August 11, 2006

James Van Allen dies James Van Allen, discoverer of the Van Allen radiation belt and designer of the instrumentation on Explorer I (the United States' first artificial satellite), winner of the National Medal of Science, and all around nice guy, died Wednesday at 91. So, next time you look up and see an aurora, think of Van.

I was a grad student at Iowa while Dr. Van Allen was there. Despite being Really Fricken Old, he went to work just about every day. He was also a really nice guy, pretty much the epitome if midwestern charm. I also saw my first aurora borealis from the roof of Van Allen hall. In fact, I think it was this one.

posted by dirigibleman 18 years ago
  • My bad, it was this one.
  • .
  • "The Van Allen Radiation Belt is a torus of energetic charged particles (plasma) around Earth, trapped by Earth's magnetic field. The Van Allen belts are closely related to the polar aurora where particles strike the upper atmosphere and fluoresce. The presence of a radiation belt had been theorized prior to the Space Age and was confirmed by the Explorer I on January 31, 1958 and Explorer III missions, under Doctor James Van Allen. It is generally understood that the Van Allen belts are a result of the collision of Earth's magnetic field with the solar wind. Particles from the solar wind then become trapped within the magnetosphere. The trapped particles are repelled from regions of stronger magnetic field, where field lines converge. This causes the particle to bounce back and forth between the earth's poles, where the magnetic field increases." That explains why there ain't none at the Polands. poles. Nice post, thanks dirigibleman. Interestingly, there was a Tesla post yesterday and he would certainly have been interested in Dr. Van Allen's findings in his quest to transmit power via atmosphere.
  • Thanks for the post dirigibleman. It's good to read about people who excel and who are also good at heart. .