Skip to main content

Paul Villard and his Discovery of Gamma Rays

Abstract

The discovery of gamma rays by the relatively unknown French physicist Paul Villard is described in its historical context. From the beginning Villard gave a correct interpretation of the new rays, but his discovery was largely overlooked by the scientific community. A major reason for the small interest in gamma rays at the time was that they apparently did not fit into the picture that contemporary scientists had on the material nature of atomic radiations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gerward, L. Paul Villard and his Discovery of Gamma Rays. Phys. perspect. 1, 367–383 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s000160050028

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s000160050028

  • Key words: Gamma rays; discovery; Paul Villard.