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42-472: James Alfred Van Allen (September 7, 1914 – August 9, 2006) was an American space physicist at the University of Iowa . He was instrumental in establishing the field of magnetospheric research in space. The Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following his discovery using Geiger–Müller tube instruments on the 1958 satellites ( Explorer 1 , Explorer 3 , and Pioneer 3 ) during

84-588: A Tesla coil that produced foot-long sparks and caused his hair to stand on end. A fellowship allowed him to continue studying nuclear physics at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., where he also became immersed in research in geomagnetism , cosmic rays , auroral physics and the physics of Earth's upper atmosphere. In August 1939, Van Allen joined the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) of

126-575: A cake and punch reception, and an evening banquet with many of his former colleagues and students in attendance. In August 2005, an elementary school bearing his name opened in North Liberty, Iowa . There is also a Van Allen elementary school in Escalon, CA. In 2009, Van Allen's boyhood home in Mt. Pleasant, once maintained as a museum, was slated to be demolished. The new owner, Lee Pennebaker, chose not to demolish

168-461: A detailed study of the declination near London by watchmaker George Graham resulted in the discovery of irregular magnetic fluctuations that we now call magnetic storms, so named by Alexander Von Humboldt . Gauss and William Weber made very careful measurements of Earth's magnetic field which showed systematic variations and random fluctuations. This suggested that the Earth was not an isolated body, but

210-462: A height around 110 km. Geiger counters on board the second Soviet satellite, Sputnik 2 , and the first US satellite, Explorer 1 , detected the Earth's radiation belts, later named the Van Allen belts . The boundary between the Earth's magnetic field and interplanetary space was studied by Explorer 10 . Future space craft would travel outside Earth orbit and study the composition and structure of

252-428: A map of the "isochasms" or lines of constant magnetic field. In the late 1870s, Henri Becquerel offered the first physical explanation for the statistical correlations that had been recorded: sunspots must be a source of fast protons. They are guided to the poles by the Earth's magnetic field. In the early twentieth century, these ideas led Kristian Birkeland to build a terrella , or laboratory device which simulates

294-644: A measure against orbital debris. The Van Allen Probes significantly advanced the understanding of space weather and its impact on Earth. Key discoveries included the dynamics of the Van Allen radiation belts and the role of solar activity in influencing space weather. The mission's findings highlighted how these radiation belts swell and shrink over time, responding to solar eruptions and impacting terrestrial phenomena like auroras, satellite functionality, power grids, and GPS communications. A notable discovery in February 2013

336-480: A pedigreed bull session,’ he says.... The talk turned to geophysics and the two ‘ International Polar Years ’ that had enlisted the world’s leading nations to study the Arctic and Antarctic regions in 1882 and 1932. Someone suggested that with the development of new tools such as rockets, radar and computers, the time was ripe for a worldwide geophysical year. The other men were enthusiastic, and their enthusiasm spread around

378-558: A private discussion about the Redstone project with Ernst Stuhlinger , Wernher von Braun expressed his belief that they should have a "real, honest-to-goodness scientist" involved in their little unofficial satellite project. Stuhlinger followed up with a visit to Van Allen at his home in Princeton, New Jersey , where Van Allen was on sabbatical leave from Iowa to work on stellarator design. Van Allen later recounted, "Stuhlinger’s 1954 message

420-461: Is studied using direct in situ measurements by sounding rockets and spacecraft, indirect remote sensing of electromagnetic radiation produced by the plasmas, and theoretical magnetohydrodynamics . Closely related fields include plasma physics , which studies more fundamental physics and artificial plasmas; atmospheric physics , which investigates lower levels of Earth's atmosphere; and astrophysical plasmas , which are natural plasmas beyond

462-606: The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University, the mission was a part of the Living With a Star program. Designed for a two-year primary mission, the probes exceeded expectations by operating for seven years, demonstrating significant resilience against radiation in Earth's belts. In collaboration with the Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL), the probes studied particles from

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504-588: The Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. as a Carnegie Research Fellow. In the summer of 1940, he joined DTM's national defense efforts with his appointment to a staff position in Section T with the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) in Washington, D.C., where he worked on the development of photoelectric and radio proximity fuzes , which are detonators that increase the effectiveness of anti-aircraft fire. Another NDRC project later became

546-501: The International Geophysical Year . Van Allen led the scientific community in putting scientific research instruments on space satellites. James Van Allen was born on September 7, 1914, on a small farm near Mount Pleasant, Iowa . As a child, he was fascinated by mechanical and electrical devices and was an avid reader of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines. He once horrified his mother by constructing

588-728: The Rockoon on March 1, 1949, during the Aerobee rocket firing cruise on the research vessel USS Norton Sound . On April 5, 1950, Van Allen left the Applied Physics Laboratory, to accept a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation research fellowship at the Brookhaven National Laboratory . The following year (1951) Van Allen accepted the position as head of the physics department at the University of Iowa. Before long, he

630-599: The V-2 Panel , was formed in 1946 to oversee experiments conducted using V-2 rockets brought to the United States after World War II . The experiments studied the upper atmosphere , solar radiation and X-ray astronomy , as well as the technology of the V-2 rocket . An organizing meeting was held at Princeton University 27 Feb 1946. The original committee members were: This space - or spaceflight -related article

672-406: The Earth's magnetic field in a vacuum chamber, and which uses a cathode ray tube to simulate the energetic particles which compose the solar wind. A theory began to be formulated about the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. Space physics began in earnest with the first in situ measurements in the early 1950s, when a team led by Van Allen launched the first rockets to

714-762: The Germans at the end of World War II . Van Allen decided a small sounding rocket was needed for upper atmosphere research. The Aerojet WAC Corporal and the Bumblebee missile were developed under a US Navy program. He drew specifications for the Aerobee sounding rocket and headed the committee that convinced the U.S. government to produce it. The first instrument-carrying Aerobee was the A-5, launched on March 5, 1948, from White Sands, New Mexico , carrying instruments for cosmic radiation research, reaching an altitude of 117.5 km. Van Allen

756-477: The International Geophysical Year. Through "preparedness and good fortune," as he later wrote, those scientific instruments were available for incorporation in the 1958 Explorer and Pioneer IGY launches. The May 4, 1959, issue of Time magazine credited James Van Allen as the man most responsible for giving the U.S. "a big lead in scientific achievement." They called Van Allen "a key figure in

798-559: The Pacific, Van Allen was awarded four battle stars . He was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1946. "My service as a naval officer was, far and away, the most broadening experience of my lifetime," he wrote in a 1990 autobiographical essay. Discharged from the Navy in 1946, Van Allen returned to civilian research at APL. He organized and directed a team at Johns Hopkins University to conduct high-altitude experiments, using V-2 rockets captured from

840-668: The Solar System. Space physics can be traced to the Chinese who discovered the principle of the compass , but did not understand how it worked. During the 16th century, in De Magnete , William Gilbert gave the first description of the Earth's magnetic field , showing that the Earth itself is a great magnet, which explained why a compass needle points north. Deviations of the compass needle magnetic declination were recorded on navigation charts, and

882-506: The U.S. announced Project Vanguard as part of the US contribution to the International Geophysical Year . Vanguard planned to launch an artificial satellite into an orbit around the Earth. It was to be run by the US Navy and developed from sounding rockets , which had the advantage of being primarily used for non-military scientific experiments. A symposium on "The Scientific Uses of Earth Satellites"

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924-520: The Van Allen Probes data over the two-year mission. Space physics Space physics is both a pure science and an applied science , with applications in radio transmission , spacecraft operations (particularly communications and weather satellites ), and in meteorology . Important physical processes in space physics include magnetic reconnection , synchrotron radiation , ring currents , Alfvén waves and plasma instabilities . It

966-511: The atomic bomb Manhattan Project in 1941. With the outbreak of World War II, the proximity fuze work was transferred to the newly created Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of Johns Hopkins University in April 1942. He worked on improving the ruggedness of vacuum tubes subject to the vibration from a gun battery. The work at APL resulted in a new generation of radio-proximity fuses for anti-aircraft defense of ships and for shore bombardment. Van Allen

1008-504: The belts reaching Earth's atmosphere. Launched on August 30, 2012, aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket contracted to United Launch Alliance (ULA), the mission was initially delayed due to weather and Hurricane Isaac . The mission concluded with the deactivation of Van Allen Probe B in July 2019 and Probe A in October 2019, following the lowering of their orbits to facilitate atmospheric reentry by 2034 as

1050-651: The clockwork supposed to ignite the rockets, Van Allen heated cans of orange juice, smuggled them into the third Rockoon’s gondola, and wrapped the whole business in insulation. The rocket fired." In 1953, the Rockoons and their science payloads fired off Newfoundland detected the first hint of radiation belts surrounding Earth. The low-cost Rockoon technique was later used by the Office of Naval Research and The University of Iowa research groups in 1953–1955 and 1957, from ships at sea between Boston and Thule, Greenland . In 1954, in

1092-511: The cold war’s competition for prestige. .... Today he can tip back his head and look at the sky. Beyond its outermost blue are the world-encompassing belts of fierce radiation that bear his name. No human name has ever been given to a more majestic feature of the planet Earth." James Van Allen, his colleagues, associates and students at The University of Iowa continued to fly scientific instruments on sounding rockets, Earth satellites ( Explorer 52 / Hawkeye 1 ), and interplanetary spacecraft including

1134-797: The enhancement of the ring current was shown to be due to low-energy protons entering the near-Earth region, challenging previous understandings. Eighty years after the Second Byrd Expedition, the Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL), a NASA mission began to study Earth's Van Allen radiation belts at the Antarctic (South Pole) managed by Dartmouth College . BARREL launched 20 balloons from Antarctica during each of two balloon campaigns in January–February 2013 and December 2013 – February 2014. This scientific data will complement

1176-521: The first missions ( Pioneer program , Mariner program , Voyager program , Galileo spacecraft ) to the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Their discoveries contributed important segments to the world's knowledge of energetic particles, plasmas and radio waves throughout the Solar System . Van Allen was the principal investigator for scientific investigations on 24 Earth satellites and planetary missions. Van Allen stepped down as

1218-537: The head of the department of physics and astronomy in 1985, but continued working at the University of Iowa as the Carver Professor of Physics, emeritus. On October 9, 2004, the University of Iowa and the UI Alumni Association hosted a celebration to honor Van Allen and his many accomplishments, and in recognition of his 90th birthday. Activities included an invited lecture series, a public lecture followed by

1260-1021: The home. It was donated to the Henry County Heritage Trust, which plans to move the house next to the old Saunders School which will be the home of the Henry County museum. Van Allen's wife of 61 years was Abigail Fithian Halsey II of Cincinnati (1922–2008). They met at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) during World War II. They were married October 13, 1945, in Southampton, Long Island. Their five children are Cynthia, Margot, Sarah, Thomas, and Peter. On August 9, 2006, James Van Allen died at University Hospitals in Iowa City from heart failure . Professor Van Allen and his wife Abigail are buried in Southampton, New York, where Mrs. Van Allen

1302-483: The solar wind in much greater detail. These include WIND (spacecraft) , (1994), Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), Ulysses , the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) in 2008, and Parker Solar Probe . Other spacecraft would study the sun, such as STEREO and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Upper Atmosphere Research Panel The Upper Atmosphere Research Panel , also known as

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1344-408: The spent rockets would strike an Iowan or his house." So Van Allen convinced the U.S. Coast Guard to let him fire his Rockoons from the icebreaker Eastwind that was bound for Greenland . "The first balloon rose properly to 70,000 ft., but the rocket hanging under it did not fire. The second Rockoon behaved in the same maddening way. On the theory that extreme cold at high altitude might have stopped

1386-655: The world from Washington DC. From this meeting Lloyd Berkner and other participants proposed to the International Council of Scientific Unions that an IGY be planned for 1957–58 (during the maximum solar activity).... The International Geophysical Year (1957–58) stimulated the U.S. Government to promise earth satellites as geophysical tools. The Soviet government countered by rushing its Sputniks into orbit. The race into space or Space Race may be said to have started in Van Allen’s living room that evening in 1950. In 1955,

1428-469: Was born and the couple were married. Abigail M. Foerstner wrote a biography James van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles , published by University of Iowa Press in 2007 with a paperback edition in 2009. The Van Allen Probes, initially the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), were renamed in 2012 in honor of Dr. Van Allen. Managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and implemented by

1470-593: Was commissioned as a U.S. Navy lieutenant in November 1942 and served for 16 months on a succession of South Pacific Fleet destroyers, instructing gunnery officers and conducting tests on his artillery fuses. He was an assistant staff gunnery officer on the battleship USS Washington when the ship successfully defended itself against a Japanese attack during the Battle of the Philippine Sea , (June 19–20, 1944). For his actions at

1512-475: Was elected chairman of the V-2 Upper Atmosphere Panel on December 29, 1947. The panel was renamed Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel on March 18, 1948; then Rocket and Satellite Research Panel on April 29, 1948. The panel suspended operations on May 19, 1960, and had a reunion on February 2, 1968. Cmdr. Lee Lewis, Cmdr. G. Halvorson, S.F. Singer , and James A. Van Allen developed the idea for

1554-581: Was enlisting students in his efforts to discover the secrets of the wild blue yonder and inventing ways to carry instruments higher into the atmosphere than ever before. By 1952, Van Allen was the first to devise a balloon-rocket combination that lifted rockets on balloons high above most of the Earth's atmosphere before firing them even higher. The rockets were ignited after the balloons reached an altitude of 16 kilometers. As Time magazine later reported, "Van Allen’s ‘ Rockoons ’ could not be fired in Iowa for fear that

1596-600: Was held on January 26 and 27, 1956 at the University of Michigan under sponsorship of the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel, chaired by Dr. Van Allen. 33 scientific proposals were presented for inclusion in the IGY satellites. Van Allen's presentation highlighted the use of satellites for continuing cosmic-ray investigations. At this same time his Iowa Group began preparations for scientific research instruments to be carried by ' Rockoons ' and Vanguard for

1638-472: Was influenced by external forces – especially from the Sun and the appearance of sunspots . A relationship between individual aurora and accompanying geomagnetic disturbances was noticed by Anders Celsius and Olof Peter Hiorter in 1747. In 1860, Elias Loomis (1811–1889) showed that the highest incidence of aurora is seen inside an oval of 20 - 25 degrees around the magnetic pole. In 1881, Hermann Fritz published

1680-435: Was simple and eloquent. By virtue of ballistic missile developments at Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) , it was realistic to expect that within a year or two a small scientific satellite could be propelled into a durable orbit around the earth ( Project Orbiter ).... I expressed a keen interest in performing a worldwide survey of the cosmic-ray intensity above the atmosphere." In 1950 an event occurred that began small but

1722-428: Was the transient appearance of a third Van Allen Radiation Belt, which lasted a few weeks and provided new insights into the belts' structure and dynamics. The probes also revealed the long-term behavior of Earth's ring current, a major component of the magnetosphere. Findings indicated a persistent, substantial ring current around Earth even during non-storm times, carried by high-energy protons. During geomagnetic storms,

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1764-413: Was to affect the future of Van Allen and all his countrymen. In March, British Physicist Sydney Chapman dropped in on Van Allen [and] remarked that he would like to meet other scientists in the Washington area. Van Allen got on the phone, soon gathered eight or ten top scientists ( Lloyd Berkner , S. Fred Singer , and Harry Vestine ) in the living room of his small brick house. ‘It was what you might call

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