Cosmic rays of ultra-high energy

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Abstract
There falls on the Earth's atmosphere a rain of particles and photons the high energy part of which is termed the Cosmic Radiation. This article is concerned specifically with primary particles of the highest known energies, i.e. 1017-1020eV and deals with the evidence for their existence, their nature and their origin. Such particles are very rare but because they produce many millions of secondaries in the atmosphere they can be readily detected by large counter arrays at ground level. Some of the principal arrays in the world will be described including the giant array at Haverah Park, near Harrogate, England. The latest results on the energy spectrum and the incident directions of the primaries will be given and their astronomical significance critically assessed. Finally, an account will be given of a novel array which promises to make a substantial contribution to our knowledge of primaries of energies even above 1020 eV.

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