Renowned space scientist Dr. James A. Van Allen died this morning at the age of 91. Although he had a lifetime's worth of contributions to astronomy, space science and space exploration, Dr. Allen was best known for his discovery of the radiation belts that surround the Earth. An experiment he designed for the spacecraft Explorer 1 gauged the Van Allen belts using tiny Geiger counters to measure radiation. He retired from full time teaching at the University of Iowa in 1985, but continued to write, oversee research, and monitor data sent back by spacecraft he was involved with.

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Rest in peace James Van Allen, he had a good innings and thanks to his discoveries he will be forever commited into the history books.

Always a personal hero, Van Allen was front-and-center stage in early space exploration. Incidently, the Van Allen belts were predicted by Nicholas Christofilos months before they were measured, and I believe there is an independent Soviet claim of discovery, but 'Van Allen Belt' is a cool name.

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It's a big universe out there...is it really unwinding, really burning out?

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Dr. James Van Allen has died

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