Talk:James Van Allen

Spaceflight High‑importance

	Spaceflight portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Spaceflight, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of spaceflight on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SpaceflightWikipedia:WikiProject SpaceflightTemplate:WikiProject Spaceflightspaceflight articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Physics: Biographies Mid‑importance

	Physics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Physics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Physics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhysicsWikipedia:WikiProject PhysicsTemplate:WikiProject Physicsphysics articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Biographies Taskforce.

Astronomy Mid‑importance

	Astronomy portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Astronomy, which collaborates on articles related to Astronomy on Wikipedia.AstronomyWikipedia:WikiProject AstronomyTemplate:WikiProject AstronomyAstronomy articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Biography: Science and Academia

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the science and academia work group (assessed as Mid-importance).

United States: Iowa

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	Iowa portal This article is supported by WikiProject Iowa (assessed as Mid-importance).

Starfish Prime[edit]

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).[reply]

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).[reply]

Professor Van Allen's burial[edit]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

Alma Mater[edit]

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)[reply]