Interview of James A. Van Allen by Brian Shoemaker

• Main Author: Van Allen, James A. (James Alfred), 1914-2006
• Other Authors: Shoemaker, Brian
• Format: Audio
• Language: English
• Published: Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program 2008
• Subjects: Antarctica > Discovery and exploration > Interviews; Arctic exploration > Interviews; Artificial satellites > Optical observations > Interviews; Artificial satellites > Radio observations > Interviews; Polar expeditions > Interviews; United States. Navy > Weapons systems > Interviews; Van Allen; James A. (James Alfred); 1914-2006 > Interviews; International Geophysical Year (IGY) (1957-1958); Arctic; Byrd; Von Braun; Willis; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1811/33918

Aerobee, Navy rocket used in high altitude research, p. 15 Berkner, Lloyd, pp. 17-25 Byrd, Admiral Richard, pp. 6-7, 45-46 Chapman, Sydney, 17-23 Gore, Albert, Vice President, p. 27 Joyce, Wallace, p. 17 Kaplan, Joseph, 24-25 Kent, Bob, Army Ordinance Department, pp. 15-16 Lee, Willis A., Admiral, pp. 11-13 Liddell, Urner, pp. 35-36 Ludwig, George, p. 32 Parsons, W. S. (Deke), Rear Admiral, p. 11 Pickering, Bill, p. 24 Pomerantz, Martin, pp. 36-38 Porter, Richard, p. 24 Poulter, Thomas C., Prof. of Physics, pp. 2-7, 25 Singer, Fred, pp. 18 Turner, Harold A., Colonel, pp. 15-16 Vestive, E. H. “Harry”, pp. 18 Von Braun, Wernher, p .32 The media can be accessed here: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/James_VanAllen.mp3 Dr. Van Allen is a distinguished physicist and a leading researcher on interplanetary satellites. He is known for helping to organize the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58. As a young student at Iowa Wesleyan University in 1931, Van Allen developed a strong interest in physics under the guidance of Thomas Poulter. Poulter was the chief scientist and second in command for the Second Byrd Expedition to Antarctica in 1933. As an undergraduate, Van Allen learned to make observations of the magnetic field of the Earth using a magnetometer, and was introduced to the science of geophysics, his lifelong passion. He also did original scientific work on the Perseid meteor shower of August 1932. After graduating from the University of Iowa in 1939 with a Ph.D. in nuclear physics, he joined the Carnegie Institution as a Research Fellow, where he helped develop a radio proximity fuse for use in naval long-range anti-aircraft guns. He developed one of the basic features of the vacuum tube that was the heart of the fuse. In November 1942, he and two co-workers were commissioned as naval officers to go out to the fleet and accompany an initial shipment of these proximity fused projectiles. His personal responsibility was for the destroyers. Van Allen discovered that the success ...