A Brief History of Magnetospheric Physics
Before the Spaceflight Era

David P. Stern Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland

Appeared in Reviews of Geophysics, 27, 1989, p. 103-114.

  1. Abstract
  2. Introduction
  3. Early Work on Geomagnetism
  4. The Sunspot Cycle
  5. Electron Beams from the Sun?
  6. The Chapman-Ferraro Cavity
  7. The Ring Current
  8. Alfvén's Theory and Electric Fields
  9. Interplanetary Plasma
  10. Polar Magnetic Storms
  11. Assessment
References: A-H
References: I-Z


References

Akasofu, S.-I., In memoriam Sydney Chapman, Space Sci. Rev., 11, 599-606,1970.

Akasofu, S.-I., B. Fogle, and B. Haurwitz (Eels.), Sidney Chapman, Eighty, University of Colorado Press, Boulder, 1969.

Alfvén, Hannes, A theory of magnetic storms and of the aurorae, K. Sven. Vetenskapakad. Handl., Ser. 3, 18(3), 1939. (Reprinted in part with comments by Alex Dessler and John Wilcox in Eos, 51, 180-194,1970.)

Alfvén, Hannes, A theory of magnetic storms and of the aurorae, II, The aurorae; III, The magnetic disturbances, K. Sven. Vetenskapakad. Handl., Ser. 3,18(9), 1940.

Alfvén, Hannes. Cosmical Electrodynamics, 1st ed., 237 pp., Oxford University Press. New York. 1950.

Alfvén, Hannes, The theory of magnetic storms and auroras, Nature, 167, 984, 1951.

Alpert, Yakov, 40 years of whistlers, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 42, 1-20, 1980.

Barkhausen. Heinrich, Zwei mit Hilfe der Neuen Verstärker entdeckte Erscheinungen, Phys. Z., 20, 401-403,1919.

Barkhausen, H., Whistling tones from the Earth, Proc. IRE, 18, 1155-1159.1930.

Barraclough, David R., Spherical harmonic models of the geomagnetic field, Geomagn. Bull. 8, Inst. of Geol. Sci., Edinburgh, 1978. (Also available from Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.)

Bartels, Julius, Terrestrial-magnetic activity and its relations to solar phenomena, J. Geophys. Res., 37, I-52, 1932.

Bartels, Julius, Twenty-seven day recurrences in terrestrialmagnetic and solar activity, 1923-33, J. Geophys. Res., 39, 201-202. 1934a.

Bartels, Julius, Arthur Schuster's work on periodicities, J. Geophys. Res., 39, 345-346, 1934b.

Biermann, Ludwig, Kometenschweife und sol are Korpuskularstrahlung. Z. Astrophys., 29, 274-286, 1951.

Billings. Donald E., A Guide to the Solar Corona, 323 pp., Academic, San Diego. 1966.

Birkeland, Kristian. Expedition Norvegienne de 1899-1900 pour l'etude des aurores boréales, Skr. Nor. Vidensk. Akad. KI. 1 Mat. Naturvidensk. Kl., No. I, 1901.

Birkeland. Kristian, The Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition, 1902-1903, vol. I, section 1, H. Aschehoug, Oslo, 1908.

Birkeland, Kristian. The Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition, 1902-1903, vol. I, section 2, H. Aschehoug. Oslo, 1913.

Bohlin, J. David, An observational defmition of coronal holes, in Coronal Holes and High Speed Wind Streams, edited by Jack B. Zirker, pp. 27-69, Colorado Associated University Press, 1977.

Bonetti, A., H. S. Bridge, A. J. Lazarus, B. Rossi, and F. Scherb, Explorer 10 plasma measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 68, 4017-4063,1963.

Boström, Rolf, Currents in the ionosphere and magnetosphere, in The Birkeland Symposium on Aurora and Magnetic Storms, edited by A. Egeland and J. Holtet, pp. 445-458, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1968.

Brandt, John, Introduction to the Solar Wind, W. H. Freeman, New York, 1970.

Brush, Stephen G., and Subir K. Banerjee, Geomagnetic secular variation and theories of the Earth's interior, in Past, Present and Future Trends in Research in Aeronomy and Geomagnetism, edited by W. Schröder, Peter Lang, Frankfurt, in press, 1988.

Bullard, Edward, Edmond Halley (1565-1741), Endeavour, 15, 189-199,1956.

Carrington, Richard C., Description of a singular appearance seen in the Sun on September I, 1959, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 20, 13-15, 1860. (Reprinted by A. J. Meadows, Early Solar Physics, p. 181, Pergamon, New York, 1970.)

Cawood, John, The magnetic crusade: Science and politics in early Victorian Britain, Isis, 70, 493-519, 1979.

Chamberlain, Joseph W., Interplanetary gas, 2, Expansion of a model solar corona, Astrophys. J., 131, 47-56, 1960.

Chapman, Sidney, An outline of a theory of magnetic storms, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 97, 61-83, 1918.

Chapman, Sidney, Arthur Schuster, 1851-1934, J. Geophys. Res., 39, 341-345, 1934.

Chapman, Sidney, Historical introduction to aurora and magnetic storms, pp. 21-29, in The Birkeland Symposium on Aurora and Magnetic Storms, edited by A. Egeland and 1. Holtet, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1968.

Chapman, Sidney, and Julius Bartels, Geomagnetism, 1049 pp., Oxford University Press, New York, 1940.

Chapman, Sidney, and Vincent C. A. Ferraro, A new theory of magnetic storms, Nature, 126, 129-130,1930.

Chapman, Sidney, and Vincent C. A. Ferraro, A new theory of magnetic storms, I, The initial phase, J. Geophys. Res., 36, 77-97,171-186,1931.

Chapman, Sidney, and Vincent C. A. Ferraro, A new theory of magnetic storms, I, The initial phase (continued), J. Geophys. Res., 37, 147-156,421-429,1932.

Chapman, Sidney, and Vincent C. A. Ferraro, A new theory of magnetic storms, II, The main phase, J. Geophys. Res., 38, 79-96, 1933.

Cowling, Thomas Gilbert, On Alfvén's theory of magnetic storms and of the aurorae, J. Geophys. Res., 47, 209-214, 1942.

Cowling, Thomas Gilbert, Vincent Ferraro as a pioneer of hydromagnetism, Q. J. R. Astron. Soc., 16, 136-144, 1975.

Dessler, Alexander J., Solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field, Rev. Geophys., 5, 1-41,1967.

Dessler, Alexander J., Swedish iconoclast recognized after many years of rejection and obscurity, Science, 170, no, 604-606, 1970.

Devik, Olaf, Kristian Birkeland as I knew him, in The Birkeland Symposium on Aurora and Magnetic Storms, edited by A. Egeland and J. Holtet, pp. 13-19, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1968.

Dibner, Bern, Oersted and the Discovery of Electromagnetism, 85 pp., Blaisdell, Waltham, Mass., 1962.

Dragt, Alex J., and John M. Finn, Insolubility of trapped particle motion in a magnetic dipole field, J. Geophys. Res., 81, 2327-2340, 1976.

Dungey, James W., First evidence and early studies of the Earth's bow shock, Nuovo Cimento C, 2, 655-660, 1979.

Dunnington. G. W., Gauss-Titan of Science, 479 pp., Hafner. New York, 1955.

Eather. Robert H., Majestic Lights, 323 pp., AGU. Washington. D. C., 1980.

Eckersley, T. L., Note on musical atmospheric disturbances. Philos. Mag., 49, 1250-1259. 1925.

Edlén, Bengt, An attempt to identify the emission lines in the spectrum of the solar corona, Ark. Mat. Astron. Fys., 28B, no. 1, 1-4,1941.

Edlén, Bengt. Die Deutung der Emissionlinien im Spektrum der Sonnenkorona. Z. Astrophys., 22, 30-64, 1942.

Edlén, Bengt, The identification of the coronal lines, Mon. Not. R. Astron Soc., 105, 323-333. 1945.

Egeland, Alv, Kristian Birkeland: The man and the scientist, in Magnetospheric Currents, Geophys. Monogr. Ser., vol. 28, edited by Thomas A. Potemra, pp. 1-16, AGU, Washington, D. C., 1984.

Egeland. Alv, and E. Leer, Kristian Birkeland: His life and work, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., PS-14, 666-677. 1986.

Evans, Michael E., Edmond Halley, geophysicist, Phys. Today, 41, 41-45,1988.

Faraday, Michael. Experimental researches in electricity, reprinted in Great Books of the Western World, vol. 45, pp. 255-898, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, ill., 1952.

Ferraro, Vincent C. A., The birth of a theory, in Sidney Chapman, Eighty, edited by S.-I. Akasofu, B. Fogle, and B. Haurwitz, pp. 14-18, University of Colorado Press, Boulder, 1969.

Fitzgerald, G. F., Sunspots and magnetic storms, Electrician, 30, 48.1892.

Fritz, Hermann, Das Polarlicht, Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1881.

Fukushima, Naoshi, Equivalence in ground geomagnetic effect of Chapman-Vestine's and Birkeland-Alfvén's current systems for polar magnetic storms, Rep. Ionos. Space Res. Jpn., 23, 219-227, 1969.

Fukushima, Naoshi, Equivalence in ground geomagnetic effect of vertical currents connected with Pedersen currents in the uniform conductivity ionosphere. Rep. Ionos. Space Res. Jpn., 30, 35-40, 1976.

Gauss, Carl Friedrich, Allgemeine Theorie des Erdmagnetismus, Resultate aus den Beobachtungen des magnetischen Verein im Jahre 1838, 1839. (Translated into English by Mrs. Sabine, revised by Sir John Herschel in Scientific Memoirs Selected From Transactions of Foreign Academies and Learned Societies and From Foreign Journals, vol. 2, pp. 184-251, 1841.)

Gauss, Carl Friedrich, Werke vol. 5, pp. 119-193, Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Göttingen, 1877.

Gilbert, William, De Magnete, 1600, (On the Magnet,) translated by Silvanus P. Thompson, reprinted from the 1900 edition by Basic Books, New York, 1958.

Gillmor, C. Stewart. Coulomb and the Evolution of Physics and Engineering in the Eighteenth Century, 328 pp., Princeton, 1971.

Gold, Thomas, Comment, in Gasdynamics of Cosmic Clouds, edited by H. C. Van de Hulst and 1. M. Burgers, p. 103, Interscience, New York, 1955.

Gold, Thomas, Motions in the magnetosphere of the Earth, J. Geophys. Res., 64, 1219-1224, 1959.

Graham, George, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, no. 383, 96, 1724.

Gringauz. K. I.. Some results of experiments in interplanetary space by means of charged particle traps on Soviet space probes, Space Res., 2, 539-553, 1961.

Gringauz, K. I.. V. V. Bezrukikh, V. D. Ozerov, and R. E. Rybchinskii, A study of the interplanetary ionized gas, high energy electrons, and corpuscular radiation from the Sun by means of the three-electrode trap for charged particles on the second Soviet cosmic rocket (in Russian), Doklady Akad. Nauk. SSSR, 131(6). 1301-1304, 1960. (English translation, Sov. Phys. Dokl. 5,361-364.1960.)

Grotrian, Walter, The question of the significance of the lines in the spectrum of the solar corona, Naturwissenschaftern, 27, 214, 1939. (Translated by B. Doyle, in Source Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1900-1975, edited by Kenneth R. Lang and Owen Gingerich, p. 1122, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1979).

Gunn, Ross, An electromagnetic effect of importance in solar and terrestrial magnetism, Phys. Rev., 33, 832-836,1929.

Hale, George Ellery, A remarkable solar disturbance, Astron. Astrophys., 11, 611-613, 1982.

Harang, Leiv, The Aurorae, John Wiley, New York 1951.

Harwit, Martin, Cosmic Discovery, 334 pp., Basic Books, New York,1981.

Helliwell, Robert A., Whistlers and Related Ionospheric Phenomena, 349 pp., Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif., 1965.

Hodgson, R., On a curious appearance seen in the Sun, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 20, 16, 1860.

Hoffmeister, C., Physikalisch Untersuchungen auf Kometen, I, Die Beziehungen des primaren Schweifstrahl zum Radiusvektor, Z. Astrophys., 22, 265-285, 1943.

Hoffmeister, C., Physikalisch Untersuchungen auf Kometen, ll, Die Bewegung der Schweifmaterie und die Repulsivkraft der Sonne beim Kometen, Z. Astrophys., 23, 1-18, 1944.

Hulburt, Edward O., Terrestrial magnetic variations and aurorae, Rev. Mod. Phys., 9, 44-68, 1937.

Hundhausen, Arthur J., Solar activity and the solar wind, Rev. Geophys., 17, 2034-2048, 1979.

Last updated 17 October 2005