Victor Franz Hess (; 24 June 1883 – 17 December 1964) was an Austrian-American
particle physicist
Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and ...
who shared the 1936
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...
with
Carl David Anderson
Carl David Anderson (September 3, 1905 – January 11, 1991) was an American particle physicist who shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics with Victor Francis Hess for his discovery of the positron.
Biography
Anderson was born in New York Cit ...
"for his discovery of
cosmic radiation
Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Sol ...
".
[
]
Biography
He was born to Vinzenz Hess and Serafine Edle von Grossbauer-Waldstätt, in Waldstein Castle, near Peggau in Styria
Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
, Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, on 24 June 1883. His father was a royal forester in Prince Louis of Oettingen-Wallerstein's service. He attended secondary school at Graz
Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
Gymnasium from 1893 to 1901.
From 1901 to 1905, Hess was an undergraduate student at the University of Graz
The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...
. In 1910, Hess received his PhD from the University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
. He worked as Assistant under Stefan Meyer at the Institute for Radium Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, from 1910 to 1920.
In 1920, he married Marie Bertha Warner Breisky.
Hess took a leave of absence in 1921 and traveled to the United States, working at the United States Radium Corporation
The United States Radium Corporation was a company, most notorious for its operations between the years 1917 to 1926 in Orange, New Jersey, in the United States that led to stronger worker protection laws. After initial success in developing a g ...
, in New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, and as consulting physicist for the US Bureau of Mines
The United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) was the primary Federal government of the United States, United States government agency in the 20th century that conducted scientific research and disseminated information on the extraction, processing ...
, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
In 1923, he returned to the University of Graz, and was appointed the ordinary professor of experimental physics in 1925. The University of Innsbruck
The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669.
It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...
appointed him professor, and director of the Institute of Radiology, in 1931.
Hess relocated to the United States with his Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish wife in 1938, in order to escape Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
persecution. The same year Fordham University
Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...
appointed him professor of physics, and he later became a naturalized United States citizen in 1944. His wife died of cancer in 1955. The same year he married Elizabeth M. Hoenke, the woman who nursed Berta at the end of her life.
He was a practicing Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, and in 1946, he wrote on the topic of the relationship between science and religion
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the Ancient history, ancient and Middle Ages, medieval worlds did not have conc ...
in his article "My Faith", in which he explained why he believed in God. He retired from Fordham University in 1958 and he died on 17 December 1964, in Mount Vernon, New York
Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...
from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
.
Cosmic rays
Between 1911 and 1913, Hess undertook the work that won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936. For many years, scientists had been puzzled by the levels of ionizing radiation measured in the atmosphere. The assumption at the time was that the radiation would decrease as the distance from the earth, the then assumed source of the radiation, increased. The electroscope
The electroscope is an early scientific instrument used to detect the presence of electric charge on a body. It detects this by the movement of a test charge due to the Coulomb's law, Coulomb electrostatic force on it. The amount of charge on ...
s previously used gave an approximate measurement of the radiation but indicated that at greater altitude in the atmosphere the level of radiation might actually be higher than that on the ground. Hess approached this mystery first by greatly increasing the precision of the measuring equipment, and then by personally taking the equipment aloft in a balloon. He systematically measured the radiation at altitudes up to during 1911–1912. The daring flights were made both by day and during the night, at significant risk to himself.
The result of Hess's meticulous work was published in the ''Proceedings of the Austrian Academy of Sciences'', and showed the level of radiation decreased up to an altitude of about , but above that the level increased considerably, with the radiation detected at , being about twice that at sea level. His conclusion was that there was radiation penetrating the atmosphere from outer space, and his discovery was confirmed by Robert Andrews Millikan
Robert Andrews Millikan ( ; March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923 "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect".
Millikan gradua ...
in 1925, who gave the radiation the name "cosmic ray
Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the ...
s". Hess's discovery opened the door to many new discoveries in particle
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
and nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...
. In particular, both the positron
The positron or antielectron is the particle with an electric charge of +1''elementary charge, e'', a Spin (physics), spin of 1/2 (the same as the electron), and the same Electron rest mass, mass as an electron. It is the antiparticle (antimatt ...
and the muon
A muon ( ; from the Greek letter mu (μ) used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with an electric charge of −1 '' e'' and a spin of ''ħ'', but with a much greater mass. It is classified as a ...
were first discovered in cosmic rays by Carl David Anderson
Carl David Anderson (September 3, 1905 – January 11, 1991) was an American particle physicist who shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics with Victor Francis Hess for his discovery of the positron.
Biography
Anderson was born in New York Cit ...
. Hess and Anderson shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...
.
Honours and awards
* Lieben Prize (1919)
* Abbe Memorial Prize
* Abbe Medal of the Carl Zeiss Institute, Jena
Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...
(1932)
* Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...
(1936)
* Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art () is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Orders, decorations, and medals of Austria, Austrian national honours system.
History
The "Austrian Decoration for Science a ...
(1959)
* A lunar crater is named after Hess
Publications
*
References
External links
*
* Biography and Nobel lecture
Victor Francis Hess – Not only the Discoverer of the Cosmic Radiation
Diploma thesis (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Victor Franz
1883 births
1964 deaths
20th-century American physicists
People from Graz-Umgebung District
American Nobel laureates
Austrian emigrants to the United States
Austrian Nobel laureates
Nobel laureates from Austria-Hungary
Austrian Roman Catholics
Experimental physicists
Fordham University faculty
Nobel laureates in Physics
Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
Emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss
University of Graz alumni
Academic staff of the University of Graz
Academic staff of the University of Innsbruck
Cosmic ray physicists
Spectroscopists
20th-century Austrian physicists