Cosmic competition takes flight at the Balloon Fiesta
The hot air balloon's place in scientific history will be marked at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta this summer, with school pupils being invited to help celebrate the city's cosmic heritage. This year marks 100 years since Nobel Prize winner Victor Hess showed the existence of cosmic radiation - particles coming from outside the Earth - by taking an electroscope in a hot air balloon and showing that radiation levels increased with altitude, rather than decreased. To celebrate 'Cosmic Rays - 100 Years of Discovery', Bristol University's School of Physics will be exhibiting at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta in August and is running a competition with local schools. Read more