VAN ALLEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

• VAN ALLEN (noun)
  The noun VAN ALLEN has 1 sense:

1. United States physicist who discovered two belts of charged particles from the solar wind trapped by the Earth's magnetic field (born in 1914)

  Familiarity information: VAN ALLEN used as a noun is very rare.

• VAN ALLEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

United States physicist who discovered two belts of charged particles from the solar wind trapped by the Earth's magnetic field (born in 1914)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

James Alfred Van Allen; Van Allen

Instance hypernyms:

physicist (a scientist trained in physics)

 Context examples 

Some of the tests even created artificial radiation belts, akin to the natural Van Allen radiation belts, a layer of charged particles held in place by Earth’s magnetic fields.

(Space Weather Events Linked to Human Activity, NASA)

These belts, called the Van Allen Radiation Belts, keep most of the high-energy particles at bay.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)

Earth's dual radiation belts, known as the Van Allen belts, are layers of energetic particles held in place by the planet's magnetic field.

(Six-decade-old space mystery solved with shoebox-sized satellite called a CubeSat, National Science Foundation)

By comparing the energies of the particles, it is possible to distinguish the fission-generated particles and those naturally occurring in the Van Allen belts.

(Space Weather Events Linked to Human Activity, NASA)

Late on Jan. 20, 2016, the Van Allen Probes observed chorus waves from its lofty vantage point and immediately after, FIREBIRD II saw microbursts.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)

Soon after the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958, American and Russian scientists concluded that the process of cosmic ray albedo neutron decay (CRAND) was likely the source of the high-energy particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field.

(Six-decade-old space mystery solved with shoebox-sized satellite called a CubeSat, National Science Foundation)

The study combined data from FIREBIRD II, which cruises at a height of 310 miles above Earth, and from one of the two Van Allen Probes, which travel in a wide orbit high above the planet.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)

New research using data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission and FIREBIRD II CubeSat has shown that a common plasma wave in space is likely responsible for the impulsive loss of high-energy electrons into Earth’s atmosphere.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)