The Pioneers of Cosmic Ray Research in India

Abstract

Centenary symposium on Discovery of Cosmic Rays was organised in Denver, Colorado (USA) in June 2012. The proceedings of this conference published by American Institute of Physics (AIP) in 2013 are the most exhaustive survey of research carried out at global level. The glorious period of Cosmic Ray research began in India during 1940s simultaneously in JC Bose Institute, Calcutta under the supervision of DM Bose; Forman Christian College, Lahore under PS Gill, and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore under HJ Bhabha. Experimental research in cosmic rays in India got a big boost with the establishment of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) by Homi Bhabha in Bombay in 1945, the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) by Vikram Sarabhai in Ahmedabad in 1947 and Cosmic Ray Laboratory by Piara Singh Gill at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Aligarh in 1949. TIFR has been the flagship for cosmic ray research in India. In recent years, TIFR has installed a sophisticated system of atmospheric cherenkov detectors at Hanle in the Ladakh region at an altitude of 4200 m, to continue studies on (very high energy) VHE sources of cosmic gamma rays. This paper presents an overview of cosmic ray research in India.

Keywords: Cosmic rays, latitude effect, cosmic ray showers, JC Bose Institute, TIFR, AMU