Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

James A. Van Allen - Dies at 91

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ironically-wore-suspenders dept.

Diamonddavej writes "The New York Times reports that the respected astrophysicist, James A. Van Allen, died yesterday at the age of 91. Apparently the fellow regularly worked at his office/laboratory up until a month ago. Prof. Van Allen team designed the Geiger counter that flew aboard Americas first orbiting satellite, Explorer 1. It detected unexpectedly intense levels of radiation caused by energetic particles trapped in the Earth magnetic field, the magnetosphere. The belts of radiation were mapped and characterised by later missions and were named the Van Allen belts in honour of their discoverer."

10 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. wait a sec... by grub · · Score: 4, Funny


    ... has Netcraft confirmed this?

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  2. Good week for conspiracy theorists. by Lord+Kano · · Score: 5, Funny

    NASA looses the tapes of the moon landing and Mr. Van Allen passes away. If I remember correctly the Van Allen belts figure prominently in several anti-moon landing conspiracy theories.

    Gentlemen, let the speculation begin!

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    1. Re:Good week for conspiracy theorists. by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Funny

      The classic...

      Van Allan Belts ... God's Electric Fence

    2. Re:Good week for conspiracy theorists. by hal2814 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Conspiracies indeed. Now all the kooks will come out of the woodwork to try and convince us that man actually landed on the moon back in the 1960's. With Van Allen dead, who's to stop them from spreading that Apollo mission foolishness? Now where did I put that tinfoil hat...

  3. Wikipedia by kevin_conaway · · Score: 2, Funny

    Weird, I didn't know this but according to Wikipedia, the number of Van Allen belts has tripled in the last three months.

  4. Fantastic by User+956 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Prof. Van Allen team designed the Geiger counter that flew aboard Americas first orbiting satellite, Explorer 1. It detected unexpectedly intense levels of radiation caused by energetic particles trapped in the Earth magnetic field, the magnetosphere.

    Unfortunately for astronauts Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm, NASA hadn't thought to send up an unmanned probe first.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  5. Re:Man-Made Equivalent by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sounds more like the threat of a Bond villain than an action of the United States government.

    An increasingly difficult distinction to make...

    --
    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  6. Re:Van Allen's Rockoons by roman_mir · · Score: 2, Funny

    Poor, poor raccoons. Doing that crazy stuff, being shot up in rockets. Did they at least enjoy the orange juice?

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  7. Re:Man-Made Equivalent by StikyPad · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nah, it's simple.. the Bond villians always want the world leaders to help them reach their goals, aka multilateral cooperation.

    --
    https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
  8. Simpsons Quote by Kohath · · Score: 2, Funny

    Announcer: Astronomers from Tacoma to Vladivostok have just reported an ionic disturbance in the vicinity of the Van Allen Belt. Scientists are recommending that necessary precautions be taken.
    Homer: [scoffs] Eggheads. What do they know?

    snpp