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Personal: Male. Born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA. James A. Van Allen was a path breaking astrophysicist best known for his work in magnetospheric physics. Van Allen's January 1958 Explorer 1 experiment established the existence of radiation belts--later named for the scientist--that encircled the Earth, representing the opening of a broad research field. Extending outward in the direction of the Sun approximately 40,000 miles, as well as stretching out with a trail away from the Sun to approximately 370,000 miles, the magnetosphere is the area dominated by Earth's strong magnetic field. Van Allen Chronology 1 March 1949 - Rockoon concept.. Concept of launching of small high-performance rockets suspended from a balloon above most of the atmosphere (later called "Rockoons"), developed by Cmdr. Lee Lewis, Cmdr. G. Halvorson, S. F. Singer, and J. A. Van Allen during Aerobee firing cruise of U.S.S. Norton Sound. 29 July 1952 - First Rockoon launch attempt.. First Rockoon (balloon-launched rocket) launched from icebreaker Eastwind off Greenland by ONR group under James A. Van Allen. Rockoon low-cost technique was later used by ONR and University of Iowa research groups in 1953-55 and 1957, from ships in sea between Boston and Thule, Greenland. 26 January 1956 - Satellite symposium.. Symposium on "The Scientific Uses of Earth Satellites" held at the University of Michigan under sponsorship of the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel, James A. Van Allen of the State University of Iowa, Chairman. 1 April 1957 - Van Allen heads research panel.. Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel was renamed the Rocket and Satellite Research Panel. Its chairman was James A. Van Allen of the State university of Iowa. 17 July 1962 - Nuclear blasts to clear inner radiation belts for Apollo. In an address to the American Rocket Society lunar missions meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, James A. Van Allen, Chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of Iowa, said that protons of the inner radiation belt could be a serious hazard for extended manned space flight and that nuclear detonations might be able to clean out these inner belt protons, perhaps for a prolonged period, making possible manned orbits about 300 miles above the earth. Bibliography:
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