James Van Allen : The First Eight Billion Miles

by Foerstner, Abigail

• ISBN13: 9780877459996
• ISBN10: 0877459991
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-15
• Publisher: Univ of Iowa Pr

Summary

Astrophysicist and space pioneer James Van Allen (1914-2006), for whom the Van Allen radiation belts were named, was among the principal scientific investigators for twenty-four space missions, includingExplorer Iin 1958, the first successful U.S. satellite;Mariner 2's 1962 flyby of Venus, the first successful mission to another planer; and the 1970'sPioneer 10andPioneer 11, missions that surveyed Jupiter and Saturn. Drawing on Van Allen's correspondence and publications, years of interviews with him as well as with more than a hundred other scientists, and declassified documents from such archives as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Kennedy Space Center, and the Applied Physics Laboratory. Often called the father of space science, Van Allen led the way to mapping a new solar system based on the solar wind, massive solar storms, and cosmic rays. Foerstner's compelling biography charts the eventful life and times of this trailblazing physicist.

Author Biography

Abigail Foerstner teaches science writing and news writing in the graduate program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. As a staff reporter for the suburban sections of the Chicago Tribune, she covered science and the environment for nearly ten years. She spent seven years researching and writing James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. xv
Abbreviations and Acronyms	p. xix
Frontier Roots	p. 1
Heartland Boyhood	p. 16
The Making of a Scientist	p. 35
Physicists to the War Effort	p. 50
Enter Abigail Fithian Halsey	p. 67
The Dawn of Space Exploration	p. 75
The Mighty Little Aerobee	p. 93
It's a Rocket! It's a Balloon! It's a Rockoon!	p. 106
Sputnik and the Space Race	p. 122
Countdown to Explorer I	p. 142
Celebrity Scientist and the Birth of NASA	p. 161
Discovery of the Radiation Belts	p. 175
Space Shield for the Cold War	p. 187
Space as a Cottage Industry	p. 200
The Mariners	p. 213
Pioneers to the Outer Planets	p. 229
Space Politics	p. 248
Journey to the Edge of the Solar System	p. 265
Notes	p. 277
Selected Bibliography	p. 295
Index	p. 301
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