James Van Allen : the first eight billion miles / Abigail Foerstner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Foerstner, Abigail, 1949-

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Van Allen, James A. (James Alfred), 1914-2006.

Van Allen, James A.

Astrophysicists--Iowa--Biography.

Astrophysicists.

Iowa.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xx, 322 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2007]

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, including "Explorer I "in 1958, the first successful U.S. satellite; "Mariner 2"'s 1962 flyby of Venus, the first successful mission to another planet; and the 1970's "Pioneer 10" and "Pioneer 11," missions that surveyed Jupiter and Saturn. Abigail Foerstner blends space science, drama, military agenda's, cold war politics, and the events of Van Allen's lengthy career to create the first biography of this highly influential physicist.

Contents:

Frontier roots

Heartland boyhood

The making of a scientist

Physicists to the war effort

Enter Abigail Fithian Halsey

The dawn of space exploration

The mighty little aerobee

It's a rocket! It's a balloon! It's a rockoon!

Sputnik and the space race

Countdown to explorer I

Celebrity scientist and the birth of NASA

Discovery of the radiation belts

Space shield for the Cold War

Space as a cottage industry

The mariners

Pioneers to the outer planets

Space politics

Journey to the edge of the solar system.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [295]-306) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780877459996

0877459991

OCLC:

85783398

Online:

Publisher description

Contributor biographical information