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James Van Allen

James Van AllenAKA James Alfred Van Allen

Born: 7-Sep-1914
Birthplace: Mount Pleasant, IA
Died: 9-Aug-2006
Location of death: Iowa City, IA
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Astronomer

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Discovered the Van Allen Belt

Military service: US Navy (WWII)

Father: Alfred Morris Van Allen (lawyer)
Mother: Alma Olney (teacher)
Brother: George (older, d. 1968)
Brother: Maurice (d. 1986)
Brother: William (d. 1971)
Wife: Abigail Fithian Halsey (m. 13-Oct-1945)
Daughter: Cynthia Van Allen Schaffner
Daughter: Margot Van Alen Cairns
Daughter: Sarah Van Allen Trimble
Son: Thomas Van Allen
Son: Peter Van Allen

    High School: Mount Pleasant High School, Mount Pleasant, IA (1931)
    University: BS, Iowa Wesleyan College (1935)
    University: MS Physics, University of Iowa (1936)
    University: PhD Nuclear Physics, University of Iowa (1939)
    Scholar: Johns Hopkins University
    Scholar: Princeton University (1953-54)
    Professor: University of Iowa (1951-85)

    Smithsonian Institution Regents' Fellow (1981)
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    American Astronautical Society Fellow
    American Astronomical Society
    American Geophysical Union President (1964-68)
    American Philosophical Society 1961
    American Physical Society
    Carnegie Institution for Science Research Fellow (1939-41)
    National Academy of Sciences 1959
    National Space Society Board of Governors
    Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society
    Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
    Cosmos Club Award 1990
    Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal 1978 (with Lyman Spitzer, Jr.)
    National Medal of Science 1987
    Vannevar Bush Award 1991
    Risk Factors: Smoking

Appears on the cover of:
Time, 4-May-1959, DETAILS: Space and the Radiation Belt


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