He taught at the universities of Graz and Innsbruck, then moved to the United States in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution (his wife was Jewish), and in the same year was appointed professor of physics at Fordham University. He later became a naturalized American citizen. With the help of equipment that rose to heights in balloons, Hess, together with others, proved that the radiation ionizing the atmosphere is of cosmic origin.
Memory
- In 1970, the International Astronomical Union assigned the name Hess to a crater on the far side of the Moon.
- Featured on a 1983 Austrian postage stamp.
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Links
- Khramov Yu. A. Hess Victor Franz // Physicists: Biographical Directory / Ed. A. I. Akhiezer. - Ed. 2nd, rev. and additional - M.: Nauka, 1983. - P. 83. - 400 p. - 200,000 copies.(in translation)
- (English)
Excerpt characterizing Hess, Victor Franz
The next day, Rostov accompanied Princess Marya to Yaroslavl and a few days later he himself left for the regiment.Sonya's letter to Nicholas, which was the fulfillment of his prayer, was written from Trinity. This is what caused it. The thought of Nicholas marrying a rich bride occupied the old countess more and more. She knew that Sonya was the main obstacle to this. And Sonya’s life recently, especially after Nikolai’s letter describing his meeting in Bogucharovo with Princess Marya, became harder and harder in the countess’s house. The Countess did not miss a single opportunity to make an offensive or cruel hint to Sonya.
But a few days before leaving Moscow, touched and excited by everything that was happening, the Countess, calling Sonya to her, instead of reproaches and demands, turned to her with tears and prayed that she, by sacrificing herself, would repay for everything. what was done for her was to break her ties with Nikolai.
“I won’t be at peace until you give me this promise.”
Sonya burst into tears hysterically, answered through her sobs that she would do everything, that she was ready for anything, but she did not make a direct promise and in her soul could not decide on what was demanded of her. She had to sacrifice herself for the happiness of the family that fed and raised her. Sacrificing herself for the happiness of others was Sonya's habit. Her position in the house was such that only on the path of sacrifice could she show her virtues, and she was accustomed and loved to sacrifice herself. But first, in all acts of self-sacrifice, she joyfully realized that by sacrificing herself, she thereby raised her worth in the eyes of herself and others and became more worthy of Nicolas, whom she loved most in life; but now her sacrifice had to consist in giving up what for her constituted the entire reward of the sacrifice, the entire meaning of life. And for the first time in her life, she felt bitterness towards those people who had benefited her in order to torture her more painfully; I felt envy of Natasha, who had never experienced anything like this, never needed sacrifices and forced others to sacrifice herself and yet was loved by everyone. And for the first time, Sonya felt how, out of her quiet, pure love for Nicolas, a passionate feeling suddenly began to grow, which stood above rules, virtue, and religion; and under the influence of this feeling, Sonya involuntarily, learned by her dependent life of secrecy, answered the Countess in general, vague words, avoided conversations with her and decided to wait for a meeting with Nikolai so that in this meeting she would not free her, but, on the contrary, forever bind herself to him .
How the suicide of one scientist led to the Nobel Prize of another, what the role of hot air balloons was in the discovery of cosmic rays, why it was just as important to fly at night as during the day, read in the section “How to get a Nobel Prize.”
Victor Franz Hess
Nobel Prize in Physics 1936 (1/2 prize, the other half went to Carl Anderson). The formulation of the Nobel Committee: “For his discovery of cosmic radiation.”
Let's say right away: our hero should not be confused with either the Nobel laureate in physiology and medicine Walter Hess, whom we will talk about when it comes to 1949, or with Rudolf Hess, Deputy Fuhrer of the NSDAP (who flew to England in 1941 for negotiations about a separate peace), and especially not with Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hess, the commandant of Auschwitz. We won’t talk about the last two at all.
Our hero was born in a real princely castle. True, his father was not a prince. Winzens Hess lived at Wallenstein Castle in the Austrian province of Styria and served as a forester for Prince Ludwig Kraft Ernst Oettingen-Wallerstein, and after his death in 1870, for Ludwig's heirs.
Wallenstein Castle, July 2012
Wikimedia Commons
The prince's forester earned predictably well, and therefore Victor received a good secondary education at the Graz gymnasium (1893-1901), and then entered the university in the same city, from which he graduated in 1906.
One of the most tragic pages in the history of German physics played a very important role in the development of our hero’s career. Immediately after his defense in 1906, Victor Hess planned to go to work at the University of Berlin, where he was supposed to do research in the field of optics under the guidance of Paul Drude, one of the most prominent specialists in the field of electromagnetic radiation in Germany. But on July 5, 1906, a newly minted member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, a happy husband and father of four children, forty-two-year-old Paul Drude unexpectedly committed suicide.
Paul Drude
Wikimedia Commons
Whatever the suicide, it put an end to Hess's scientific career at the University of Berlin. He remained in Graz, as a demonstrator and lecturer. In 1910, he defended his doctoral dissertation and went to Vienna to work at the local Institute for Radium Research under the direction of Stefan Meyer. It was here, just a year after receiving his degree, that he began the research that would lead him to the Nobel Prize in Physics a quarter of a century later.
The problem that faced scientists then was: where does ionizing radiation in the Earth's atmosphere come from? It was then believed that the only source of radiation in the atmosphere was the earth's crust. Not long ago, Becquerel discovered radioactivity. Uranium, radium, polonium - all this is in the earth's crust, and it would be logical to assume that with increasing altitude, ionization will decrease. Suddenly, in 1910, the results of Theodore Wulff arrived, which showed that at the height of the Eiffel Tower, the ionization of air is higher than at the foot. This did not fit with the prevailing theory. Was Wolf wrong? Hess began experiments.
The Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai had not yet been built, but by that time the creations of the Montgolfier brothers had already been plying the air for more than 120 years.
Hess began to prepare instruments that could withstand temperature changes at altitudes and would be good at measuring the level of ionization of the atmosphere. By that time, experiments had already been carried out on the path of ionizing radiation in the air, and Hess calculated that the earth's crust could ionize the atmosphere only up to a height of 500 meters. However, flights of ten aerosondes with electroscopes yielded strange results.
“I was able to show that ionization decreased with increasing altitude above the ground (due to a decrease in the influence of radioactive substances in the ground), but starting from an altitude of 1000 m it increased noticeably and at an altitude of 5000 m reached a value several times higher than that observed on the surface of the Earth.” , Hess himself wrote about the discouraging results. At first, scientists decided that the radiation entering the Earth's atmosphere from space comes from the Sun, but night launches showed that the radiation level does not decrease at night.
(the same one who received the Nobel Prize in 1923 for measuring the charge of an electron) picked up the discovery of his Austrian colleague and began to study cosmic rays in the mountains, because the balloon does not stay at an altitude of five kilometers for long, but you can simply bring the equipment to such a height in the mountains . As a matter of fact, it was Millikan who coined the term “cosmic rays”, it was he who organized a large-scale study of cosmic rays in the mountains and with the help of high-altitude balloons, it was his work that showed that cosmic rays consist of a variety of particles, and, strictly speaking, exactly what that he attracted the attention of world physics to the problem of cosmic rays earned Hess the Nobel Prize in 1936. Just like Millikan’s student, Karl Anderson, who discovered the positron in cosmic rays.
After the Nobel Prize, Hess's life again took a sharp turn. The fact is that in 1920 he married a Jewish woman, Bertha Weiner Breisky, and in 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria, and the local “Nazis” turned out to be even more ardent persecutors of Jews than the Germans were at first. Hess was removed from all scientific posts and was about to be arrested. Friends warned him in time, and the Hess family fled to Switzerland.
There was no question of where to go next for Hess: in 1921-1923 he worked in the USA, heading the research laboratory of the US Radium Corporation and consulting with the Mining Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior. Therefore, already in 1938, Hess moved to New York at the invitation of Fordham University. And after the war, already in the status of an American citizen, Hess, as a recognized expert in measuring radiation levels, conducted the world's first studies of the level of radioactive fallout after Hiroshima.
In 1955, his wife Bertha died of cancer, but that same year Hess married Elisabeth Henke, a nurse who cared for his wife. However, even then the first signs of the disease were noticeable, and nine years later, on December 17, 1964, Hess died of Parkinson’s disease. Until the end of his life, as far as possible, he studied cosmic rays and radiation.
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1936
with Carl D. Anderson
Austro-American physicist Victor Franz Hess was born in Wallenstein Castle in the Austrian province of Styria into the family of Winzens Hess, the chief forester of the estate of Prince Oettingen-Wallerstein, and née Serafina Edle von Grossbauer-Waldstatt. From 1893 to 1901 he studied at the gymnasium, after which he entered the University of Graz. In 1906, G. defended his doctoral dissertation in physics “with a commendable review.”
After his defense, G. was going to undertake research in optics at the University of Berlin under the leadership of Paul Drude, but after suicide, Drude was forced to change his plans. While working as a demonstrator and lecturer at the University of Vienna, G. became interested in the research of Franz Exner and Egon von Schweidler on the ionizing effects of radioactive radiation. Such radiation occurs when atoms of unstable elements, such as uranium or thorium, emit “clumps” (portions) of energy and positive or negative particles. Under the influence of radioactive radiation, the atmosphere surrounding the source becomes electrically conductive, i.e. ionized. This kind of radioactivity can be detected using an electroscope - a device that loses the electrical charge imparted to it under the influence of radiation.
Working since 1910 as a research assistant at the Institute of Radium Research at the University of Vienna, G. learned about experiments carried out by his colleagues to determine the source of ionizing radiation in the atmosphere. He also learned that a few months earlier Theodore Wulff had measured the ionization of the atmosphere in Paris. Woolf's measurements were taken from the Eiffel Tower and showed that at its top (at an altitude of 320 m) the level of radiation is much higher than at its base. Wolfe's data disagreed with the then existing theory, according to which radiation could only come from underground. Wolfe suggested that the unusually high levels of radiation aloft were caused by radiation coming from the Earth's atmosphere. He turned to other scientists with a proposal to test his hypothesis by launching measuring instruments into the atmosphere using cylinders.
The following year, G. created devices capable of withstanding significant changes in temperature and pressure when rising to great altitudes. G. calculated that the maximum altitude at which terrestrial radiation could ionize the atmosphere is 500 m. In the next two years, with the help of the Austrian Aeronautical Club, he launched ten aerosondes. “I was able to show,” he later recalled, “that ionization [in the electroscope] decreased with increasing height above the ground (due to a decrease in the influence of radioactive substances in the ground), but starting from a height of 1000 m it increased noticeably and at an altitude of 5000 m it reached , several times greater than what is observed on the Earth’s surface.” These data led him to the conclusion that ionization could be caused by the penetration of unknown radiation from outer space into the earth's atmosphere.
That the radiation comes from outer space and does not come from the Sun, G. was convinced by the results of night launches, during which there was no decrease in the level of radiation in the upper layers of the atmosphere. In 1925, the new radiation was named “cosmic rays” by American physicist Robert A. Millikan. G.'s experiments attracted the attention of other physicists to cosmic rays, including Carl D. Anderson, who discovered the positron, a positively charged particle with a mass equal to that of the electron. He, together with S.Kh. Neddermeyer discovered the mu meson, an unusually short-lived particle with a mass about 200 times that of an electron. Later it became known as the muon.
In 1919, G. was appointed assistant professor of physics at the University of Vienna, but in 1920 he moved to Graz, where he became an associate professor of experimental physics. In 1921, taking a leave of absence, G. went to the United States, where he headed the research laboratory of the United States Radium Corporation in Orange (New Jersey) and at the same time acted as a consultant to the Bureau of Mines of the US Department of the Interior.
G. returned to Graz in 1923. Two years later he became a full professor, and in 1929 he was appointed dean of the faculty. In 1931, G. became a professor of experimental physics and director of the Institute of Radiation Research at the University of Innsbruck. He created a cosmic ray research station near Hafelekar.
For the “discovery of cosmic rays,” G., together with Karl D. Anderson, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936. Introducing the laureates, Hans Pleyel from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences emphasized that G. “offered us important new problems related to the formation and destruction substances, problems that open up new areas for research.”
In 1938, two months after Nazi Germany annexed Austria, G. was removed from his post in Graz because his wife was Jewish and he was a scientific adviser to the government of the deposed Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg. Having received a warning about the impending arrest, G. fled to Switzerland.
An invitation from Fordham University led G. and his wife to New York in 1938. At Fordham, G. taught physics and six years later received American citizenship. In 1946, he was asked to lead the world's first measurements of radioactive fallout in the United States following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The following year, G., together with physicist William T. McNiff, developed a method for detecting small amounts of radium in the human body by measuring gamma radiation.
In 1920, G. married Marie Bertha Varner Breisky, who died in 1955. In the same year, G. married Elizabeth M. Hoenke. After retiring in 1956, G. continued to study cosmic rays and radioactivity until the end of his life. He died in Mount Vernon, New York in 1964.
During his long career, G. was awarded many awards and honors, including the Lieben Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1919), the Ernst Abbe Prize of the Carl Zeiss Foundation (1932), and the honorary badge “For Merit in the Arts and Sciences” of the Austrian government (1959) and honorary degrees from the University of Vienna, Loyola University Chicago, Loyola University New Orleans, and Fordham University.
Nobel Prize laureates: Encyclopedia: Trans. from English – M.: Progress, 1992.
© The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
© Translation into Russian with additions, Progress Publishing House, 1992.
Viktor Gess Career: Physicist
Birth: 24.6.1883 - 17.1
Victor Hess - Austro-American physicist. Born on June 24, 1883 at Wallenstein Castle in the Austrian province of Styria, Victor Hess (with Karl Anderson) is the winner of the 1936 Nobel Peace Prize in Physics for the discovery of cosmic rays.
After his defense, G. was going to undertake research in optics at the University of Berlin under the leadership of Paul Drude, but after this suicide, Drude was forced to change his plans. While working as a demonstrator and lecturer at the University of Vienna, G. became interested in the research of Franz Exner and Egon von Schweidler on the ionizing effects of radioactive radiation. Such radiation occurs in cases when atoms of unstable elements, in particular uranium or thorium, emit clots (portions) of energy and positive or negative particles. Under the influence of radioactive radiation, the atmosphere surrounding the source becomes electrically conductive, i.e. ionized. This kind of radioactivity can be detected using an electroscope, a device that loses the electrical charge imparted to it under the influence of radiation.
Working since 1910 as a research assistant at the Institute of Radium Research at the University of Vienna, G. learned about experiments carried out by his colleagues to determine the source of ionizing radiation in the atmosphere. He also learned that a few months earlier Theodore Wulff had measured the ionization of the atmosphere in Paris. Woolf's measurements were made from the Eiffel Tower and showed that at its top (at an altitude of 320 m) the order of radiation is much higher than at its base. Wolfe's data disagreed with the then existing theory, according to which radiation could only come from underground. Wolfe suggested that the unusually large order of radiation at the top was caused by radiation coming from the earth's atmosphere. He turned to other scientists with a proposal to revise his hypothesis by launching measuring instruments into the atmosphere using cylinders.
The next year, G. created devices capable of withstanding significant changes in temperature and pressure when rising to great heights. G. calculated that the maximum altitude at which terrestrial radiation could ionize the atmosphere is 500 m. In the next two years, with the help of the Austrian Aeronautical Club, he launched ten aerosondes. I was able to imagine, he recalled later, that ionization [in the electroscope] decreased with increasing height above the ground (due to the decrease in the influence of radioactive substances in the ground), but starting from a height of 1000 m it increased noticeably and at an altitude of 5000 m it reached a value of slightly times greater than what is observed on the surface of the Earth. These data led him to the conclusion that ionization could be caused by the penetration of unknown radiation from outer space into the earth's atmosphere.
That the radiation comes from outer space and does not come from the Sun, G. was convinced by the results of night launches, during which there was no decrease in the level of radiation in the upper layers of the atmosphere. In 1925, the new radiation was named cosmic rays by American physicist Robert A. Millikan. G.'s experiments attracted sensitivity to cosmic rays from other physicists, including Carl D. Anderson, who discovered the positron, a positively charged particle with a mass equal to that of the electron. He, together with S.Kh. Neddermeyer discovered the mu meson, an unusually short-lived particle with a mass about 200 times the mass of an electron. Later it became known as the muon.
In 1919, G. was appointed assistant professor of physics at the University of Vienna, but in 1920 he moved to Graz, where he became an associate professor of experimental physics. In 1921, taking a leave of absence, G. went to the United States, where he headed the research laboratory of the United States Radium Corporation in Orange (New Jersey) and at the same time acted as a consultant to the Bureau of Mines of the US Department of the Interior.
G. returned to Graz in 1923. Two years later he became a full professor, and in 1929 he was appointed dean of the faculty. In 1931, G. became a professor of experimental physics and director of the Institute of Radiation Research at the University of Innsbruck. He created a cosmic ray research station near Hafelekar.
For the discovery of cosmic rays, G., together with Karl D. Anderson, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936. Introducing the laureates, Hans Pleyel from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences emphasized that G. offered us new important problems related to the formation and destruction of matter, problems , opening up new areas for research.
In 1938, two months after Nazi Germany annexed Austria, G. was removed from his post in Graz, since his mistress was Jewish, and he himself was a scientific adviser to the government of the deposed Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg. Having received a warning about the impending arrest, G. fled to Switzerland.
An invitation from Fordham University led G. and his wife to New York in 1938. At Fordham, G. taught physics and after six years received American citizenship. In 1946, he was asked to lead the world's first measurements of the level of radioactive fallout that fell in the United States following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The following year, G., together with the physicist William T. McNiff, developed a method for detecting small amounts of radium in the human body by measuring gamma radiation.
In 1920, G. married Marie Bertha Varner Breisky, who died in 1955. In the same year, G. married Elizabeth M. Hoenke. After retiring in 1956, G. continued to study cosmic rays and radioactivity until the end of his life. He died in Mount Vernon, New York in 1964.
During his long career, G. was awarded many awards and honors, including the Lieben Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1919), the Ernst Abbe Prize of the Carl Zeiss Foundation (1932), the honorary badge for services to art and science of the Austrian government (1959) and honorary degrees from the University of Vienna, Loyola University Chicago, Loyola University New Orleans, and Fordham University.
