Victor Franz Hess (1883-1964)

Awarded the Prize “for his discovery of cosmic radiation.”

American physicist. Hess was born in Steiermark, Austria on June 24, 1883. He was educated at Graz where he obtained his Ph.D. In 1920 he became Extraordinary Professor of Experimental Physics at the Graz University. From 1921 to 1923, he was Director of the Research Laboratory of the U.S. Radium Corporation Consulting Physicist for the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1925 he became Ordinary Professor of Experimental Physics. In 1931, he was appointed as Professor at Innsbruck University Director of the Institute of Radiology. Hess died in Mount Vernon on December 17, 1964.