100th anniversary of the discovery of cosmic radiation: the role of Günther and Tegetmeyer in the development of the necessary instrumentation

摘要

The year 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of cosmicradiation by the Austrian physicist Victor Franz Hess (1883–1964), obtainedonboard manned balloons, one of them launched up to an altitude of 5.3 km.His discovery earned him the Nobel Prize in 1936. The discovery follows inthe context of the investigation of atmospheric electricity and of the newlydiscovered radioactivity, in particular with respect to γ rays.Starting from simple ionization chambers, the instruments were developedduring an interplay between functional requirements, scientific progress andavailable manufacturing technologies.The authors of this contribution take this anniversary as an opportunity todescribe the instrumentation used by Hess, as well as further developmentsin the instrumentation which took place in the decades following Hess'discovery. This manuscript also discusses details of the company whomanufactured Hess' instrument, ''Günther & Tegetmeyer''based in Braunschweig, Germany. This company did not only build instrumentsfor Hess and the research on cosmic rays, but also for other scientificdisciplines and for well-known researchers and discoverers.