ASTRONOMER

James Van Allen

1914 - 2006

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James Alfred Van Allen (September 7, 1914 – August 9, 2006) was an American space physicist at the University of Iowa. He was instrumental in establishing the field of magnetospheric research in space. The Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following his discovery using Geiger–Müller tube instruments on the 1958 satellites (Explorer 1, Explorer 3, and Pioneer 3) during the International Geophysical Year. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of James Van Allen has received more than 375,396 page views. His biography is available in 47 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 45 in 2019). James Van Allen is the 108th most popular astronomer (down from 101st in 2019), the 1,507th most popular biography from United States (up from 1,544th in 2019) and the 18th most popular American Astronomer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 380k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 59.95

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 47

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.45

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.67

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ASTRONOMERS

Among astronomers, James Van Allen ranks 108 out of 644. Before him are Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters, Adelard of Bath, Annie Jump Cannon, Angelo Secchi, Jean Picard, and Petrus Plancius. After him are Henry Norris Russell, Karl Ludwig Harding, William Huggins, Édouard Stephan, Mary Somerville, and Edward Charles Pickering.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1914, James Van Allen ranks 57. Before him are William Westmoreland, Robert Wise, Alan Hodgkin, Renato Dulbecco, Shapour Bakhtiar, and Akira Nozawa. After him are Francisco da Costa Gomes, Creighton Abrams, Mario Bava, Lilli Palmer, Rafael Kubelík, and Kurt Franz. Among people deceased in 2006, James Van Allen ranks 59. Before him are Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Romano Mussolini, Mariska Veres, Karel Appel, Ta Mok, and Robert Bruce Merrifield. After him are Murray Bookchin, David Bronstein, Shamil Basayev, Glenn Ford, Angelica Rozeanu, and Joachim Fest.

Others Born in 1914

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Others Deceased in 2006

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In United States

Among people born in United States, James Van Allen ranks 1,507 out of 20,380. Before him are Macaulay Culkin (1980), Patrick McGoohan (1928), Paul Greengard (1925), Matt LeBlanc (1967), Robert Sheckley (1928), and Sam Cooke (1931). After him are Gary Ridgway (1949), Charles Mingus (1922), Jake Gyllenhaal (1980), Elias James Corey (1928), James Brolin (1940), and Phil Jackson (1945).

Others born in United States

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Among ASTRONOMERS In United States

Among astronomers born in United States, James Van Allen ranks 18. Before him are Russell Alan Hulse (1950), Percival Lowell (1855), Lewis A. Swift (1820), Edward Emerson Barnard (1857), Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. (1941), and Annie Jump Cannon (1863). After him are Henry Norris Russell (1877), Edward Charles Pickering (1846), Frank Drake (1930), Cleveland Abbe (1838), Maria Mitchell (1818), and Dorothea Klumpke (1861).

American born Astronomers

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