Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-12-05
SCIENTISTS HERE
STUDY COSM|C RAYS
Bureau of Standards Work
May Shed New Light on
Nature of Matter.

Medical science and the radio, a.
well as other fields, may be affected
greatly as a result of an experimental
ton with the cosmic ray now being car
ried on by the Bureau Of Standards
Acting Director L. j. Briggs announced
DR.. Briggs said the study constituted
one of the outstanding mysteries in the
scientific world, and was presenting al
most battling problem to the bureaus
scientific staff.
He predicted that if his staff solved
the nature of the rays, mans knowledge
Of the material Of which the world is
made would be greatly increased.
Interest Is Worldwide.
Worldwide interest has been aroused
In the problem Of the origin and nature
Of the cosmic rays, Dr. Briggs said, and
despite the fact no immediate practical
value may be attributed to their study
1t would be mistake to overlook the
possibilities which may develop from
such an investigation.
That the rays may exert some in
nuence on the weather and the electri-
cal state of the atmosphere, thus af-
fecting radio transmission. is a posi-
b1lity, DR.. Briggs said. He added that
they may also have biological properties
such as are possessed by powerful
X-rays.
The Investigations at the bureau in
clude the development of the magnetic
held produced in air between the poles
OF q powerful electromagnetic, used in
the place of the magnetized iron en-
ployed by other investigators 1t was
explained that this was done in order to
study the question of the detection of
Gh0ra re INV GaIl
Some Rays Separated.
Continuing. DR.. Briggs said:
The electromagnetic used was suffi-
GENTLY powerful to remove all electrons
OF approximately 1000, 100000 volts
energy from the cosn1ic ray beam. Those
rays which succeeded in getting through
the field were counted by small Geiger
counter.
The result Of 1000 hours of observa-
ton shows about 81 rays can be de-
tected in "a hours by the counter when
no magnetic field is present and only
III rays get through in the same period
when the electromagnetic is turned on.
This indicates that 80 per cent of
the rays must be either protons or cleo
irons OF energy less than 100000, 900
electron volts and the remaining 70 per
~~AAS AlAAoS CAtAACA 4ldfC d IllkIlGI
or be of a type of radiation such as
neutrons or electromagnetic waves such
as ordinary light, which cannot be de-
nected by a magnetic field at all.
"Cosmic rays are known to exist only
because of their ability to affect electro
scopes and other sensitive instruments
through very thick metal plates Their
exact nature at the present time is
unknown, but it is certain that they
possess energies of the order of hun
dreds Of millions of volts. They may
be electrons. hydrogen atoms (protons)
or the newly discovered neutrons.
May Be Similar to Light.
ION the other hand, they may be sim
liar to light Of extremely short wave
length.
Several Investigators Lave tried to
get some information which would help
in answering the question as to which
OF these possibilities is correct. If they
are electrons or protons travelling at
very high speeds it should be possible
to defect them in a magnetic field, pro-
vidtng the field were sufficiently strong
for the purpose If, on the contrary
they are wave radiation, like light or
neutrons, there would be no detection,
no matter how strong the magnetic
nei0- Previous experiments OF this
kind by Rossi in Italy and Mott-Smith
in this country have shown that ap-
parently no detection exists. Their ex-
perimentS were carried out by permit
ting the coSmic rays to pass through
thick pieces of magnetized IRON
THE work at the Bureau of Stand
ards is in the realm of pure science
and contributes distinctly to the study
If a r1rnhlap0 Of niItSto ding interest m
science today. Concentrated attack is
being made on the study of cosmic rays
by scientists in the service of the gov
ernments Of nearly every civilized coun-
try in the world It is certain that
the results will help to clarity our
knowledge regarding this obscure type
of radiation and may greatly modify our
ideas regarding the world in which we
live"