By David Southwood,Stanley W. H. Cowley FRS,Simon Mitton
This publication makes sturdy historical past examining for far of recent magnetospheric physics. Its foundation was once a Festspiel for Professor Jim Dungey, former professor within the Physics division at Imperial collage at the social gathering of his ninetieth birthday, 30 January 2013. Remarkably, even supposing he retired 30 years in the past, his pioneering and, usually, maverick paintings within the 50’s via to the 70’s on sunlight terrestrial physics is maybe extra commonly preferred this day than whilst he retired.
Dungey used to be a theoretical plasma physicist. The publication covers how his reconnection version of the magnetosphere developed to turn into the normal version of solar-terrestrial coupling. Dungey’s open magnetosphere version now underpins a holistic photo explaining not just the magnetic and plasma constitution of the magnetosphere, but additionally its dynamics which are monitored in actual time. The booklet additionally exhibits how modern-day simulation of sun terrestrial coupling can reproduce the true time evolution of the sunlight terrestrial process in methods undreamt of in 1961 whilst Dungey’s epoch-making paper used to be published.
Further contributions on present Earth magnetosphere learn and area plasma physics integrated during this booklet express how Dungey’s simple principles have remained explanative 50 years on. however the Festspiel additionally brought a few advances that in all likelihood Dungey had now not foreseen. one of many contributions provided during this booklet is at the number of magnetospheres of the sun process that have been obvious at once through the house age, discussing the differences in spatial scale and reconnection time scale and evaluating them in appreciate of Earth, Mercury, the
mammoth planets in addition to Ganymede.