Van Allen Day - October 9, 2004

On Saturday, October 9, 2004, The University of Iowa and the UI Alumni
Association hosted a celebration to honor Professor James Van Allen and his
many accomplishments, and in recognition of his 90th birthday. The
activities included an invited lecture series and a public lecture by Edward
Stone, former Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1991-2001).

Photos and Lecture summaries (with supporting slide images) are now posted
on The University of Iowa department of physics and astronomy web page.
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/van90/

Two of these papers and lecture were assembled from material that is being
written for a full-length book relating the story of the University of Iowa's
role in the development of the space research program during the decade of
the 1950's. The book is expected to be available in time for the celebration
of the 50th Anniversary of the Explorer I launch in January 2008.

"I had pushed in the 1990s for the UI Press to assemble thee materials for a
1998 book". I am happy it is coming to fruition - 10 years later.

gb

Van Allen is a terrific fellow. We may disagree on the value of manned
exploration, but he was generous with his time when Erika Lishock and I
were writing The First Space Race (to which he contributed a Foreword.)
I talked to someone at the Small Satellite Conference last year who had
been one of Van Allen's students and was now a professor at another
university. This fellow and his students were developing a Cubesat
with a copy of the Explorer 1 Geiger-Mueller counter and told Van Allen
they were going to repeat his 1958 experiment in honor of his 90th
birthday. Van Allen replied, "Well I hope you don't prove I was
wrong."

Matt Bille
co-author, The First Space Race