Pierre Victor Auger (born 14.05.1899) is a French physicist and a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1977). He was born in Paris. In 1926 he received his doctorate at the University of Paris, where he worked in 1927 — 69 (professor from 1937). In 1941—44 he worked in the USA and England. On returning to France he was Commissioner for Atomic Energy in 1945 — 48, in 1948 — 59 director of the Department of Natural Sciences of UNESCO, in 1959—62 president of the French Committee for Space Research, and in 1962 — 67 director general of the European Space Research Organisation.
His research concerned atomic and nuclear physics, cosmic-ray physics and the philosophy of science. Studying the photoelectric effect in gases, he made accurate measurements of the angular distribution of the emitted photoelectrons, which confirmed the quantum theory of the photoelectric effect. In 1925 he discovered the autoionisation of an excited atom as a result of the internal redistribution of the excitation energy (the Auger effect), and in 1938 the extensive air showers (Auger showers).