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View of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center tower at sunset

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Bob Hoover Gives an Air Show Performance

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Detector, Hess Electroscope

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  • A black metal cylinder with a tube of the same composition attacked to its front, on the round side.
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    This is one of three original electroscopes used by the Austrian scientist Victor Hess during his balloon ascensions to measure ionizing radiation in the atmosphere in the period from 1911 to 1913. This instrument is a version of a commercial model of a Wulff electroscope especially modified by its manufacturer, Günther & Tegetmeyer (mfr. number 4760), to take into account operating under reduced pressure at high altitudes. Data collected by Hess led him to the conclusion that the radiation was of extra-terrestrial origin. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1936 for this discovery of what came to be known as cosmic rays. Hess immigrated to the U.S. in 1938 where he became a professor at Fordham University. The electroscope was donated to NASM by Fordham in 1990.

  • A black metal cylinder with a tube of the same composition attacked to its front, on the round side.

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NASM-A19910023000_PS03

Source:

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

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Smithsonian Institution

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Usage conditions apply

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Smithsonian Terms of Use

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National Air and Space Museum

6th St. and Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20560

202-633-2214

Open daily
10:00 am - 5:30 pm
Free Timed-Entry Passes
Required

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA 20151

703-572-4118

Open daily
10:00 am - 5:30 pm
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