On 7 August 1912 the Austrian physicist Victor Hess ascended in a hydrogen balloon to 5,300 metres carrying three electrometers. Contrary to expectations, the ionisation of the air rose with altitude instead of falling, meaning that the radiation came from space, not from the ground. He called it cosmic radiation. The discovery led to the detection of the positron and the muon in cosmic rays, opening the way to particle physics, and won Hess the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Before and after
- 23 June 1912Birth of Alan Turing
- 17 July 1912Founding of World Athletics
- from 30 July 1912 to 25 December 1926Taishō era
- 31 July 1912Birth of Milton Friedman
- 7 August 1912Victor Hess discovers cosmic rays
- 25 August 1912Birth of Erich Honecker
- from 8 October 1912 to 18 July 1913Balkan Wars
- from 8 October 1912 to 30 May 1913First Balkan War
- 17 October 1912Birth of John Paul I
More in Science & technology
- 1766Discovery of hydrogen
- 1771Discovery of oxygen
- 1789Discovery of carbon
- 18 August 1868Discovery of helium
- 1875Discovery of gallium
- 1898Discovery of krypton
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.