Pasquale Serpico in Science&Vie

The 1149 issue (June 2013) of the magazine Science & Vie devotes a special article to cosmic rays, these particles that travel through the galaxy and end up bombarding the earth. Our colleague Pasquale Serpico was one of two experts that was consulted for the write-up.

Since their discovery in 1912, the origin of these ionizing particles of very high energy has long remained a mystery. Much evidence has now accumulated to trace back their origin to the explosion of massive stars known as supernovae. The latest results from the Fermi space telescope seem to confirm this hypothesis.