The Milagro Gamma-Ray Telescope -- A New Look at an Old Problem

The origin of the cosmic radiation has remained a mystery since its discovery nearly a century ago. While there are good theoretical reasons to believe that supernovae play an important role in the acceleration of cosmic rays, experimental evidence for the acceleration of nuclei at these sites has proven difficult to obtain. In this talk I will briefly review the history of cosmic rays and discuss some of the new instrumentation that has given us a fresh look at this age-old problem. In particular I will discuss results from the Milagro water Cherenkov telescope and our plans for a future telescope known as HAWC.