Hannes Alfvén is best known in geomagnetism for the “frozen flux” theorem that bears his name and for the discovery of magnetohydrodynamic waves. He started research in the physics department at the University of Uppsala, where he studied radiation in triodes. His early work on electronics and instrumentation was sound grounding for his later discoveries in cosmic physics. When his book Cosmical Electrodynamics (Alfvén, 1950) was published, the author was referred to by one of the reviewers— T.G. Cowling (q.v.)—as “an electrical engineer in Stockholm.” All of Hannes Alfvén's scientific work reveals a profound physical insight and an intuition that allowed him to derive results of great generality from specific problems.
Hannes Alfvén is most widely known for his discovery (Alfvén, 1942) of a new kind of waves now generally referred to as Alfvén waves (q.v.). These are a transverse mode of magnetohydrodynamic waves, and propagate with the Alfvén velocity, 
. In the Earth's core they...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Alfvén, H., 1939. A theory of magnetic storms and of the aurorae (I), Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar, Tredje Serien, 18: 1–39; Partial reprint EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 1970, 51: 181–193.
Alfvén, H., 1942. Existence of electromagnetic-hydrodynamic waves. Nature, 150: 405–406.
Alfvén, H., 1950. Cosmical Electrodynamics, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lundqvist, S., 1949. Experimental demonstrations of magneto‐hydrodynamic waves. Nature, 164: 145–146.
Lundqvist, S., 1952. Studies in magnetohydrodynamics. Arkiv för Fysik, 5: 297–347.
Pease, R.S., and Lindqvist, S., 1998. Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén. Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society, 44: 3–19.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fälthammar, C., Gubbins, D. (2007). Alfvén, Hannes Olof Gösta (1908–1995). In: Gubbins, D., Herrero-Bervera, E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4423-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4423-6_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3992-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4423-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences