Main content

Cosmic Rays

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss cosmic rays, the mysterious high-energy particles that constantly bombard Earth.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss cosmic rays. In 1912 the physicist Victor Hess discovered that the Earth is under constant bombardment from radiation coming from outside our atmosphere. These so-called cosmic rays have been known to cause damage to satellites and electronic devices on Earth, but most are absorbed by our atmosphere. The study of cosmic rays and their effects has led to major breakthroughs in particle physics. But today physicists are still trying to establish where these highly energetic subatomic particles come from.

With:

Carolin Crawford
Gresham Professor of Astronomy and a member of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge

Alan Watson
Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Leeds

Tim Greenshaw
Professor of Physics at the University of Liverpool.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Available now

42 minutes

Last on

Thu 16 May 2013 21:30

LINKS AND FURTHER READING

Ìý

Ìý

Ìý

Ìý

Ìý

Ìý

READING LIST:

Ìý

Roger Clay, Cosmic Bullets: High Energy Particles in Astrophysics (Basic Books, 1999)

Ìý

F. Close, M. Marten and C. Sutton, The Particle Odyssey: A Journey to the Heart of Matter (Oxford University Press, 2002)

Ìý

Brigitte Falkenburg and Wolfgang Rhode (ed.), From Ultra Rays to Astroparticles: A Historical Introduction to Astroparticle Physics (Springer, 2012)

Ìý

Ian Sample, Massive: The Higgs Boson and the Greatest Hunt in Science (Virgin Books, 2013)

Ìý

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Producer Thomas Morris
Interviewed Guest Carolin Crawford
Interviewed Guest Alan Watson
Interviewed Guest Tim Greenshaw

Broadcasts

  • Thu 16 May 2013 09:00
  • Thu 16 May 2013 21:30

Featured in...

In Our Time podcasts

Download programmes from the huge In Our Time archive.

The In Our Time Listeners' Top 10

If you’re new to In Our Time, this is a good place to start.

Arts and Ideas podcast

Download the best of Radio 3's Free Thinking programme.

Podcast