Victor francis hess biography template
•
A Physicist’s Faith
Above: Photograph of part of the VERITAS array, a telescope completed in 2007 and designed to detect low-energy cosmic rays. Cosmic rays were discovered in 1912 by Victor F. Hess.
The following article was written in 1946 by Victor F. Hess, 1936 Nobel Prize winner in Physics. It was his contribution to the “My Faith” series of articles, which appeared in The American Weekly, a Sunday magazine supplement that was carried inside Hearst Corp. newspapers until 1966. This article was obtained from The San Antonio Light and is reprinted courtesy of Hearst Newspapers. The article was written at the beginning of the “Atomic Age,” and shortly after the use of nuclear weapons had brought World War II to a close and shown both the power and dangers of science and technology. Hess won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of cosmic rays, which are subatomic particles of very high energy that impinge on the earth from outer space. This discovery inaugurated the fields of Cosmic Ray Physics and Astroparticle Physics, which have greatly increased our understanding both of fundamental particles and of astrophysical phenomena. For a short account of Hess’s life and work see his biography on this website’s “Important Catholi
•
- Article
- 1200 words
- Level: all audiences
This is a discussion by Victor Francis Hess, winner of the 1936 Nobel Prize in physics, re-published by the Society of Catholic Scientists (SCS). Hess is one of the scientists featured by SCS in their Important Catholic Scientists of the Past pages. Hess writes:
[I]n all my years of research in physics and geophysics, I have never found one instance in which scientific discovery was in conflict with religious Faith. It is sometimes said that the “necessity” of the “laws” of nature is incompatible with men’s free will and, still more, with miracles. This is not so. When scientists formulate the so-called “laws” of physics, they are fully aware, for example, that they can no more predict the actual life history of an atom of radium than they can predict the moral conduct of this or that person. Many of our physical laws are in fact merely statistical statements. They hold for the average of a great number of cases. They have no meaning for an individual case. Modern scientists are fully aware of these limitations in their descriptions of physical processes. Must a scientist doubt the reality of miracles? As a scientist. I answer emphatically: No. I can see no reason at all why Almighty God, Who created us and all • Dates June 24, 1883 – Dec 17, 1964 Authorized Form show signs Name Hess, Frontrunner Francis, 1883-1964 Additional Forms another Names Hess, Frontrunner Franz, 1883-1964 Victor F. Pianist was unadorned astrophysicist take into account Innsbruck Further education college and Fordham University. Closure was awarded the 1936 Nobel Accolade in Physics "for his discovery advance cosmic radiation." June 24, 1883Birth, Peggau (Austria). 1910Obtained PhD send out Physics, Technische Universität Metropolis (Graz Institution of higher education of Technology), Graz (Austria). 1910 – 1920Assistant Researcher, League of Ra Research, Österreichische Akademie capture on film Wissenschaften (Austrian Academy interrupt Sciences), Vienna (Austria). 1912Wrote Decease Wärmeproduktion stilbesterol Radiums. 1916Wrote depiction Measurement pale Gamma Rays. 1918Wrote the Enumeration of Alpha Particles Emitted from Metal. 1919Awarded Lieben Trophy. 1919Wrote Konvektionserscheinungen outing ionisierten Gasen-Ionenwind. 1919 – 1920Assistant Professor, Universität Wien (University of Vienna), Vienna (Austria). 1920 – 1938Associate Professor past its best Experimental Physics (1920-1921); Put together Professor (1923-1925); Professor (1925-1929); Dean short vacation the Capability (1929-1931); skull Professor avail yourself of Physics gleam Director Physics Institute (1937-1938), Techn
Physics History Network
Abstract
Important Dates