Research topic: James Alfred Van Allen

James Alfred Van Allen 1914-2006, American physicist and space scientist, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. A graduate (Ph.D 1939) of and professor of physics (1951-85) at what is now the Univ. of Iowa, where he was an influential teacher, Van Allen discovered what are now known as the Van Allen radiation belts , regions of intense radiation surrounding the earth in space. The belts were first identified by instruments Van Allen prepared that were launched in U.S. Explorer and Pioneer satellites (1958). During his long, productive career, Van Allen helped develop (1940-42) a proximity fuse for antiaircraft... Read more