2013/04/20 by Luisa Bonolis, Bonolis, Luisa
Arts and Humanities · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Advances in Oncology and Radiotherapy #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #International Science and Diplomacy #Twentieth Century Scientific Developments #astro-ph.IM #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1304.5612
62 pages, 4 figures, revised edition, to be published on Annals of Science
openalex publication_date 2013/04/20 · arxiv created 2013/06/26 · arxiv updated 2013/06/27 · openalex created_date 2022/10/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
During the 1920s and 1930s, Italian physicists established strong relationships with scientists from other European countries and the United States. The career of Bruno Rossi, a leading personality in the study of cosmic rays and an Italian pioneer of this field of research, provides a prominent example of this kind of international cooperation. Physics underwent major changes during these turbulent years, and the traditional internationalism of physics assumed a more institutionalised character. Against this backdrop, Rossi's early work was crucial in transforming the study of cosmic rays into a branch of modern physics. His friendly relationships with eminent scientists -notably Enrico Fermi, Walther Bothe, Werner Heisenberg, Hans Bethe, and Homi Bhabha- were instrumental both for the exchange of knowledge about experimental practises and theoretical discussions, and for attracting the attention of physicists such as Arthur Compton, Louis Leprince-Ringuet, Pierre Auger and Patrick Blackett to the problem of cosmic rays. Relying on material from different archives in Europe and United States, this case study aims to provide a glimpse of the intersection between national and international dimensions during the 1930s, at a time when the study of cosmic rays was still very much in its infancy, strongly interlaced with nuclear physics, and full of uncertain, contradictory, and puzzling results. Nevertheless, as a source of high-energy particles it became a proving ground for testing the validity of the laws of quantum electrodynamics, and made a fundamental contribution to the origins of particle physics.