The strongXstrong-Ray Universe.pdfVIP

The X-Ray Universe by WALLACE H. TUCKER X-ray images of the Universe are strikingly different from the usual visible-light images. ILHELM WROENTGEN’S INITIAL DISCOVERY of X-radiation in 1895 led immediately to practical applications in medicine. Over the next few decades X rays proved to be an invaluable tool for the investigation of the micro-world of the atom and the development of the quantum theory of matter. Almost a century later, telescopes designed to detect X-radiation are indispensable for understanding the structure and evolution of the macro-world of stars, galaxies, and the Universe as a whole. BEAM LINE 45 THE BIRTH OF THE FIELD did not think: I investigated.” these results were verified by the Undeterred by NASA’s rejection ASE group and confirmed by Fried- X-ray astronomy emerged with of a proposal to search for cosmic man’s group at the Naval Research the space age, because X-ray obser- X-radiation, Giacconi persuaded the Laboratory. A new field of astrono- vatories could now be positioned Air Force to fund the project with the my had been born. As a historical above earth’s X-ray-absorbing atmo- understanding that its primary goal footnote, X-ray emission from the sphere. This may seem strange, since