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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Foerstner, Abigail, 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Astrophysicists--Iowa--Biography.

Astrophysicists.

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

Van Allen, James A.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (377 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

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 highl

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:

Description based upon print version of record.

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

ISBN:

9781587297205

1587297205

OCLC:

294903795