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PHYSICIST

Hannes Alfvén

1908 - 1995

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Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (Swedish: [alˈveːn]; 30 May 1908 – 2 April 1995) was a Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He described the class of MHD waves now known as Alfvén waves. 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. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Hannes Alfvén has received more than 301,293 page views. His biography is available in 68 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 67 in 2019). Hannes Alfvén is the 173rd most popular physicist (down from 149th in 2019), the 96th most popular biography from Sweden (down from 91st in 2019) and the 3rd most popular Swedish Physicist.

Hannes Alfvén is most famous for his work in plasma astrophysics. He helped develop the theory of magnetohydrodynamics, which explains how plasmas behave in space.

Memorability Metrics

  • 300k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 63.97

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 68

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 11.27

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.65

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Hannes Alfvéns by language


Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Hannes Alfvén ranks 173 out of 717. Before him are James Rainwater, Syukuro Manabe, Leon Cooper, Robert H. Goddard, Igor Kurchatov, and Martinus J. G. Veltman. After him are Pyotr Kapitsa, Edward Mills Purcell, Arthur Ashkin, James Cronin, Charles H. Townes, and Emilio Segrè.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1908, Hannes Alfvén ranks 35. Before him are Franz Stangl, Carole Lombard, Manoel de Oliveira, William Saroyan, Dmitry Ustinov, and Werner von Haeften. After him are Willard Libby, John Kenneth Galbraith, Balthus, Cesare Pavese, Ilya Frank, and Joseph Rotblat. Among people deceased in 1995, Hannes Alfvén ranks 24. Before him are Donald Pleasence, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Teresa Teng, Edward Bernays, Louis Malle, and Patricia Highsmith. After him are Fred Perry, Lana Turner, Maurizio Gucci, Ginger Rogers, Gerald Durrell, and Milovan Đilas.

Others Born in 1908

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Others Deceased in 1995

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In Sweden

Among people born in Sweden, Hannes Alfvén ranks 96 out of 1,612. Before him are Verner von Heidenstam (1859), Ermanaric (400), Hugo Theorell (1903), Axel Munthe (1857), Birger Jarl (1210), and Anund Jacob (1008). After him are Hilma af Klint (1862), Olaus Magnus (1490), Princess Birgitta of Sweden (1937), Bertil Ohlin (1899), Arvid Carlsson (1923), and Peter Stormare (1953).

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Among PHYSICISTS In Sweden

Among physicists born in Sweden, Hannes Alfvén ranks 3. Before him are Manne Siegbahn (1886) and Anders Jonas Ångström (1814). After him are Kai Siegbahn (1918), Rolf Maximilian Sievert (1896), Johannes Rydberg (1854), Gustaf Dalén (1869), Oskar Klein (1894), Christopher Polhem (1661), Knut Ångström (1857), Bert Bolin (1925), and Vagn Walfrid Ekman (1874).

Swedish born Physicists

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