Observation of the Suppression of the Flux of Cosmic Rays above<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mn>4</mml:mn><mml:mo>×</mml:mo><mml:msup><mml:mn>10</mml:mn><mml:mn>19</mml:mn></mml:msup><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mi>eV</mml:mi></mml:math>

The energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 2.5 x 10;{18} eV, derived from 20,000 events recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is described. The spectral index gamma of the particle flux, J proportional, variantE;{-gamma}, at energies between 4 x 10;{18} eV and 4 x 10;{19} eV is 2.69+/-0.02(stat)+/-0.06(syst), steepening to 4.2+/-0.4(stat)+/-0.06(syst) at higher energies. The hypothesis of a single power law is rejected with a significance greater than 6 standard deviations. The data are consistent with the prediction by Greisen and by Zatsepin and Kuz'min.