STUDY OF COSMIC RAYS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 3, 10 March 1947, Page 3

STUDY OF COSMIC RAYS

LABORATORY ON MONT BLANC RESEARCH STATION AT 10,000 FEET The highest laboratory in Europe for the study of cosmic rays has just been opened on the slopes of Mont Blanc. It is installed at a height of over 10,000 feet but there is a suspended cable railway which makes the ascent to the glacier hut at a height of 8500 feet. From there a suspended open cabin makes a further ascent of 1500 feet in a single perpendicular hop without any intermediate pylons.

The research station is set on a rocky spur at the mouth of the Vallee Blanche which runs into the Mer de Glace. From the terrace of the research station one looks straight down into Italy and Switzerland. The laboratory is a big wooden chalet built on a vast platform overhanging the void.'

As well as the large laboratory the premises include a kitchen, a dormitory with 6 bunks. The basement serve as a storeroom and contains an electrogenic unit and a large air-compression apparatus. The laboratory is encased in t an aluminium Faraday cage. There are two inner walls padded with glass wool. The inside is lined with pressed wood-pulp which ensures insulation from the wind and snow.

The study of cosmic rays needs a powerful electric installation. A high tension transformer has been set up on one corner of the platform. It operates on a 15,000 volts current and transforms into 110 triphase volts.

The aerial high tension line starts at i/hu glacici hut. Ics erection was

a particularly delicate piece of work. A German offensive at the beginning of 1945 did considerable damage to the installations which were then occupied by the F.F.I. (French Forces of the Interior, the organised military resistance group).