Initiating the Iowa cosmic ray program

Professor James A. Van Allen served as the instigator and leader of the cosmic ray research program at the University of Iowa.

James A. Van Allen

James Alfred Van Allen (“Van” or “Jim” to his friends) was born and grew up in the small midwestern town of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The second of four sons of Alfred Morris and Alma Olney Van Allen, he credits C. A. Cottrell, a science teacher at Mount Pleasant High School, with awakening the enthusiasm for science that suffused his entire adult life.

Upon high school graduation in June 1931 as his class valedictorian, he immediately entered Mount Pleasant’s Iowa Wesleyan College, graduating there summa cum laude in June 1935. As a Wesleyan student, he learned of the excitement of hands-on research through his association with his highly esteemed physics professor, Thomas C. Poulter. For his graduate studies, Van Allen went to his “family university,” the University of Iowa, where he received his M. S. degree in 1936 and his physics Ph. D. in June 1939.

Van Allen’s first postgraduation job was as a Research Fellow at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in Washington, D. C. That work focused on laboratory nuclear physics but also piqued a growing interest in geophysics that would become his life’s focus. As WWII was intensifying in Europe in 1939, his group switched to development of the then-evolving proximity fuse. Among other tasks, Van Allen oversaw the development of special very rugged miniature vacuum tubes that made such devices feasible (and that later facilitated postwar rocket research). Development of the fuse progressed rapidly, and his group set up the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University in mid-1942 to facilitate that work. In late 1942, he was commissioned by the navy to help in deploying the new, highly secret devices into action in the South Pacific and in evaluating their performance.

After the war, Van Allen returned to the APL, where he set up and headed its High Altitude Research Group from then until late 1950. During that period, his group conducted a highly successful research program that included studies of the primary cosmic rays, the solar ultraviolet spectrum, the geomagnetic field in the ionosphere, and the altitude distribution of ozone in the upper atmosphere. In addition to managing the activities of his group, he conducted a vigorous research program of his own. From 1947 on, his record of published papers reflects his growing involvement in cosmic ray research. His studies included the use of the V-2 rockets that were brought to the United States following the war. The first three live firings of the V-2s carried his cosmic radiation instruments, and by the end of the V-2 program, his APL group served as the principal instrumenting agency for 12 of the 63 V-2s that were launched. All 12 of those carried cosmic ray instruments from his laboratory, in addition to instruments to study the other phenomena mentioned above.

As already mentioned, Van Allen was instrumental in the development of the Aerobee high-altitude research rocket. This started with his leading a study of U. S. efforts that might have resulted in new rockets suitable for high-altitude research. His APL work, combined with a similar interest at the NRL, led to a rocket development proposal from the Aerojet Engineering Corporation, a company spawned by the West Coast’s JPL. That resulted in contracts in early 1947 with Aerojet and the Douglas Aircraft Company. Van Allen provided the technical supervision, serving as the agent of the Navy’s Bureau of Ordinance, which provided the financial support for the work.

Thus, by the end of 1950, Van Allen had already established a reputation as a highly skilled researcher and manager. By his direct involvement in the miniaturization and ruggedization efforts involved in producing the proximity fuse and the early rocket instruments, he was a leading instrumentation expert. His publication list from 1947 through 1950 includes eight

OPENING SPACE RESEARCH

papers dealing with technical aspects of rocketry and instrumentation. Fourteen of his papers deal with results from the cosmic ray research. In addition to his personal research, he had provided strong overall leadership in establishing a vigorous research program in the United States. He was poised to play a key role in the development of space research as the second half of the twentieth century opened.

Van Allen and the Iowa Physics Department came together by a wonderfully fortuitous set of circumstances. By 1950, he was at a point in his career where a change of scene seemed desirable. The leadership at the APL seemed to him to be shifting its focus away from pure science research toward research more directly related to defense. At just that time, a vacancy occurred in Van Allen’s alma mater, the University of Iowa’s Department of Physics. Van Allen was offered the position as department head with the rank of full professor, and he arrived on the scene on the first day in January 1951.

His primary research aspiration was to extend his earlier observations of primary cosmic rays to above the substantial atmosphere and to conduct them over a wider range in latitude. He was especially interested in establishing that type of research in a teaching university’s academic environment.

Van Allen remained at the university throughout the rest of his professional career, during which time he and his progression of outstanding students sent instruments to the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond. During this distinguished career, he served as principal investigator on more than 25 space science missions.

Van Allen especially enjoyed his role as a teacher, both in the classroom and the laboratory. He always treated his students with great respect, learning from them and guiding them with wisdom and kindness.

James Van Allen died on 9 August 2006 at the age of 91 of heart failure after a 10- week period of declining health. He remained actively involved in his research until his last few days.

When Van Allen arrived in Iowa City in 1951, no cosmic ray research program existed there. But the nuclear physics research program in which he had participated for his graduate studies in the late 1930s was still active. The department had a modest electronics laboratory and a small but excellent machine shop.

One of Van Allen’s first actions was to obtain a grant from the private Research Corporation to help get the cosmic ray program started. The objective of that grant was to loft cosmic ray instruments with clusters of small balloons. He also moved rapidly to draw others into the new research effort. He hired Melvin (Mel) B. Gottlieb, then a recent University of Chicago graduate, as a member of the faculty.

The team of Van Allen, Gottlieb, and his first graduate student, Leslie H. Meredith, developed, tested, and flew the initial balloon-borne instruments.