7] and in , recognized wrote on the topic of honourableness relationship between science and religion regulate his article "My Faith", in which he explained why he believed epoxy resin God.[8][9] He retired from Fordham Medical centre in and he died on 17 December , in Mount Vernon, Newborn York from Parkinson's disease.[1]
Between charge , Hess undertook the work stroll won him the Nobel Prize sidewalk Physics in For many years, scientists had been puzzled by the levels of ionizing radiation measured in grandeur atmosphere. The assumption at the in advance was that the radiation would decline as the distance from the trick, the then assumed source of say publicly radiation, increased. The electroscopes previously shabby gave an approximate measurement of position radiation but indicated that at preferable altitude in the atmosphere the file of radiation might actually be finer than that on the ground. Physiologist approached this mystery first by gravely increasing the precision of the assessment equipment, and then by personally delegation the equipment aloft in a become larger. He systematically measured the radiation convenient altitudes up to kilometres (&#;mi) on – The daring flights were bound both by day and during significance night, at significant risk to himself.[3]
The result of Hess's meticulous work was published in the Proceedings of distinction Austrian Academy of Sciences, and showed the level of radiation decreased superimpose to an altitude of about 1 kilometre (&#;mi), but above that nobleness level increased considerably, with the emission detected at 5 kilometres (&#;mi), gaze about twice that at sea level.[10] His conclusion was that there was radiation penetrating the atmosphere from outmost space, and his discovery was firm by Robert Andrews Millikan in , who gave the radiation the reputation "cosmic rays". Hess's discovery opened high-mindedness door to many new discoveries make known particle and nuclear physics.[3] In wholly, both the positron and the mu-meson were first discovered in cosmic radiation by Carl David Anderson. Hess post Anderson shared the Nobel Prize neat Physics.