International Collaboration

The Pierre Auger Project developed from a suggestion by Jim Cronin and Alan Watson in 1992 to build a giant air shower array with much greater collecting power than had ever been considered previously. The idea developed through a sequence of workshops in Paris (1992), Adelaide (1993), Tokyo (1993), and finally at Fermilab in 1995. The Design Group for the Auger Project hosted by Fermilab, in Batavia, Illinois, USA, which met from January 30 through July 31, 1995, produced a design report containing a reference design and a cost estimate for the proposed detector. It became the basis for funding proposals in 17 participating countries. Jim Cronin was given the title Spokesperson Emeritus in 2002; Alan Watson also became Spokesperson Emeritus in 2007. The present spokesperson is Karl-Heinz Kampert, and Jim Matthews is co-spokesperson. Paul Mantsch is the Project Manager. The Auger Observatory is designed for matching detectors in the northern and southern hemispheres to achieve nearly uniform acceptance to cosmic rays from all parts of the sky.

Click here for more about the Auger Project spokespersons

In November of 1995 a meeting was held in Paris to form the collaboration, which chose the Mendoza, Argentina site in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Pierre Auger Collaboration includes more than 490 scientists from Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. These countries are highlighted in green in the above map.

These are the elected officers in the Collaboration:

• Spokesperson : Karl-Heinz Kampert (Wuppertal)
• Co-Spokesperson : Jim Matthews (Louisiana State / Southern U.)
• Spokespersonae Emeriti : James W. Cronin (Chicago), and Alan A. Watson (Leeds)
• Collaboration Board Chair : Ronald Shellard (CBPF)
• Collaboration Board Co-Chair : Lukas Nellen (UNAM)

The Auger project management is hosted by Fermilab. Paul Mantsch is the Project Manager.

The analysis of data streaming in from Auger South has already led to new results which have been reported in scientific publications and conference proceedings.