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Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (; 30 May 1908 – 2 April 1995) was a Swedish
electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the ...
, plasma physicist and winner of the 1970
Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He described the class of MHD waves now known as
Alfvén wave In plasma physics, an Alfvén wave, named after Hannes Alfvén, is a type of plasma wave in which ions oscillate in response to a restoring force provided by an effective tension on the magnetic field lines. Definition An Alfvén wave is a ...
s. He was originally trained as an electrical power engineer and later moved to research and teaching in the fields of plasma physics and electrical engineering. Alfvén made many contributions to plasma physics, including theories describing the behavior of
aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
e, the Van Allen radiation belts, the effect of magnetic storms on the Earth's magnetic field, the terrestrial
magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dyna ...
, and the dynamics of plasmas in the Milky Way galaxy.


Education

Alfvén received his PhD from the University of Uppsala in 1934. His thesis was titled "Investigations of High-frequency Electromagnetic Waves."


Early years

In 1934, Alfvén taught physics at both the University of Uppsala and the Nobel Institute for Physics (later renamed the
Manne Siegbahn Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn FRS(For) HFRSE (3 December 1886 – 26 September 1978) was a Swedish physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1924 "for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy". Biography Siegbahn ...
Institute of Physics) in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1940, he became professor of electromagnetic theory and electrical measurements at the
Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...
in Stockholm. In 1945, he acquired the nonappointive position of Chair of Electronics. His title was changed to Chair of Plasma Physics in 1963. From 1954 to 1955, Alfvén was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1967, after leaving Sweden and spending time in the Soviet Union, he moved to the United States. Alfvén worked in the departments of electrical engineering at both the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
and the University of Southern California.


Later years

In 1991, Alfvén retired as professor of electrical engineering at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
and professor of plasma physics at the
Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...
in Stockholm. Alfvén spent his later adult life alternating between California and Sweden. He died at the age of 86.


Research

In 1937, Alfvén argued that if plasma pervaded the universe, it could then carry electric currents capable of generating a galactic magnetic field. After winning the Nobel Prize for his works in magnetohydrodynamics, he emphasized that:
In order to understand the phenomena in a certain plasma region, it is necessary to map not only the magnetic but also the electric field and the electric currents. Space is filled with a network of currents which transfer energy and momentum over large or very large distances. The currents often pinch to filamentary or surface currents. The latter are likely to give space, as also interstellar and intergalactic space, a cellular structure.
His theoretical work on field-aligned electric currents in the aurora (based on earlier work by Kristian Birkeland) was confirmed in 1967, these currents now being known as
Birkeland current A Birkeland current (also known as field-aligned current) is a set of electrical currents that flow along geomagnetic field lines connecting the Earth's magnetosphere to the Earth's high latitude ionosphere. In the Earth's magnetosphere, the curr ...
s. Alfvén's work was disputed for many years by the senior scientist in space physics, the British mathematician and
geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
Sydney Chapman. Alfvén was regarded as a person with unorthodox opinions in the field by many physicists, R. H. Stuewer noting that "... he remained an embittered outsider, winning little respect from other scientists even after he received the Nobel Prize..." and was often forced to publish his papers in obscure journals. Alfvén recalled:
When I describe lasma phenomenaaccording to this formalism most referees do not understand what I say and turn down my papers. With the referee system which rules US science today, this means that my papers are rarely accepted by the leading US journals.
Alfvén played a central role in the development of: * Plasma physics *
Charged particle beam A charged particle beam is a spatially localized group of electrically charged particles that have approximately the same position, kinetic energy (resulting in the same velocity), and direction. The kinetic energies of the particles are much ...
s * Interplanetary medium * Magnetospheric physics * Magnetohydrodynamics *
Solar phenomena Solar phenomena are natural phenomena which occur within the atmosphere of the Sun. These phenomena take many forms, including solar wind, radio wave flux, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, coronal heating and sunspots. These phenomena ar ...
investigation (such as the
solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sol ...
) * Aurorae science In 1939, Alfvén proposed the theory of
magnetic storm A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. The disturbance that d ...
s and auroras and the theory of plasma dynamics in the earth's
magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dyna ...
. This was the paper rejected by the U.S. journal ''Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity''. Applications of Alfvén's research in space science include: * Van Allen radiation belt theory * Reduction of the Earth's magnetic field during
magnetic storm A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. The disturbance that d ...
s *
Magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dyna ...
(protective plasma covering the Earth) * Formation of
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...
tails * Formation of the Solar System * Dynamics of plasmas in the galaxy * Physical cosmology Alfvén's views followed those of the founder of magnetospheric physics, Kristian Birkeland. At the end of the nineteenth century, Birkeland proposed (backed by extensive data) that electric currents flowing down along the Earth's magnetic fields into the atmosphere caused the aurora and polar magnetic disturbances. Areas of technology benefiting from Alfvén's contributions include: *
Particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for fundamental research in particle ...
s * Controlled thermonuclear fusion * Hypersonic flight * Rocket propulsion *
Reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
braking of space vehicles Contributions to astrophysics: * Galactic magnetic field (1937) * Identified nonthermal
synchrotron radiation Synchrotron radiation (also known as magnetobremsstrahlung radiation) is the electromagnetic radiation emitted when relativistic charged particles are subject to an acceleration perpendicular to their velocity (). It is produced artificially in ...
from astronomical sources (1950)
Alfvén wave In plasma physics, an Alfvén wave, named after Hannes Alfvén, is a type of plasma wave in which ions oscillate in response to a restoring force provided by an effective tension on the magnetic field lines. Definition An Alfvén wave is a ...
s (low frequency hydromagnetic plasma
oscillations Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...
) are named in his honor, and propagate at the Alfvén speed. Many of his theories about the solar system were verified as late as the 1980s through external measurements of cometary and planetary magnetospheres. However, Alfvén himself noted that astrophysical textbooks poorly represented known plasma phenomena:
A study of how a number of the most used textbooks in astrophysics treat important concepts such as double layers, critical velocity,
pinch effect A pinch (or: Bennett pinch (after Willard Harrison Bennett), electromagnetic pinch, magnetic pinch, pinch effect, or plasma pinch.) is the compression of an electrically conducting Electrical filament, filament by magnetic forces, or a device tha ...
s, and circuits is made. It is found that students using these textbooks remain essentially ignorant of even the existence of these concepts, despite the fact that some of them have been well known for half a century (e.g, double layers, Langmuir, 1929; pinch effect, Bennet, 1934).
Alfvén reported that of 17 of the most used textbooks on astrophysics, none mention the pinch effect, none mentioned critical ionization velocity, only two mentioned circuits, and three mentioned double layers. Alfvén believed the problem with the
Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
was that astrophysicists tried to extrapolate the origin of the universe from mathematical theories developed on the blackboard, rather than starting from known observable phenomena. He also considered the Big Bang to be a myth devised to explain creation. Alfvén and colleagues proposed the Alfvén–Klein model as an alternative
cosmological Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
theory to both the
Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
and
steady state theory In cosmology, the steady-state model, or steady state theory is an alternative to the Big Bang theory of evolution of the universe. In the steady-state model, the density of matter in the expanding universe remains unchanged due to a continuou ...
cosmologies.


Personal life

Alfvén was married for 67 years to his wife Kerstin (1910–1992). They raised five children, one boy and four girls. Their son became a physician, while one daughter became a writer and another a lawyer in Sweden. The writer was Inger Alfvén and is well known for her work in Sweden. The composer
Hugo Alfvén Hugo Emil Alfvén (; 1 May 18728 May 1960) was a Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter. Career Violinist Alfvén was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and studied at the Royal College of Music (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) from 1887 ...
was Hannes Alfvén's uncle. Alfvén studied the history of science,
oriental philosophy Eastern philosophy or Asian philosophy includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philosophy; which are dominant in East Asia, ...
, and religion. On his religious views, Alfven was irreligious and critical of religion. He spoke Swedish, English, German, French, and Russian, and some Spanish and Chinese. He expressed great concern about the difficulties of permanent high-level radioactive waste management." Alfvén was also interested in problems in cosmology and all aspects of auroral physics, and used Schröder's well known book on aurora, ''Das Phänomen des Polarlichts''. Letters of Alfvén, Treder, and Schröder were published on the occasion of Treder's 70th birthday. The relationships between Hans-Jürgen Treder, Hannes Alfvén and Wilfried Schröder were discussed in detail by Schröder in his publications. Alfvén died on 2 April, 1995 at
Djursholm Djursholm () is one of four suburban districts in, and the seat of Danderyd Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. Djursholm is included in the multi-municipal Stockholm urban area. Djursholm is divided into a number of different areas: Djursholm ...
aged 86.


Awards and honours

The
Hannes Alfvén Prize The Hannes Alfvén Prize is a prize established by the European Physical Society (EPS) Plasma Physics Division in 2000. The Prize is awarded annually by the European Physical Society at the EPS Conference on Plasma Physics for outstanding work in t ...
, awarded annually by the
European Physical Society The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach. Formally established in 1968, its membership includes the national physical so ...
for outstanding contributions in plasma physics, is named after him. The
asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...
1778 Alfvén 1778 Alfvén, also designated , is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 September 1960, by astronomers Cornelis van Houten, Ingrid van Ho ...
is named in his honour.


Awards

* Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1967) *
Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
(1970) for his work on magnetohydrodynamics *
Franklin Medal The Franklin Medal was a science award presented from 1915 until 1997 by the Franklin Institute located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. It was founded in 1914 by Samuel Insull Samuel Insull (November 11, 1859 – July 16, 1938) was a Bri ...
of the Franklin Institute (1971) * Lomonosov Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1971) * Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1980 *
William Bowie Medal The William Bowie Medal is awarded annually by the American Geophysical Union for "outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research". The award is the highest honor given by the AGU and is named in honor ...
of the
American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's acti ...
(1988) for his work on
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...
s and plasmas in the Solar System * Member of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences * Member of Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences * Life fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers * Member of
European Physical Society The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach. Formally established in 1968, its membership includes the national physical so ...
* Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
(1962) * Member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences * Contributor to the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs * Member of the International Academy of Science * Member of the
Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...
Elected member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
(1971) Alfvén was one of the few scientists who was a foreign member of both the United States and
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
Academies of Sciences.


Selected bibliography

For full list of publications see.Full list of publications
/ref> ;Books
Cosmical Electrodynamics
International Series of Monographs on Physics, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950. (See also 2nd Ed. 1963, co-authored with Carl-Gunne Fälthammar.) *Worlds-Antiworlds: Antimatter in Cosmology (1966). *The Great Computer: A Vision (1968) (a political-scientific satire under the pen name Olof Johannesson; publ. Gollancz, ). *Atom, Man, and the Universe: A Long Chain of Complications, W.H. Freeman and Company, 1969. *Living on the Third Planet, authored with Kerstin Alfvén, W.H. Freeman and Company, 1972. .
Cosmic Plasma
Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Vol. 82 (1981) Springer Verlag. *Schröder, Wilfried, and Hans Jürgen Treder. 2007. ''Theoretical physics and geophysics: Recollections of Hans-Jürgen Treder (1928–2006)''. Potsdam: Science Editions. ;Articles
On the cosmogony of the solar system I
(1942)
Part II

Part III

Interplanetary Magnetic Field
(1958)
On the Origin of Cosmic Magnetic Fields
(1961)
On the Filamentary Structure of the Solar Corona
(1963)
Currents in the Solar Atmosphere and a Theory of Solar Flares
(1967)
On the Importance of Electric Fields in the Magnetosphere and Interplanetary Space
(1967)
Jet Streams in Space
(1970)

(1976) with Gustaf Arrhenius (NASA book)
Double radio sources and the new approach to cosmical plasma physics
(1978) (PDF)
Interstellar clouds and the formation of stars
with Per Carlqvist (1978) (PDF)
Energy source of the solar wind
with Per Carlqvist (1980) (PDF) A direct transfer of energy from photospheric activity to the solar wind by means of electric currents is discussed.
Electromagnetic Effects and the Structure of the Saturnian Rings
(1981) (PDF)
A three-ring circuit model of the magnetosphere
with Whipple, E. C. and Jr.; McIlwain (1981) (PDF)
The Voyager 1/Saturn encounter and the cosmogonic shadow effect
(1981) (PDF)
Origin, evolution and present structure of the asteroid region
(1983) (PDF)
On hierarchical cosmology
(1983) (PDF) Progress in lab studies of plasmas and on their methods of transferring the results to cosmic conditions.
Solar system history as recorded in the Saturnian ring structure
(1983) (PDF)
Cosmology – Myth or science?
(1984) (PDF)
Cosmogony as an extrapolation of magnetospheric research
(1984) (PDF)


See also

* Alfvén resonator *
Astrophysical plasma Astrophysical plasma is plasma outside of the Solar System. It is studied as part of astrophysics and is commonly observed in space. The accepted view of scientists is that much of the baryonic matter in the universe exists in this state. When ...
* Heliospheric current sheet * Magnetic reconnection * Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence * Magnetosonic wave * Marklund convection * Plasma parameters *
Plasma stability The stability of a plasma is an important consideration in the study of plasma physics. When a system containing a plasma is at equilibrium, it is possible for certain parts of the plasma to be disturbed by small perturbative forces acting on it ...
*
Solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sol ...
* Spheromak


References


External links


Hannes Alfvén biography
* including the Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1970 ''Plasma Physics, Space Research and the Origin of the Solar System''

(
Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...
in Stockholm, Sweden)
Hannes Alfvén Biographical Memoirs
(Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
)
Papers of Hannes Olof Gosta Alfvén


– awarded for outstanding scientific contributions towards the understanding of plasma processes in the solar system and other cosmical plasma environments * Timeline of Nobel Prize Winners



(1945–1991) in the Mandeville Special Collections Library. *



(2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Alfven, Hannes 1908 births 1995 deaths Critics of religions People from Norrköping Fellow Members of the IEEE Foreign Members of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Nobel laureates in Physics Religious skeptics 20th-century Swedish astronomers Fluid dynamicists Swedish pacifists 20th-century Swedish physicists Swedish science fiction writers Swedish electrical engineers Uppsala University alumni KTH Royal Institute of Technology faculty Swedish Nobel laureates Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Recipients of the Lomonosov Gold Medal Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy University of California, San Diego faculty University of Maryland, College Park faculty Swedish plasma physicists Members of the American Philosophical Society Fulbright alumni