CHICOS and Cosmic Rays in the News

The origins and properties of ultra-high energy cosmic rays form one of most puzzling enigmas in current particle physics and astrophysics. CHICOS contributes to the research in this field and involves students and teachers in the process of scientific discovery.


High Schools Focus on the Extreme Universe
May, 2006.

This newsletter of international particle physics ran a comprehensive article on school-based cosmic ray observatories which are operating and starting up around the world. The article offers a nice historical perspective and discusses the different approaches and strengths of various projects worldwide. CHICOS detectors at Chaminade MS are pictured!

Read this article (free, no registration) in the archives of the CERN Courier.

Forging a Cosmic Connection Between Students and Science
4 November 2005

"...But nothing fired the bright and bubbly 17-year-old's passion for science and technology quite like a weeklong visit to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, where she and a classmate assembled a detector to snare cosmic rays..."

The almost two-page article on school-based cosmic ray observatories features lots of CHICOS material (the opening paragraphs, the second photo, words from Bob McKeown, and more). The article also gives a nice sense of the growing international nature of this idea.

full article in pdf format

Cosmic Rays Bombard L.A.
January, 2005.

'California Students Solving Cosmic Mysteries'

California Wild is the magazine of the California Academy of Sciences. This article's author, Kimberly Burtnyk, met with many CHICOS participants and did very thorough research on both current CHICOS activities and the underlying physics of the project.

Scanned article (best quality at high zoom):
     page 1      page 2

Astrophysics Brings Together California Schools and Scientists
March 10, 2004.

'The hands-on experience of soldering wires together helped Mimi An better understand previous lessons she had learned about electricity, she said. "Doing this project made me like science more," said the 18-year-old senior, who describes herself as "not a science person."'

Article on CHICOS by Education Week -- terrific photo in the print version!

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Print article (best quality at high zoom):
     full article      top half      bottom half

Teens Helping to Uncover Universe's Secrets
November 26, 2003.

'[San Fernando Middle School teacher Bart Lennehan] talks excitedly about the prospect that his students will learn about electrons and protons and the physics of the universe. But this work, he says, also offers a chance to teach about discovery for discovery's sake.'

Feature on CHICOS in the Times' weekly "In the Classroom" page.

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printed article with photo
photo only from the printed article

Monitoring Cosmic Rays
November 20, 2003.

'Astrophysicists from the California Institute of Technology enlisted help from San Fernando Middle School students Wednesday in the tracking of cosmic rays -- an ambitious quest to further unravel mysteries of the universe.'

Photos and article on the CHICOS 50th site installation!

Link to html article
Scanned article (with photos), page 1 and page 2.

On the Trail of Cosmic Rays
September 30, 2003.

'Of the many mysteries in the universe, one of the most vexing is the origin of high-energy cosmic rays. These tiny particles travel at almost the speed of light, passing through the warp of space and time almost unimpeded. No one knows where they come from or how they're formed. ... Southern California high schools may hold the answer.'
[Print-version article includes photos of Prof. McKeown and of Debbie Hawks, Alverno High School.]

PDF version

Caltech Partners With Local High Schools To Measure Subatomic Shrapnel
January 31, 2003.

"One of the things I like to show the students and teachers is that this really is a current and ongoing research project," says McKeown, "so it's not an exercise out of a textbook but real science."

HTML version
Scanned Article

New York Times article about school-based cosmic ray observatories.
November 5, 2002.

"The teachers have really helped us debug the system," said Robert McKeown, a California Institute of Technology physics professor who is working with 23 schools in the Pasadena area and the San Fernando Valley and has 20 more schools waiting to join.

HTML version
Scanned Article


visit Discover
Does the Very Existence of Cosmic Rays Defy the Laws of Physics?
September, 2003

Discover Magazine's up-to-date look at the mystery of ultra-high energy cosmic rays.

HTML Version
PDF Version


visit Discover
Discover Magazine's Top Unanswered Questions
February, 2002

Understanding where cosmic rays originate and how they obtain such high energy is the number 5 question in Discover Magazine's list of top 11 unanswered questions.

HTML Version
PDF Version
MS Word Version

CHICOS article in the CSU-Northridge student paper, the Daily Sundial.

"The basic point of this program is that it's not your usual educational project. Our goal is to bring high school teachers and student participants into cutting-edge research."

Ryoichi Seki
CSUN physics professor and Associate Director for Education of CHICOS

CHICOS article in the TIGER, the South Pasadena High School student paper.

Science Building Roof Carries More Weight

Dean Papadakis
CHICOS Teacher at South Pasadena High


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