Academy of Achievement

James Van Allen is a podcast hosted by Academy of Achievement. It has 1 episodes, with the latest published July 1988.

James Van Allen (1914 - 2006) was a pathbreaking astrophysicist best known for his work in the development of research satellite technology and the discovery of the bands of radiation that circle the Earth. Born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, he graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College and received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the University of Iowa in 1939. He began his professional career with the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. After U.S. entry into World War II, he joined the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University where he helped develop rugged vacuum tubes and proximity fuses for the armed forces. In 1942, he joined the Navy, serving in the South Pacific , where he completed the development of the proximity fuse. After the war, he returned to Johns Hopkins University, experimenting with V-2 rockets captured from the Germans. When the Soviets launched the first manmade satellite, Sputnik, the U.S. accelerated its own space

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