This may be of interest to Talkshop readers living near to London:
The Centenary of the Discovery of Cosmic Rays: the End of the Beginning
- 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm on Friday 21 September 2012
History of Science lecture by Sir Arnold Wolfendale FRS.
Event details
Sir Arnold Wolfendale FRS is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Durham, and former Astronomer Royal.
In 1912, Victor Hess embarked on a perilous balloon ascent and discovered the ‘Cosmic Radiation’, actually a beam of atomic particles. Whole areas of science were stimulated by the discovery, although it must be said that we’re still not quite sure where they are coming from. This lecture will discuss the discovery of cosmic rays, its implications, Britain’s role and where we go from here.
This event is free to attend and open to all. No tickets are required. Doors open at 12:30pm and seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Cosmic rays: when you say we’re still not sure where they are coming from, of what type is this uncertainty? Ultimate, nuclear process or location in galaxy/the universe? Is there no directionality or grain to the influx? Our spacecraft out beyond Saturn find only a randomly oriented and energy level sea of cosmic rays?
From PhysicsWorld.com, free registration required, 100 Years of Cosmic Rays:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/2012/aug/01/100-years-of-cosmic-rays
Thank for the heads-up, I’m going to try and make this lecture.
There are many mysteries surrounding cosmic rays and a good understanding of them will help physics progress from its current sorry state.
Current theory states that the maximum speed of any particle occurs at around 5×1019 electron Volts, or 8 joules (Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin limit). However, cosmic ray particles have been discovered with an energy of 3×1020 eV or 50 joules, which is the same energy as achieved by a cricket ball travelling at ~55 mph – the Oh-My-God! particle.
Be good to ask Sir Arnold Wolfendale how he thinks this fits into the standard model.
That would have him stumped.
If I may ask a complimentary simple question
“not quite sure where they are coming from” which raises the question of where they are going to?
Drawing a parallel with neutrinos, which have an extremely low matter interaction capability, why is space not gradually filling with these entities?
tchannon says:
August 3, 2012 at 1:18 am
That would have him stumped.
He may be caught out by the question I agree.
They are clearly errant shots from alien ray guns, hence the random ‘cosmic’ directionality. Gunfights are and have been going on forever.