Papers of Hannes Olof Gosta Alfven, Nobel Prize winning astrophysicist who contributed to significant advances in the fields of magnetohydrodynamics, plasma physics, geophysics, thermonuclear reaction, and cosmology. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Louis Neel in 1970. Alfven developed many controversial theories explaining the behavior of interstellar magnetic fields, debunking the "big bang," and attempting to rewrite the history of the solar system. Though initially ignored or rejected, many of his ideas were later extremely influential in revolutionizing the disciplines of astrophysics and geophysics. He was also an advocate of nuclear armaments destruction, working actively with other scientists such as Harold Urey to prevent nuclear proliferation and conflict. Among Alfven's teaching positions were posts at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, and the University of California, San Diego. The papers span the years 1945 to 1991 and are organized into ten series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) WRITINGS, 3) CORRESPONDENCE, 4) PUGWASH, 5) COMMITTEE ON SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL RESEARCH, 6) SUBJECT FILES, 7) GRANTS, 8) TEACHING MATERIALS, 9) MEETINGS AND SYMPOSIA, and 10) PHOTOGRAPHS. The collection contains significant correspondence with Alfven's fellow scientists, including Gustaf Arrhenius, C.G. Falthammar, and Harold Urey, as well as substantial photographic documentation of Alfven's studies of the solar system. The collection focuses primarily on Alfven's time as Professor of Applied Physics at the University of California, San Diego, but nearly every work from his immense bibliography is represented, many in draft forms. Absent from the collection is any extensive documentation of Alfven's personal life.
Hannes Alfvén Papers, 1945-1991 (MSS 225)
Extent: 12 Linear feet (30 archives boxes)
Hannes Olof Gosta Alfven was born in Norrkoping, Sweden, on May 30, 1908, of parents who were both practising physicians. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Uppsala in 1934 and served as Professor of Electronics (1940-1964) and Professor of Plasma Physics (1964-1973) at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Since 1967, he served as Professor of Applied Physics at the University of California, San Diego, spending six months of the year at UCSD and six months at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
For his research in magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics, Alfven shared the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics with Louis Eugene Felix Neel. He was a Foreign Associate Member of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), a member of the Akademia Nauk (the former Soviet Union), and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1971, he was awarded the Franklin Gold Medal by the Franklin Institute as well as the Lomonosov Gold Medal, the highest award given by the then U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, for "outstanding achievements in plasma physics and astrophysics." Alfven was also a member of the Swedish Science Advisory and served as president of the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs.
Alfven often published his original work in relatively inaccessible journals. His book, Cosmical Electrodynamics appeared in 1950, followed by Origin of the Solar System(1959) with C.G. Falthammar; Cosmical Electrodynamics, Fundamental Principles (1963); Worlds-Antiworlds: Antimatter in Cosmology (1966); The Tale of the Big Computer (1968) under the pen name of Olof Johannesson; Atom, Man and the Universe (1969); Living on the Third Planet (1972) with his wife, Kerstin Alfven, and Structure and Evolutionary History of the Solar System (1975) with Gustaf Arrhenius.
More than ninety-nine percent of the matter in the universe is in the form of a plasma, that is, a gas consisting of electrically charged and neutral particles. Under special conditions, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) can be used to study plasmas. Hannes Alfven pioneered the development of MHD, the study of the motion of an electrically conducting fluid interacting with magnetic fields, and, in particular, the subject of plasma physics, the branch of MHD in which the fluid under study is a highly ionized gas consisting of nearly equal numbers of positively and negatively charged particles. Alfven was chiefly concerned with plasmas in stars, in the geomagnetic field, and in interplanetary and interstellar space, but his theories were basic to the study of laboratory plasmas encountered in the development of controlled thermonucelar fusion. More specifically, Alfven applied his analyses to such phenomena as geomagnetic storms, the aurora, the Van Allen radiation belts, sunspots, and the evolution of the solar system. His results have been seminal not only in designing thermonuclear reactors, but also in the development of astrophysics, space science, and geophysics. Despite (or perhaps because of) his major advances in the realm of nuclear physics, Alfven was outspoken in his warnings against the dangers associated with nuclear energy and nuclear bombs, and devoted much of his last years to working toward international conflict resolution and peace strategies.
Papers of Hannes Alfven, scientist, Nobel Prize recipient in the field of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and author. Alfven pioneered theoretical research in the field of magnetohydrodynamics, the study of the interaction of conducting fluids and magnetic fields, for which he received the 1970 Nobel Prize in physics with Louis Neel. The materials in this collection relate primarily to Alfven's work at UCSD and include correspondence, manuscripts, class materials, published and unpublished papers, notes and computations, photographs, and subject files.
Arranged inten series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) WRITINGS, 3) CORRESPONDENCE, 4) PUGWASH, 5) COMMITTEE ON SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL RESEARCH, 6) SUBJECT FILES, 7) GRANTS, 8) TEACHING MATERIALS, 9) MEETINGS AND SYMPOSIA and 10) PHOTOGRAPHS.
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