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Astroparticle physics deals with the astronomical origins of particle physics. It is a relatively new field in astronomy and particle physics.
Astroparticle physics evolved from optical astronomy. More mature astrophysics developed along with the development of detector technology. The reason that astrophysics is necessary for particle physics was to produce particles with comparable energy to those found in space. A good example of this is the cosmic ray spectrum. The cosmic ray spectrum contains particles with energy as high as 10^20 eV. Proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider have about 10^12 eV.
Theodor Wulf
In 1910, Theodor Wulf, a German physicist, measured the ionization in the air. This would be an indicator of gamma radiation. The bottom and top of the Eiffel Tower was measured. Wulf found that there was far more ionization at the top of the tower. This was actually not to be expected, if, we were to only attribute terrestrial sources for this radiation.
Victor Francis Hess
Victor Francis Hess, is going to conjecture that it is possible that this radiation came from the sky. Hess made many attempts to defend his hypothesis. From 1911 to 1913, Hess made 10 flight attempts to investigate this kind of radiation. Hess' conclusion was that "a radiation of very high penetrating power enters our atmosphere from above."
In 1925, Robert Millikan, confirmed the findings of Hess and even coined the term "cosmic rays."
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