Hannes Alfvén

Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (May 30, 1908; Norrköping,

Introduction

Considered an outsider and a heretic by many of his peers, the engineer made significant contributions to plasma physics, including the aurorae, Van Allen radiation belts, the effect of magnetic storms on the Earth's magnetic field, the magnetosphere, the formation of comet tails, the formation of the solar system, and the dynamics of plasmas in our galaxy (plasma cosmology).

Related Topics:
Aurorae - Van Allen radiation belts - Magnetic storms - Earth's magnetic field - Magnetosphere - Plasma cosmology

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In 1937, when interstellar space was thought to be a vacuum and consequently unable to support an electrical current, he argued that if plasma pervaded the universe, then it could carry electric currents that could generate a galactic magnetic field. After winning his Nobel Prize for magnetohydrodynamics, it is said that he spent the rest of his life trying to convince scientists that magnetic fields were only half the story, and that electric currents played a more significant role in the universe. In 1974, his theoretical work on field-aligned electric currents in the aurora, based on earlier work by Kristian Birkeland, was confirmed by satellite, and Birkeland currents were discovered. Plasma Cosmology, a alternative theory to the Big Bang, is based on Alfvén's work.

Related Topics:
Interstellar space - Vacuum - Electrical current - Magnetohydrodynamics - Kristian Birkeland - Birkeland current - Plasma Cosmology - Big Bang

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