James Van Allen (nonfiction)

James Alfred Van Allen at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. January 1977.

James Alfred Van Allen (September 7, 1914 – August 9, 2006) was an American space scientist 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 their discovery by his Geiger–Müller tube instruments on the 1958 satellites: (Explorer 1, Explorer 3, and Pioneer 3) during the International Geophysical Year.

Van Allen led the scientific community for the inclusion of scientific research instruments on space satellites.

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links:

• James Van Allen @ Wikipedia