Bruno Rossi: Cosmic Ray Research 1929 - 1953

Bruno Rossi, a fresh PhD from the University of Bologna, arrived in Florence in 1928. He was appointed assistant to Antonio Garbasso, professor of experimental physics. Garbosso at that time was Mayor of Florence. His days of physics were over which gave the young Rossi a freedom to follow any line of research. After some agonizing he came upon research in cosmic rays following the discovery that a large part of the cosmic rays were charged particles. Thus began a long period of creative research. Rossi had all the talents needed, a powerful intellect and the natural ability to construct apparatus that gave clear results for his experiments. I will give some examples of his many discoveries concerning the nature of cosmic rays.