First Use of Muons

The first practical application of the muons reported occurred almost twenty years later, in 1955, when Eric George consistently measured the muon flux attenuation produced by an ice overburden above tunnels dug inside a mine in Australia. His intention was to measure the thickness of the ice overburden. At the time, the equipment that George used consisted of a Geiger counter telescope that measured the ionization caused by the muons. (Commonwelth Engineer, July 1, 455-457, 1955)