Physicist James Van Allen dies

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Date: August 9, 2006 10:37:56 PM EDT
To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior () attrition org>
Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Physicist James Van Allen dies

Physicist James Van Allen dies
Wed Aug 9, 2006 4:27 PM ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx? 
type=scienceNews&storyID=2006
-08-09T202704Z_01_N09303362_RTRUKOC_0_US- 
VANALLEN.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C3-s
cienceNews-3

CHICAGO (Reuters) - American physicist James Van Allen, who helped  
propel
the United States into the space race and discovered the bands of  
radiation
that surround the Earth that were later named for him, died on  
Wednesday,
the University of Iowa said.

Van Allen, a longtime professor at the university, died from undisclosed
causes. He was 91.

He designed numerous instruments carried aboard U.S. space probes  
beginning
with the instrumentation and Geiger counters aboard Explorer 1. The
satellite went into Earth orbit January 31, 1958 -- four months after  
the
Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik I triggered unease about America's
scientific prowess.

The Explorer mission led to the discovery of a doughnut-shaped region of
charged-particle radiation encircling the Earth, now called the Van  
Allen
belts.

Long a critic of manned space flight, Van Allen called himself "a  
member of
the loyal opposition" in favoring using less expensive remote-controlled
spacecraft rather than astronauts to explore space.

Born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1914, Van Allen's early scientific
achievements included using rockets carried aloft by balloons to  
discover
electrons in the atmosphere believed to generate the Aurora Borealis, or
Northern Lights.

He would later place experiments aboard and monitor the progress of  
several
of the Mariner, Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini spacecraft.

"James Van Allen was one of the university's most influential and
best-regarded scholars of all time. Yet he remained the most  
unassuming and
caring man. We will all miss him deeply," University of Iowa Provost  
Michael
Hogan said.

He is survived by his wife, five children, and seven grandchildren.

© Reuters 2006.




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