Bruno Rossi and Cosmic Rays: From Earth laboratories to Physics in Space

Abstract

Rossi's career paralleled the evolution of cosmic-ray physics. Starting from the early 1930s his pioneering work on the nature and behavior of cosmic rays led to fundamental contributions in the field of experimental cosmic-ray physics and laid the foundation for high-energy particle physics. After the war, under his leadership the Cosmic Ray group at MIT investigated the properties of the primary cosmic rays elucidating the processes involved in their propagation through the atmosphere, and measuring the unstable particles generated in the interactions with matter. When accelerators came to dominate particle physics, Rossi's attention focused on the new opportunities for exploratory investigations made possible by the availability of space vehicles. He initiated a research program which led to the first in situ measurements of the density, speed and direction of the solar wind at the boundary of Earth's magnetosphere and inspired the search for extra-solar X-ray sources resulting in the detection of what revealed to be the most powerful X-ray source in Earth's skies. The discovery of Scorpius X-1 marked the beginning of X-ray astronomy, which soon became a principal tool of astrophysics research.Comment: Upgraded English version of the article published on La Fisica nella scuola, Quaderno 22, 2011, resulting from lessons held during the last School for the history of Physics organized by the Italian Association for the Teaching of Physics (Aosta, November 29-December 4, 2010