spacer
spacer IUPAP IUPAP
spacer

C4. Commission on Cosmic Rays

   Members   |   Mandate   |   Meetings   |   Reports   |   Website   |   Newsletters
The 16th International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions 2010 (ISVHECRI 2010) will be held at Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, USA from June 28 - July 2 2010

The Commission on Cosmic Rays (C4) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) was established in 1947 with the mandate to promote international collaboration in all areas of cosmic ray research. The commission discharges its mandate mainly by overseeing the series of biennial International Cosmic Ray Conferences, by making a report on the field to each IUPAP general assembly and by the news bulletin CosNews.

The Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics and Gravitation International Committee (PaNAGIC) reports to IUPAP through C4.

International Cosmic Ray Conferences held since 1947

Cracow, Poland, 1947

Como, Italy, 1949

Bagneres de Bigorre, France, 1953

Guanjuato, Mexico, 1955

Veranna, Italy, 1957

Moscow, USSR, 1959

Kyoto, Japan, 1961

Jaipur, India, 1963

London, UK, 1965

Calgary, Canada, 1967

Budapest, Hungary, 1969

Hobart, Australia, 1971

Denver, USA, 1973

Munich, Germany, 1975

Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 1977

Kyoto, Japan, 1979

Paris, France, 1981

Bangalore, India, 1983

La Jolla, USA, 1985

Moscow, USSR, 1987

Adelaide, Australia, 1990

Dublin, Ireland, 1991

Calgary, Canada, 1993

Rome, Italy, 1995

Durban, South Africa, 1997

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 1999

Hamburg, Germany, 2001

Tsukuba, Japan, 2003

Pune, India, 2005

Merida, Mexico, 2007

Lodz, Poland, 2009


Commission Members 2008– 2011

Officers and Members of the commission are elected by the general assembly of IUPAP on the basis of nominations by the adhering bodies to IUPAP and by the outgoing commission. The following persons were elected at the Tsukuba general assembly in 2008.

Members

Associate Members (2009 - 2012)

Ex Officio members

  • IUPAP President
  • IUPAP Secretary-General

Awards, Medals and Prizes

The following awards have been presented at previous International Cosmic Ray Conferences:

O'Ceallaigh Medal  

The O'Ceallaigh Medal was established by the estate of late Prof Cormac O'Ceallaigh and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies to honour 'outstanding contributions to cosmic ray physics'. The medal is awarded by the IUPAP Commission (C4) on Cosmic Rays. The Commission wishes to use this award to recognize significant contributions to the field of cosmic ray physics over an extended career.

Recipients of the O'Ceallaigh Medal were:

  • 1999: John A. Simpson and George Zatsepin
  • 2001: Vitalii Ginzburg
  • 2003: Frank B. McDonald
  • 2005: Tom Gaisser
  • 2007: V.S. Berezinsky
  • 2009: Ramanath Cowsik

Yodh Prize  

The Yodh Prize was endowed by Gaurang and Kanwal Yodh to the University of California Irvine Foundation in 1998 to recognize a scientist whose research career has made substantial contribution to the understanding in the field of cosmic rays. The research should have had a major impact in the field. There is no age restriction. The recipient is selected by an international committee of distinguished scientists in the field of cosmic rays and astro-particle physics.

Recipients of the Yodh Prize were:

  • 2001: Reuven Ramaty
  • 2003: B.V. Sreekantan
  • 2005: Michael Hillas
  • 2007: Trevor Weekes
  • 2009: Dietrich Muller

Shakti P. Duggal Award  

The Shakti P. Duggal Award was established by the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware in 1983 to recognize outstanding work by a young scientist in the field of cosmic ray physics and to inspire young cosmic ray scientists at an early stage of their careers. Selection of the prize winner is made by an International Committee.

Recipients of the Duggal Award were :

  • 1985: Ray Protheroe
  • 1987: Luke O'C. Drury
  • 1990: Jeremy Lloyd-Evans
  • 1991: Todd Haines
  • 1993: Masahiro Teshima
  • 1995: Ocker C. DeJager
  • 1997: Jim Buckley
  • 1999: Martin Pohl
  • 2001: Teresa Montaruli
  • 2003: Pasquale Blasi
  • 2005: Jim Hinton
  • 2007: Diego Torres
  • 2009: Stefan Funk

International Cosmic Ray Conference Series and Publications

1947 Cracow, Poland
1949 Como, Italy
1953 Bagneres-de-Bigorre, France
1955 Guaniuato, Mexico
1957 Varenna, Italy
1959 Moscow, USSR
1961 Kyoto, Japan
1963 Jaipur, India
1965 London, UK
1967 Calgary, Canada. Proceedings published in Canadian Journal of Physics vol 46 (1968).
1969 Budapest, Hungary. Proceedings published in Acta Physica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 29 Suppl. 1-4 (1969), Ed. A.Somogyi.
1971 Hobart, Australia
1973 Denver, USA
1975 Munchen, FRG. 12 volumes published by MPI fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, Munchen.
1977 Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 12 volumes published by Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Sofia.
1979 Kyoto, Japan. 14 volumes published by the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo.
1981 Paris, France. 14 volumes published by Service de Documentation du CEN Saclay, ISBN 2- 7272-0056-0.
1983 Bangalore, India. 13 volumes published by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay.
1985 La Jolla, USA. 10 volumes published as NASA Conference Publication 2376.
1987 Moscow, USSR. 9 volumes, published by Nauka, Moscow ISBN 5-02-007196-X.
1990 Adelaide, Australia. Proceedings
1991 Dublin, Ireland. 5 volumes published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, ISBN 1-85500-994-3.
1993 Calgary, Canada. 4 volumes of contributed papers published by University of Calgary Physics Department, rapporteur and invited talks published by World Scientific.
1995 Rome, Italy. 4 volumes of contributed papers published by the University of Rome, rapporteur and invited papers in Il Nuevo Ciemento C 19 (1996). Information
1997 Durban, South Africa. Information. Contributed papers published by Potchefstroom University, ISBN 1-86822-276-4. Rapporteur & Invited talks published by World Scientific, ISBN 981-02-3324-8.
1999 Salt-lake City, Utah, USA. Information. Proceedings available online and on CD.
2001 Hamburg, Germany. Information. Proceedings available online and on CD.
2003 Tsukuba, Japan. Information. Proceedings available online and on CD.
2005 Pune, India. Information. Proceedings available online and on CD
2007 Merida, Mexico, 3-11 July. Information. Proceedings available online and on CD
2009 Lodz, Poland. Information. Proceedings available online and on CD


Conferences related to Cosmic Ray research

General

Neutron Monitor Research

Having learned that numerous stations of the worldwide array of neutron monitors are threatened with closure in the current funding environment, the Commission on Cosmic Rays of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics affirms that neutron monitors remain a vital research tool in the fields of Sun-Earth relations, space plasma physics, solar physics and space weather. Accurate measurement of the anisotropy and energy spectrum of cosmic ray primaries demands a sufficiently dense array of stations. The Commission recommends that national funding agencies carefully weigh the negative impact of individual station closures on the capabilities of this international research effort.

Listed below are principal motivations for maintaining the worldwide neutron monitor array:

  • Because of their long heritage, neutron monitors provide a key observational resource for understanding solar and cosmic ray variations on timescales of a solar cycle and longer.
  • Neutron monitors continue to be the state-of-the-art tool for studying directional and time variations of solar and galactic cosmic rays in the energy range from 0.5 to 50 GeV. The ground-based data do not duplicate spacecraft measurements, but rather are highly complementary to them.
  • The primary cosmic rays measured by neutron monitors are the chief source of natural radiation in Earth’s atmosphere. For this reason, neutron monitor data find broad use in fields such as radiation physics, climatology, and geochronology among others.

Changes since 1995

The ICRC series has proven remarkably long-lived and has served the community well, but like all systems it must evolve to take account of changing circumstances. Following a survey of views in the community, and a long process of discussion within the commission, the following changes were announced during the Rome conference in 1995.

  1. The official core of the conference will be shortened to seven working days, from Wednesday noon to the Wednesday evening of the following week, with a break on Sunday.
  2. Workshops and seminars may be organised by interested parties on the two days before and the three days after the official core of the conference. The responsibility of the organisers is limited to:
    1. Communicating the relevant information to potential participants.
    2. Supplying the physical facilities for the workshop.
    3. Arranging the accommodation.
  3. Poster sessions will form a more prominent and attractive part of the programme.
  4. The commission is considering electronic publication in future.
  5. Official guidelines for future ICRC organizers are approved in 2003.
  6. Since 2005, presentations given at the conference will be published as proceedings, on a CD and as hardcopies, after the conference.
Last amended 29 April 2010

The URL of this page is http://www.iupap.org/commissions/c4/website.html. It is maintained by the C4 Commission Secretary through IUPAP HQ.

 

 
spacer
Contact IUPAP   |   Search IUPAP   |   IUPAP Home
spacer