James Van Allen
James Alfred Van Allen (* 7. September 1914 in Mount Pleasant , Iowa ; † 9. August 2006 in Iowa City ) was a US -American astrophysicist and space pioneer. His most famous discovery was the evidence of a radiation field around the earth, which consists mainly of the solar wind and cosmic rays and was named after him as the Van Allen Belt .
Life
youth
James Van Allen was the second child of four sons of lawyer Alfred Morris Van Allen and his wife Alma, b. Olney, born in Mount Pleasant Parish (then about 3,000 people). Both parents came from the tradition of the pioneering families who were used to helping themselves, if necessary with inventions to make work easier. The young Van Allen was particularly interested in mechanical and electrical devices. He made simple electric motors, primitive detector radios and other devices. He got his inspiration for this from his favorite magazines Popular Mechanics and Popular Science .
Education
A physics professor from Iowa Wesleyan College recognized the then 18-year-old student's ability to experiment and tinker. For 35 cents an hour, Van Allen was allowed to prepare the seismic and magnetic equipment for an Antarctic expedition. The expedition was led by Admiral Richard E. Byrd and physics professor Thomas Poulter . Van Allen wanted to take part too, but his family thought he was too young. He therefore completed his physics degree, moved to the University of Iowa City and received his doctorate in 1939 ( summa cum laude ). He then worked as a research fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington until 1942. Van Allen developed photoelektrisch- and radio frequency -controlled proximity fuze ( "proximity fuze") in bombs, rockets and firearms projectiles. In this way his interest in cosmic rays was aroused. In 1942 he moved to the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University and continued the same work there.
Satellite-based space research
After the end of the war, he then headed the high-atmosphere research at Johns Hopkins University from 1946 to 1950 with the help of A4 rockets and then with the development of an Aerobee rocket, which was much smaller and cheaper than an A4. Even here, he attached great importance to the possibility of transporting payloads such as measuring instruments.
In 1951 he received a call to the University of Iowa as professor and head of the department of physics and astronomy. He and his advanced students developed the Rockoon , a rocket that floats in a balloon to a height of 10 to 15 miles, where the air pressure is low, then ignites the rocket and climbs up to 85 miles.
The first American satellite Explorer 1 discovered in 1958 - with the help of a Geiger counter - a radiation belt around the earth, consisting of particles of cosmic rays that are "captured" by the earth's magnetic field . This radiation belt is known today as the Van Allen belt .
The discovery took place in the context of the International Geophysical Year 1957/58, in which Van Allen was significantly involved.
In the same year, in response to the so-called Sputnik shock, a planning team chaired by Van Allen was set up, whose goal was to carry out a manned space flight to the moon within ten years. He later moved away from this idea again, as he now viewed manned space travel as a television event with no scientific value. Instead, he drove data collection and exploration of the solar system . His measuring instruments in the Pioneer 10 spacecraft carried out the first study of Jupiter's radiation belt in 1973 . Pioneer 11 followed with observations of the Saturn ring . Van Allen was also a member of the scientific team on the Galileo mission, which began exploring Jupiter in 1989.
Awards
- 1959: Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 1961: Member of the American Philosophical Society
- 1964: Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1977: William Bowie Medal from the American Geophysical Union
- 1978: Gold Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society
- 1987: National Medal of Science from US President Reagan
- 1989: Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- 1991: Vannevar Bush Award
- 1994: Kuiper Prize of the American Astronomical Society
"in recognition of his many contributions to the field of planetary science, both through his investigations of planetary magnetospheres and through his advocacy of planetary exploration." - The Van Allen Range , a mountain range in Antarctica, has been named after him since 2000 .
literature
- James A. Van Allen: What Is A Space Scientist? An Autobiographical Example. In: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences . Volume 18, 1990, pp. 1–26 (also online )
- James A. Van Allen (1914-2006). Obituary in: Nature . Volume 443 of September 14, 2006, p. 158
- Abigail Foerstner: James Van Allen - the first eight billion miles. Univ. of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 2007, ISBN 0-87745-999-1
Web links
- University of Iowa Van Allen Dossier
- "James A. Van Allen, Discoverer of Earth-Circling Radiation Belts, Is Dead at 91" , New York Times , August 10, 2006
- Biography at the APS
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Van Allen, James |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Van Allen, James Alfred (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astrophysicist and space pioneer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 7, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mount Pleasant , Iowa |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 9, 2006 |
| Place of death | Iowa City , Iowa |