Hans Geiger

Geiger used his counter in early experiments which led to the identification of alpha particles as the nucleus of the helium atom. He moved to Berlin in 1912 where he continued his work on the structure of the atom. In the 1920's, at the University of Kiel, he perfected, along with Walther Müller, his particle counter. The Geiger-Müller counter detects alpha particles (helium nuclei), beta particles (electrons), and gamma particles (photons).

The alpha, beta, and gamma particles were named after the first three letters of the Greek alphabet: , , .

Radioactivity Fixed Target Structure within the Atom

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Picture credit and explanation The picture was taken by Mike Long, LBNL. Richard Kuiper is using the Geiger Counter to test for radioactivity. If the strawberries had been in an Orange Fiestaware dish from the 1930's, he would probably have found some radioactivity!

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Produced by Betty Armstrong, Particle Data Group.