The thirtieth anniversary of the death of Beppo Occhialini, the cosmic-ray physicists associated among other things to the fundamentaldiscoveries of the electron-positron pairs and of the pion, is the occasion to publish his memoirs on the main events of his scientific life, which he dictated shortly before his death. This second edition of takes us by the hand to appreciate the admiration if not the veneration he had for Patrick Blackett, the ironic rudeness of Lord Rutherford, or the troubled relationship with Cecil Powell. A particularly thorny aspect concerns the role played by some physicists during the Second World War and the way Occhialini reworked some related ideas taking into account the complex personal situation experienced by each of them. Occhialini’s memoirs are enriched by his short autobiography published as an encyclopedia entry in the 1970s, together with a selection of relevant historical studies and personal reminiscences mainly concerning his scientific activity before his coming to Milan together with some personal notes from friends and colleagues. weiterlesen