28 June 2000


Links for Downloading

Educational files by David P. Stern      



This folder contains links to self-extracting archives of three courses developed in 1995--2000, on topics related to space, spaceflight , the Earth's magnetic field and Earth's magnetic environment in space and the way it is being studied, by satellites and other research tools. In addition it contains links to a collection of concatenated files from slightly older versions of two of the sites. These are meant for use by persons who want to produce for their own use paper copies with a minimum of wasted space. Each of these collections also includes its own image folder.

All archives were produced by StuffIt Deluxe ™ and two versions are always provided, for use on Macintosh computers and on Windows. If you do not have "Stuffit Expander" on your computer, you might need to download it from here.

  If you download the file using Netscape, the first thing you will see is a screen filled with meaningless text. Don't be discouraged, Wait for the downloading to end, then save the downloaded file as Source Code (not as text) and apply the unstuffer to the resulting file.

  After unstuffing, the end product is a set of HTML files with attached images, which can be read by any of the standard web browsers--like the one you are probably using now.

The Sites:

  1. Folder "earthmag" (29 files + illustrations)

        Here you find the web site " The Great Magnet, the Earth." with a short history of studies of the Earth's magnetism, marking the 400th anniversary of Gilbert's book "De Magnete." It includes two reviews of the book and continues up to the present time--including the stories of Halley, Oersted, Faraday, of the Sun's magnetism, dynamo theory, plate tectonics and magnetism in space.
          The collection also includes a Spanish translation, to be extended in the future but for now limited to the home page and two files.   The starting page ("home page") on your downloaded directory will be earthmag/demagint.htm, and the files can also be reached on the internet,   ftp://www.phy6.org/earthmag/demagint.htm

    Downloading:For Macintosh computers earthmag.sea (0.8 meg)
                            For Windows computers earthmag.exe (0.8 meg)

  2. Folder "Education"   (110 items + illustrations)

        This folder contains The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere, a non-mathematical review of the physics of the Earth's magnetic environment in space.
      This includes side-excursions into history, modern physics, studies of the Sun etc., also a glossary, timelines, a guide for teachers, questions and answers, a more technical article "Brief History of Magnetospheric Physics," etc.   Starting page ("home page") on your downloaded directory will be Education/Intro.html (use capital I and E), and the same files can be reached on the web, at  ftp://www.phy6.org/Education/Intro.html

    Downloading: For Macintosh computers Education.sea (5.2 meg)
                           For Windows computers Education.exe (5.2 meg)


  1. Folder "Star"   (259 items + illustrations) contains three main parts:

        (I) "From Stargazers to Starships" is a course at the high-school--lower college level, also suitable for independent study and covering
    • Basic astronomy (pre-telescope)
    • Newtonian mechanics
    • The Sun, and related topics (weather, electromagnetic waves, nuclear energy)
    • Spaceflight.
    as well as
    • "A Math Refresher", a brief course in algebra and trig.

      The material stresses space applications, history and intuitive content, and has many side-excursions--glossary, timelines, problems, questions-and-answers, guidance for teachers etc.
          Its starting page ("home page") on your computer will be Star/Sintro.htm (capital S) and the same files can be readon the internet, at  http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sintro.htm

    (II) A Spanish translations "De Astronomos a Astronaves"" by Jesus Mendez (Vizcaya, Spain) contains most of the material of the above section.

    (III) A set of 42 Lesson Plans

    Downloading:For Macintosh computers Star.sea (3.2 meg)
                            For Windows computers Star.exe (3.2 meg)

  2.     Folder Concaten         Although this is the computer age, many of us still like to work with paper copies. For the English texts of two of the courses--"From Stargazers to Starships" and "The Great Magnet, the Earth"--concatenated (joined-up) folders are therefore provided, from which the sections can be printed consecutively, with no overlap (be aware however, this is not the most recent version).

    Concaten/conew14.htm contains the geomagnetism site (also uses the folder Cconcaten/Figures),
    Concaten/conew1.htm to Concaten/conew8.htm contain parts of "Stargazers" (also uses the folder Cconcaten/Sfigs),
    Concaten/conew9.htmhas the Math Refresher (also uses the folder Cconcaten/Sfigs),
    Concaten/conew10.htm has added files of "Stargazers" (glossary, timelines, problems, teacher's guide)
    Concaten/conew11.htm , Concaten/conew12.htm and Concaten/conew13.htm contain the lesson plans (also uses the folder Cconcaten/Sfigs).

    Downloading:For Macintosh computers concaten.sea (2.8 meg)
                            For Windows computers concaten.exe (2.8 meg)

Author and Curator:   Dr. David P. Stern
     Mail to Dr.Stern:   education("at" symbol)phy6.org

Co-author: Dr. Mauricio Peredo

Spanish translation by J. Méndez