At the beginning of the 20th century, Kristian Birkeland (1867-1917), a Norwegian scientist of insatiable curiosity, addressed questions that had vexed European scientists for centuries. Why do the northern lights appear overhead when the earth s magnetic field is disturbed? How are magnetic storms connected to disturbances on the sun? To answer these questions Birkeland interpreted his advance laboratory simulations and daring campaigns in the Arctic wilderness in the light of Maxwell s newly discovered laws of electricity and magnetism. Birkeland s ideas were dismissed for decades, only...

At the beginning of the 20th century, Kristian Birkeland (1867-1917), a Norwegian scientist of insatiable curiosity, addressed questions that had vexed European scientists for centuries. Why do the northern lights appear overhead when the earth s magnetic field is disturbed? How are magnetic storms connected to disturbances on the sun? To answer these questions Birkeland interpreted his advance laboratory simulations and daring campaigns in the Arctic wilderness in the light of Maxwell s newly discovered laws of electricity and magnetism. Birkeland s ideas were dismissed for decades, only...

This biography summarizes the seminal contributions to auroral and space science of Carl Stormer (1874 - 1957). He was the first to develop precise photographic methods to calculate heights and morphologies of diverse auroral forms during four solar cycles. Stormer independently devised numerical techniques to determine the trajectories of high-energy charged particles allowed and forbidden in the Earth's magnetic field. His theoretical analyses explained cosmic ray access to the upper atmosphere, 20 years before they were identified by other scientists. Stormer's crowning achievement,...