Editing Pierre Victor Auger

{{Short description|French physicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Pierre Victor Auger
| image = 
9. Tagung 1959 Physiker stehend P. Auger,Paris, Otto Hahn - W134Nr.058141 - Willy Pragher (cropped).jpg 
| caption = Pierre Auger (1959)

| image_size = 200px
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1899|5|14}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], France
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1993|12|24|1899|5|14}}
| death_place = [[Paris]], France
| residence = 
| citizenship = 
| nationality = [[French people|French]]
| ethnicity = 
| field = [[Physics]]
| work_institutions = [[Académie des sciences (France)]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Paris]]
| doctoral_advisor = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for = [[Air shower (physics)|Air shower]]<br>[[Cosmic rays]]<br>[[Auger effect]]<br>[[Auger electron spectroscopy]]<br>[[Carrier generation and recombination#Auger recombination|Auger recombination]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences = 
| influenced = 
| prizes = [[Kalinga Prize]] (1971)<br>[[Three Physicists Prize]] (1967)
| religion = 
| footnotes = 
| signature = 
}}
'''Pierre Victor Auger''' ({{IPA|fr|oʒe}}; 14 May 1899 – 24 December 1993) was a French [[physicist]], born in Paris. He worked in the fields of [[atomic physics]], [[nuclear physics]], and [[cosmic ray]] physics.<ref name="bio">{{cite journal | author= Lars Persson | title= Pierre Auger-A Life in the Service of Science  | journal=Acta Oncologica | volume=35  |  issue=7| year=1996| pages=785–787 | doi=10.3109/02841869609104027| pmid= 9004753 }}</ref> He is famous for being one of the discoverers of the [[Auger effect]], named after him.

==Early life==
Pierre's father was chemistry professor Victor Auger. Pierre Auger was a student at the [[École normale supérieure]] in Paris from 1919 to 1922, the year when he passed the [[agrégation]] of physics. He then joined the physical chemistry laboratory of the faculté des sciences of the [[University of Paris]] under the direction of [[Jean Perrin]] to work there on the [[photoelectric effect]].

==Career==
In 1926, he obtained his doctorate in physics from the University of Paris. In 1927, he was named assistant to the faculté des sciences of Paris and, at the same time, adjoint chief of service to l'Institut de biologie physico-chimique. Chief of work to faculty in 1934 and general secretary of the annual tables of the constants in 1936, he was named university lecturer in physics to the faculty on the first of November 1937. He was charged with, until 1940, the course on the experimental bases of the [[Quantum mechanics|quantum theory]] within the chair of theoretical physics and astrophysics. He was also adjoint director of the laboratory of physical chemistry. He then occupied the chair of quantum physics and relativity of the faculté des sciences of Paris.

At the end of [[World War II]], he was named director of higher education from 1945 to 1948, which permitted him to introduce the first chair of [[genetics]] at the [[Sorbonne University|Sorbonne]], conferred upon [[Boris Ephrussi]].

The process where [[Auger electron]]s are emitted from [[atom]]s is used in [[Auger electron spectroscopy]] to study the elements on the surface of materials.<ref name="bio"/> This method was named after him, independently from [[Lise Meitner]] who discovered the process one year before in 1922, albeit in a different, and then controversial, context about the nature of the beta-rays versus [[Charles Drummond Ellis]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-0348-8444-0 |title=Controversy and Consensus: Nuclear Beta Decay 1911–1934 |date=2000 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-0348-8444-0 |last1=Jensen |first1=Carsten |isbn=978-3-0348-9569-9 |editor-first1=Finn |editor-first2=Helge |editor-first3=Erik |editor-first4=Roger H. |editor-last1=Aaserud |editor-last2=Kragh |editor-last3=Rüdinger |editor-last4=Stuewer }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hardouin Duparc |first=Olivier |date=2009-09-01 |title=Pierre Auger – Lise Meitner: Comparative contributions to the Auger effect |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3139/146.110163/html?lang=en |journal=International Journal of Materials Research |language=en |volume=100 |issue=9 |pages=1162–1166 |doi=10.3139/146.110163 |issn=2195-8556|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Findings==
In his work with [[Cosmic ray|cosmic rays]], he found that the cosmic radiation events were coincident in time meaning that they were associated with a single event, an [[air shower (physics)|air shower]]. He estimated that the energy of the incoming particle that creates large air showers must be at least 10<sup>15</sup> [[electronvolt]]s (eV) = 10<sup>6</sup> particles of 10<sup>8</sup> eV (critical energy in air) and a factor of ten for energy loss from traversing the atmosphere.<ref name="bio"/><ref>{{cite journal | author=P. Auger|  title= Extensive Cosmic-Ray Showers  | journal=Rev. Mod. Phys. | volume=11 |  issue=3–4|  year=1939 | pages=288–291  | doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.11.288|bibcode = 1939RvMP...11..288A |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

==Honors and achievements==
*He was [[European Space Research Organisation]] (ESRO) first Director General and one of the forefathers for the [[CERN]] foundation.<ref name="bio"/>

*He was president of the Centre international de calcul (Rome). From 1948 to 1959, he directed at [[UNESCO]] the department of mathematical and natural sciences.

*He was elected a member of the [[Académie des sciences (France)|Académie des sciences]] in 1977.
*He hosted a broadcast of [[Popular science|popularization of exacting science]] on Friday evenings on the public radio station [[France Culture]] from September 1969 to June 1986, entitled ''Les Grandes Avenues de la science moderne''.

*The world's largest cosmic ray detector, the [[Pierre Auger Observatory]], is named after him.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Watson|first1=Alan|title=The future's bright for the Pierre Auger Observatory|journal=CERN Courier|date=July 2006|volume=46|issue=6|pages=12–14|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1733941}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Auger observatorycelebrates progress|journal=CERN Courier|date=February 2006|volume=46|issue=1|page=8|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1733853}}</ref>

== See also==
*[[Auger therapy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/181657?item=PA Private papers] and an [https://archives.eui.eu/en/isaar/30 interview] with Pierre Auger are consultable at the [https://www.eui.eu/en/academic-units/historical-archives-of-the-european-union Historical Archives of the European Union] in Florence
*[http://auger.cnrs.fr/pierre_auger.html Pierre Auger: The Pioneering Work]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110108011936/http://picardp1.mouchez.cnrs.fr/Auger.html Entretien du 23 avril 1986 avec Pierre Auger]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auger, Pierre Victor}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:People associated with CERN]]
[[Category:20th-century French physicists]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Cosmic ray physicists]]
[[Category:Kalinga Prize recipients]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:CNES presidents]]