Pierre Auger
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030965
It’s the birthday of Pierre Auger, who was born in 1899 in Paris. Auger studied physics at the École normale supérieure and at the University of Paris. In 1923, as part of his PhD thesis research, he discovered that when a photon or electron knocks out one of an atom’s innermost electrons, a neighboring electron will jump down to take its place -- after shedding energy to one of its neighboring electrons, which is kicked out of the atom. Even though Lise Meitner had discovered the same process a year earlier, it’s usually known as the Auger effect. Auger pioneered the study of cosmic rays through observing their effects on Earth’s atmosphere. The Pierre Auger Observatory, an international project to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is named after him.
Date in History: 14 May 1899
