Abstract
“Ball lightning” describes a curious natural phenomenon wherein a compact, glowing orb of light hangs in the air for up to several minutes. The globes typically hover just above the ground and move at a pace of only a few miles an hour. The phenomena have been observed to tumble right out of the sky and to pass through closed windows. A sighting was once even reported inside of an airplane. So far, scientists have only managed faint reproductions of ball lightning in laboratories; natural occurrences remain poorly understood. While to most of us fantastical and other-worldly, ball lightning has also served as the everyday work of Marshall Scholar J. Pace VanDevender’s (’69) life as a plasma physicist.
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Notes
- 1.
1. “Great Balls of Fire!: Ball Lightning,” The Economist, 27 March 2008, Accessed May 2014, Available: http://www.economist.com/node/10918140. “Ask the Experts,” Scientific American, 18 July 1997, Accessed May 2014, Available: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/periodically-i-hear-stori/.
- 2.
2. [Lecture description and bio], Sandia National Laboratories, Accessed May 2014, Available: http://www.sandia.gov/AAAS-SWARM/pdfs/Fiesta_830-10_Saturday.pdf.
- 3.
3. National Research Council, Innovation Policies for the 21st Century: Report of a Symposium, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2007, p. 190, Accessed July 2014, Available: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11852&page=190; Wal Thornhill, “The IEEE, Plasma Cosmology and Extreme Ball Lightning,” Holoscience, 30 June 2006, Accessed July 2014, Available: http://www.holoscience.com/wp/the-ieee-plasma-cosmology-and-extreme-ball-lightning/.
- 4.
4. See: Appendix B for notes on statistics.
- 5.
5. University leadership at the following institutions: University of Illinois, Denison, Mt. Holyoke, American University, University of California Santa Barbara, Duke, Wellesley, Cooper Union, Cornell, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Boston University, the Pratt Institute, Caltech, and Magdalen College, Oxford.
- 6.
6. “Today’s Marshall Plan,” Time, 8 March 1963, p. 26.
- 7.
7. [Interview notes], 1976 MACC Minutes, Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.
- 8.
8. Sir Maurice Bowra (Oxford) to Makins, The National Archives, FO 371/97650, 15 July 1952.
- 9.
9. It is unclear whether this was intended as a knock on the Rhodes Scholarship, as it may suggest, since this was the first mention of athletics in their communication. Most Rhodes Scholars at the time undertook second undergraduate degrees. Bowra to Makins, The National Archives, FO 371/97650., 25 July 1952.
- 10.
10. Minutes prepared by Hainworth, The National Archives, FO 924/996, 15 January 1953. Dr. John Foster was also present at the meeting. Although Foster was just an advisor to the Foreign Office at the time, he would be tapped to lead the Marshall Scholarship the following year, a post he held for the first 18 years of the Scholarship. Foster’s agreement with Bowra and his contemporaries may have thus additionally fueled the Marshall’s academic focus in its first decades.
- 11.
11. Jack W. Nicholls (Treasury) to Anthony Nutting (Parliament and Foreign Office), The National Archives, FO 924/996, 26 January 1953.
- 12.
12. Hainworth drafted the first white paper of the Act establishing the Scholarship. See: The National Archives, FO 924/1028.
- 13.
13. “Proposed Arrangements for the Administration of the Marshall Scholarship Scheme: United States No. 2 (1953) Cmd 8846,” Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1953, contained in The National Archives, FO 924/1028, 1953.
- 14.
14. Allen to Maud, The National Archives, FO 371/91013, 3 Sept 3 1951.
- 15.
15. A small number of Rhodes Scholars still undertake second undergraduate degrees, but since 2005, the Marshall Scholarship has stopped the practice.
- 16.
16. “Degrees Obtained by Marshall Scholars and American Rhodes Scholars 1956-62,” Rhodes House, Oxford, RT 3096, 1963.
- 17.
17. The MACC now administers a post-doctoral award once every two years, but the inaugural “Marshall Sherfield Fellowship” did not commence until 1998.
- 18.
18. As one British professor writes, “The awards have also helped us build relationships with key institutions in the States.” “Triennial Review Report: Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, July 2013,” Foreign and Commonwealth Office, July 2013, p. 13, Accessed October 2013, Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/215692/MACC_review.pdf.
- 19.
19. See: Appendix B for notes on statistics.
- 20.
20. Author interview with Linn Hobbs, 4 March 2014.
- 21.
21. The Marshall-Sherfield Fellowship was initially supported by the UK government as well, but today is it fully funded by a private endowment. Nicholas T. Hartman (’03) and Adam Giangreco (Marshall Sherfield ’04), “The Other Marshall,” Marshall Alumni Newsletter, March 2012, p. 8, Online, Accessed 30 August 2015, Available: http://www.marshallscholarship.org/uploads/March_2012_Newsletter.
- 22.
22. Roughly 10% of academics do British-oriented work. See: Appendix B for notes on statistics.
- 23.
23. Louis additionally co-edited a landmark work on Anglo-American relations, The Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations Since 1945, with the famed historian Hedley Bull.
- 24.
24. Anonymous annual reflection, 1974 MACC Minutes, Marshall Aid Com-memoration Commission, Sept 1974.
- 25.
25. Jay Kubler and Sabina Ebbols, “Report on the 2007 Marshall Scholarships Evaluation,” Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, June 2008.
- 26.
26. See: Appendix B for notes on statistics.
- 27.
27. 17% of all Marshall academics have taught at Harvard at some point in their careers. See: Appendix B for notes on statistics.
- 28.
28. To dispel any conspiracy theories, these were awarded prior to Nancy Gibbs (’82) becoming Managing Editor of the magazine.
References
The Economist. 2008. Great balls of fire!: Ball lightning. The Economist, March 27. http://www.economist.com/node/10918140. Accessed May 2014.
Scientific American. 1997. Ask the experts. Scientific American, July 18. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/periodically-i-hear-stori/. Accessed May 2014.
National Research Council. 2007. Innovation policies for the 21st century: Report of a symposium. 190. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11852&page=190. Accessed July 2014.
Thornhill, Wal. 2006. The IEEE, plasma cosmology and extreme ball lightning. Holoscience. http://www.holoscience.com/wp/the-ieee-plasma-cosmology-and-extreme-ball-lightning/. Accessed July 2014.
Time. 1963. Today’s Marshall Plan. Time, March 8, 26.
Kubler, Jay, and Sabina Ebbols. 2008. Report on the 2007 Marshall Scholarships evaluation. Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.
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Mukharji, A. (2016). Marshall “Scholars”. In: Diplomas and Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58653-7_8
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