James van allen

Van Allen belts.

James Alfred Van Allen (September 7, 1914, Mount Pleasant, Iowa – August 9, 2006, Iowa City, Iowa) was an American physicist. Professor and director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Iowa since 1951, he carried out research on nuclear physics, cosmic rays and atmospheric physics.

He discovered the existence of two high-energy radiation zones that circle the Earth, called the Van Allen belts in his honor, whose origin is probably found in the interactions of the solar wind and cosmic rays with the constituent atoms of the atmosphere.

Van Allen (medium) celebrating the Explorer satellite.

He also collaborated in the design of the first American artificial satellites (Explorer) and participated in the planetary research programs associated with the NASA Apollo, Mariner and Pioneer missions. Among other awards he received the Hickman Medal of the American Rocket Society and the Washington Academy of Sciences Award. He also received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1978 and the Crafoord Prize in 1989 for his astrophysics work.

He died at the University Hospital in Iowa (United States) on August 9, 2006, at the age of almost 92, after suffering heart failure.