Background
Van, James was born on September 7, 1914 in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, United States. Son of Alfred Morris and Alma (Olney) Van Allen.
Van, James was born on September 7, 1914 in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, United States. Son of Alfred Morris and Alma (Olney) Van Allen.
Iowa Wesleyan College, and State University of Iowa.
Fellow, Carnegie Institute, Washington 41, Physicist (Department, of Terrestrial Magnetism) 1941-1942. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University 1942, 1946-1950. Lieutenant-Commander in United States Navy 46.
Head of Department, and Carver Professor, of Physics, University of Iowa 85, Emeritus since 1985.
Now Principal Investigator, Pioneers 10 and 11, and Interdisciplinary Scientist, Galileo project Guggenheim Research Fellow at Brookhaven National Laboratory 1951.
Research Association Princeton University Project Matterhorn 1953-1954. Director expeditions to study cosmic radiation, Central Pacific 1949, Alaska 1950, Arctic 1952, 1957, Antarctic 1957.
Chairman 1947-1958, Executive Committee since 1958.
Fellow, American Physical Society, American Geophysical Union, American Rocket Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Astronautical Society, American Academy, of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Regents’ Fellow, Smithsonian Institute 1981. President-elect American Geophysical Union 1980-1982, President 1982-1984. Founder member Institute Academy, of Astronautics.
Association.
Rocket and Satellite Research Panel 1946. Advisory Committee on Nuclear Physics, Office of Naval Research 1957-1960. Space Science Board, North.A.S. 1958-1970, Foreign member The Royal Swedish Academy, of Sciences 1981.
Cosmic Radiation.
Rocket Research and Earth Satellite Panel, Institute Geophysical Year. North.A.S., Royal Astronomical Society (United Kingdom) (Gold Medal 1978). Institute Academy, of Astronautics.
Editorial Board Space Science Reviews since 1962.
Married Abigail Fithian Halsey II in 1945.