Talk:James Van Allen

Starfish Prime

Why no mention of Dr. Van Allen's involvement with the 1962 orbital detonation of a 1.4 megaton 'atom bomb' that caused an EMP that killed satellites in orbit; blacked out Hawaii; created a man-made Aurora; and 'caused a radiation storm that lasted a decade'? User:Pedant (talk) 06:44, 26 August 2012 (UTC).

Your answer is covered in James Van Allen's own autobiography from 1989. The Starfish Prime program, by the Atomic Energy Commission, is documented here on Wikipedia. Greek physicist Nicholas Christofilos at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was the principal investigator for the 1958 Operation Argus (Explorer 4) and later 1962 Operation Fishbowl. Reporting of these events (during Cold War) were initially classified.

Geiger tube detectors by the Iowa Group led by James Van Allen were on many early satellites. University of Chicago experimental nuclear, and cosmic ray physicist John Alexander Simpson also had scientific particle detector instruments on a number of early satellites.

It is not highlighted here, because it is already covered elsewhere in Wikipedia. In addition, it does not reflect the primary research work and interest that was focus of Dr. van Allen's work since 1930s, when assisting Thomas Poulter. User:Beatgr (talk) 00:10, 28 June 2013 (UTC).

Professor Van Allen's burial

I updated the main article with Professor Van Allen's burial location at Find-A-Grave. I found it unusual that Van Allen and his wife chose to be buried in New York state, as Van Allen lived his entire life in Iowa. I contacted the University of Iowa, Van Allen's institution about this, and their reply was that it was a "family decision". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jehannette (talk • contribs) 14:18, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

The above comment should be considered withdrawn; another user has provided the reasons for the burial location. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jehannette (talk • contribs) 14:46, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Alma Mater

Why no mention that he graduated from Iowa Wesleyan? Or where he completed graduate work? 2601:18A:C77F:3810:55E7:D0FF:239D:DDB6 (talk) 16:27, 19 February 2024 (UTC)