Hannes Alfvén
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (life fellow)
- European Physical Society
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Yugoslav Academy of Sciences
- Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
- International Academy of Science
Alfvén was one of the few scientists who was a foreign member of both the United States and Soviet Academies of Sciences.
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Research
Alfvén played a central role in the development of:
- Plasma physics
- Charged particle beams
- Interplanetary physics
- Magnetospheric physics
- Magnetohydrodynamics
- Solar phenomena investigation (such as the solar wind)
- Aurorae science
In 1939, Alfvén proposed the theory of magnetic storms and auroras and the theory of plasma dynamics in the earth's magnetosphere.
Applications of Alfvén's research in space science include:
- Van Allen radiation belt theory
- Reduction of the Earth's magnetic field during magnetic storms
- Magnetosphere (protective plasma covering the earth)
- Formation of comet tails
- Formation of the solar system
- Dynamics of plasmas in the galaxy
- Fundamental nature of the universe
Alfvén's views followed those of the founder of magnetospheric physics, Kristian Birkeland. At the end of the nineteenth century, Birkeland proposed (backed by extensive data) that electric currents flowing down along the earth's magnetic fields into the atmosphere caused the aurora and polar magnetic disturbances.
Areas of technology benefiting from Alfvén's contributions include:
- Particle beam accelerators
- Controlled thermonuclear fusion
- Hypersonic flight
- Rocket propulsion
- Reentry braking of space vehicles
Contributions to astrophysics:
- Galactic magnetic field (1937)
- Identified nonthermal synchrotron radiation from astronomical sources (1950)
Alfvén waves (low frequency hydromagnetic plasma oscillations) are named in his honor. Many of his theories about the solar system were verified as late as the 1980s through external measurements of cometary and planetary magnetospheres. But Alfvén himself noted that astrophysical textbooks poorly represented known plasma phenomena:
A study of how a number of the most used textbooks in astrophysics treat important concepts such as double layers, critical velocity, pinch effects, and circuits is made. It is found that students using these textbooks remain essentially ignorant of even the existence of these concepts, despite the fact that some of them have been well known for half a century (e.g, double layers, Langmuir, 1929; pinch effect, Bennet, 1934).[6]
Alfvén reported that of 17 of the most used textbooks on astrophysics, none mention the pinch effect, none mentioned critical ionization velocity, only two mentioned circuits, and three mentioned double layers.
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Alfvén's cosmological model
Alfvén believed the problem with the Big Bang was that astrophysicists tried to extrapolate the origin of the universe from mathematical theories developed on the blackboard, rather than starting from known observable phenomena. He also considered the Big Bang to be a scientific myth devised to explain creation.[7]
Alfvén and colleagues proposed the Alfvén-Klein model as an alternative cosmological theory to both the Big Bang and steady state theory cosmologies.
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Later years
In 1991, Alfvén retired as professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, San Diego and professor of plasma physics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Alfvén spent his adult life alternating between California and Sweden. He died at the age of 86.
The asteroid 1778 Alfvén was named in his honour.
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Personal life
Alfvén had a good sense of humor and he participated in a variety of social issues and worldwide disarmament movements. He had a long-standing distrust of computers. Alfvén studied the history of science and oriental philosophy and religion. He spoke Swedish, English, German, French, and Russian, and some Spanish and Chinese.
Alfvén was married for 67 years to his wife Kirsten. They raised five children, one boy and four girls. His son became a physician, while one daughter became a writer and another a lawyer in Sweden. The composer Hugo Alfvén was Hannes Alfvén's uncle.
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Bibliography
- Cosmical Electrodynamics, International Series of Monographs on Physics, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950. (See also 2nd Ed. 1963, co-authored with Carl-Gunne Fälthammar)
- Worlds-Antiworlds: Antimatter in Cosmology (1966)
- The Great Computer: A Vision (1968) (a political-scientific satire under the pen name Olof Johannesson; publ. Gollancz, ISBN 05750-0059-7)
- Atom, Man, and the Universe: A Long Chain of Complications (1969)
- Living on the Third Planet (1972).
- Cosmic Plasma, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Vol. 82 (1981) Springer Verlag. ISBN 90-277-1151-8
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References
- ^ Hannes Alfvén, 1937 "Cosmic Radiation as an Intra-galactic Phenomenon", Ark. f. mat., astr. o. fys. 25B, no. 29.
- ^ Hannes Alfvén, "Cosmology in the Plasma Universe: An Introductory Exposition" (1990) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. 18, Feb. 1990, p. 5-10
- ^ David J. Miller, Michel Hersen, Research Fraud in the Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences 1992. They describe the "renegade Nobel Prize winner physicist Hannes Alfvén"
- ^ RH Stuewer, Book Reviews (2006) Physics in Perspective Volume 8, No 1, March 2006, pp.104-112 Springer.
- ^ Hannes Alfvén, "Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist", American Scientist, May-June 1988, pp.249-251. Quoted in Joseph Paul Martino, Science Funding: Politics and Porkbarrel 1992, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 1-56000-03303
- ^ Hannes Alfvén, "Double layers and circuits in astrophysics" (1986) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. PS-14, Dec. 1986, p. 779-793.
- ^ Hannes Alfvén, Cosmology—Myth or Science? J Astrophysics and Astronomy, vol. 5, pp. 79-98, (1984).
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External links
- Hannes Alfvén at the Nobel Foundation, inc. Biography, Nobel lecture and Banquet speech
- Hannes Alfvén biography (Los Alamos)
- Hannes Alfvén biography (Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden)
- Hannes Alfvén Biographical Memoirs (Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society)
- Papers of Hannes Olof Gosta Alfvén
- Hannes Alfvén Medal - awarded for outstanding scientific contributions towards the understanding of plasma processes in the solar system and other cosmical plasma environments
- Timeline of Nobel Prize Winners: Hannes Olof Gosta Alfvén
- Hannes Alfvén Papers (1945 - 1991) in the Mandeville Special Collections Library.
- Weisstein, Eric W., Alfvén, Hannes (1908-1995) at ScienceWorld.
- QJRAS Obituary 37 (1996) 259
- On the cosmogony of the solar system I (1942) | Part II | Part III
- Interplanetary Magnetic Field (1958)
- On the Origin of Cosmic Magnetic Fields (1961)
- On the Filamentary Structure of the Solar Corona (1963)
- Currents in the Solar Atmosphere and a Theory of Solar Flares (1967)
- On the Importance of Electric Fields in the Magnetosphere and Interplanetary Space (1967)
- Jet Streams in Space (1970)
- Evolution of the Solar System (1976) with Gustaf Arrhenius (NASA book)
- Double radio sources and the new approach to cosmical plasma physics (1978) (PDF)
- Interstellar clouds and the formation of stars with Per Carlqvist (1978) (PDF)
- Energy source of the solar wind with Per Carlqvist (1980) (PDF) A direct transfer of energy from photospheric activity to the solar wind by means of electric currents is discussed.
- Electromagnetic Effects and the Structure of the Saturnian Rings (1981) (PDF)
- A three-ring circuit model of the magnetosphere with Whipple, E. C. and Jr.; McIlwain (1981) (PDF)
- The Voyager 1/Saturn encounter and the cosmogonic shadow effect (1981) (PDF)
- Origin, evolution and present structure of the asteroid region (1983) (PDF)
- On hierarchical cosmology (1983) (PDF) Progress in lab studies of plasmas and on their methods of transferring the results to cosmic conditions.
- Solar system history as recorded in the Saturnian ring structure (1983) (PDF)
- Cosmology - Myth or science? (1984) (PDF)
- Cosmogony as an extrapolation of magnetospheric research (1984) (PDF)
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