The centenary of solar-terrestrial physics

✍ Scribed by H. Rishbeth

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 89 KB
• Volume: 63
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1364-6826
• DOI: 10.1016/s1364-6826(01)00042-6

✦ Synopsis

The years 1900 -1902 saw important scientiÿc landmarks, namely Marconi's transatlantic radio experiment and theoretical ideas of Lodge and Fitzgerald about what are now known as the solar wind, magnetosphere and ionosphere. These advances built on previous ideas put forward by several European scientists. Taking the discovery of the electron in 1897 as a prerequisite for real physical understanding of solar-terrestrial phenomena, the present time is the centenary of solar-terrestrial physics. Concentrating on the years around 1900, this paper also selects landmarks from 1600 onwards that led up to that time, and some from subsequent decades.