Donald Gurnett

Short description: American physicist (1940–2022)

Donald Gurnett

Born| (1940-04-11)11 April 1940

Fairfax, Iowa

Died| 13 January 2022(2022-01-13) (aged 81)
Spouse(s)| Marie Gurnett
Children|

* Suzanne Gurnett
* Christina Gurnett

Scientific career
Fields| Physics

Donald Alfred Gurnett (April 11, 1940 – January 13, 2022) was an American physicist and professor at the University of Iowa who specialized in plasma physics.[1][2]

## Contents

* 1 Early life and education
* 2 Career
* 3 Personal life
* 4 Awards and honors
* 5 External links
* 6 References

## Early life and education

Gurnett grew up in Fairfax, Iowa. In his spare time he built and flew model airplanes with a club at the airport in Cedar Rapids. There he met the German expatriate scientist Alexander Lippisch.[1]

Gurnett received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Iowa in 1962, and then his master's degree in physics in 1963 and his doctorate in 1965.[1]

## Career

Gurnett's research into space plasmas (and his involvement in the development of electronics and measuring devices for space missions) began while he was a student and eventually led to early studies of plasma waves in the Earth's radiation belt (via low-frequency radio waves).[3] From 1962, he was a NASA trainee at the University of Iowa and Stanford University (1964/65). He participated to the Injun satellites program designed and built by researchers at the University of Iowa to observe various radiation and magnetic phenomena in the ionosphere and beyond.[4] In 1965, he became an assistant professor, in 1968 an associate professor, and in 1972 a professor at the University of Iowa.[1]

His involvement with space plasmas continued through his involvement in 41 NASA missions, including Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to the outer planets,[5][6][7] the Galileo mission to Jupiter, and the Cassini mission to Saturn.[8] He was particularly concerned with the formation of the plasma waves observable in the radio spectrum in the plasmas of the radiation belts of planets with magnetic fields and wave-particle interactions in the plasmas, which are often easier to study in space than in the laboratory.[1]

In late August 2012, the radio and plasma-wave instrument designed by Gurnett onboard Voyager 1 confirmed that it had crossed the heliopause.[9][10][11][12]

## Personal life

He was married to his wife Marie. Together they had two daughters, Suzanne and Christina.[2]

Gurnett died on January 13, 2022, at the age of 81.[2]

## Awards and honors

In 1998, Gurnett became a member of the National Academy of Sciences.[13] In 2004, he became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[14]

In 2014 he gave the Van Vleck Lecture and in 2006 the EGU Hannes Alfvén Medal. In addition, he received the Humboldt Prize, with which he was at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching (1975/76). In 1989 he received the John Adam Fleming Medal from the American Geophysical Union and the Excellence in Plasma Physics Award from the APS and in 1978 the John Howard Dellinger Gold Medal from the International Union of Radio Science. In 1979/80 he was a visiting professor at UCLA.[15]

## External links

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Legendary Iowa space physicist Donald Gurnett dies". January 13, 2022. https://now.uiowa.edu/2022/01/legendary-iowa-space-physicist-donald-gurnett-dies.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Donald Alfred Gurnett Obituary". Iowa City Press-Citizen. https://press-citizen.com/obituaries/icp022841.
3. ↑ Gurnett, D. (1974-10-01). "The Earth as a radio source: Terrestrial kilometric radiation" (in en). Journal of Geophysical Research 79 (28): 4227–4238. doi:10.1029/JA079i028p04227. Bibcode: 1974JGR....79.4227G. http://doi.wiley.com/10.1029/JA079i028p04227.
4. ↑ "Don Gurnett images". https://space.physics.uiowa.edu/~dag/images/index.html.
5. ↑ Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Scarf, F. L. (1981-04-10). "Plasma Waves Near Saturn: Initial Results from Voyager 1" (in en). Science 212 (4491): 235–239. doi:10.1126/science.212.4491.235. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17783836. Bibcode: 1981Sci...212..235G. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19810010446/downloads/19810010446.pdf.
6. ↑ Gurnett, D. A.; Grün, E.; Gallagher, D.; Kurth, W. S.; Scarf, F. L. (1983-02-01). "Micron-sized particles detected near Saturn by the Voyager plasma wave instrument" (in en). Icarus 53 (2): 236–254. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(83)90145-8. ISSN 0019-1035. Bibcode: 1983Icar...53..236G. http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/~dag/publications/1983_MicronSizedParticlesDetectedNearSaturnByTheVoyagerPlasmaWaveInstrument_I.pdf.
7. ↑ Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S; Burlaga, L. F.; Ness, N. F. (2013-09-27). "In Situ Observations of Interstellar Plasma with Voyager 1" (in en). Science 341 (6153): 1489–1492. doi:10.1126/science.1241681. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 24030496. Bibcode: 2013Sci...341.1489G. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1241681.
8. ↑ Gurnett, D. A.; Lecacheux, A.; Kurth, W. S.; Persoon, A. M.; Groene, J. B.; Lamy, L.; Zarka, P.; Carbary, J. F. (2009-08-20). "Discovery of a north-south asymmetry in Saturn's radio rotation period" (in en). Geophysical Research Letters 36 (16): L16102. doi:10.1029/2009GL039621. ISSN 0094-8276. Bibcode: 2009GeoRL..3616102G. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2009GL039621.
9. ↑ Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Stone, E. C.; Cummings, A. C.; Krimigis, S. M.; Decker, R. B.; Ness, N. F.; Burlaga, L. F. (2014-12-01). "Electron Plasma Oscillations and Related Effects Observed By Voyager 1 in the Interstellar Plasma during 2014". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 2014: SH13E–04. Bibcode: 2014AGUFMSH13E..04G. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014AGUFMSH13E..04G.
10. ↑ Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S. (2019-11-01). "Plasma densities near and beyond the heliopause from the Voyager 1 and 2 plasma wave instruments" (in en). Nature Astronomy 3 (11): 1024–1028. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0918-5. ISSN 2397-3366. Bibcode: 2019NatAs...3.1024G. http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/~dag/publications/2019_PlasmaDensitiesNearAndBeyondTheHeliopauseFromVoyager-Instruments_Nature_Astronomy.pdf.
11. ↑ Ocker, Stella Koch; Cordes, James M.; Chatterjee, Shami; Gurnett, Donald A.; Kurth, William S.; Spangler, Steven R. (2021-08-01). "Persistent plasma waves in interstellar space detected by Voyager 1" (in en). Nature Astronomy 5 (8): 761–765. doi:10.1038/s41550-021-01363-7. ISSN 2397-3366. PMID 35005245. Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..761O.
12. ↑ "Legendary Iowa space physicist Donald Gurnett dies". January 13, 2022. https://now.uiowa.edu/2022/01/legendary-iowa-space-physicist-donald-gurnett-dies.
13. ↑ "Donald Gurnett, Ph.D. | Physics and Astronomy - The University of Iowa". https://physics.uiowa.edu/people/donald-gurnett.
14. ↑ "Donald A. Gurnett". https://www.amacad.org/person/donald-gurnett.
15. ↑ "Donald A. Gurnett". https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/hannes-alfven/2006/donald-gurnett/.

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