Adrian Biland

Title

100 Years Cosmic Rays

Abstract

In 1912, Viktor Hess discovered extraterrestrial radiation to be responsible for ionization of the atmosphere, solving a long standing problem. Trying to understand nature and origin of these Cosmic Rays had and still has major impact on many fields of physics. For example it was the birthplace of particle physics and is still challenging models in astrophysics and cosmology. Furthermore, experiments to check for influence on weather and climate are going on. Despite a century of research including dedicated satellites and ground based experiments extending up to thousands of square kilometers, the origin of Cosmic Rays is still one of the big open questions in modern physics.