Biographical Memoirs Volume 81 (2002) / Chapter Skim
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John Randolph Winckler
John Randolph Winckler
Pages 356-377
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From page 357... ...
Navy to detect submarines during World War II to retrieve scientific ciata from high-altitucle research balloons. His first major scientific discovery was to show that electrons with energy in the range of tens to hundreds of kiloelectron volts accompanied bright, active aurora.
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several theoretical predictions of charged particle trapping in Earth's magnetic fielcI. In 1986 John Winckler became professor emeritus en c!
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While pursuing his musical interests he met concert pianist Louise McDowell. They marries!
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The work there resultecl in his first publication in a scientific journal. It bears the title "Spherical Furnace Calorimeter for Direct Measurement of Specific Heat en cl Thermal Conductivity." The article was solely authored by Winckler, and its publication appeared about one year after his graduation from Rutgers.
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There John Winckler clesignecl en cl built a system for balloon flight to measure the cosmic ray particle intensity as a function of geomagnetic latitucle en cl its clepenclence on azimuthal en cl zenith arrival angles. He took much care to eliminate spurious effects that otherwise conic prevent an accurate determination of the cosmic ray intensity.
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From page 362... ...
Only one of the 17 flight units that were launchecl failecl to provicle the clesirecl scientific results, a remarkable record of success for those early clays of high-altitucle experimentation. Three iclentical cosmic ray telescopes were operated continuously onboarcl the ship to monitor the sea-level cosmic ray intensity.
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He en cl his graduate students pursuccl this line of research for a time, using Cerenkov detectors flown on balloons for the first time in order to determine the direction of motion of fast particles at altitucles of about 30 km. This proviclecl him with the flux of upward moving fast particles that wouIcl have been counter!
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The Geiger counter en cl the ionization chamber registered large en cl rapicIly fluctuating fluxes of X rays. Winckler en cl colleagues interpreter!
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in 1959. In retrospect Winckler's balloon observations can be seen as one of the earliest observed manifestations of Earth's magnetospheric energetic particle dynamics.
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With coauthors he publisher! several examples of solar high-energy photon emissions associated with solar flares following the first observed energetic photon burst macle with Peterson in 1959.
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Because of catastrophic failures resulting in the Toss of scientific payloads and in property damage, an activity was initiated at the University of Minnesota's Department of Physics to improve performance of high-altitucle balloons. The effort was lee!
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But his underlying interest was always to look more deeply into the workings of the natural woricI. EXPLORING THE MAGNETOSPHERE WITH ARTIFICIAL ELECTRON BEAMS: THE ECHO PRoJECT4 In the late 1960s John Winckler began a program of rocket experiments he called the "electron echo series." The initial aim was to verify the theory of electron motions
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Electron Echo II was launchecl from Fort Churchill on Hucison Bay, Canada, on September 25, 1972. No echoes were detected, indicating that those field lines there were "open." All five subsequent experiments were launchecl from the Poker Flat Research Range, near Fairbanks, Alaska, with the overall intention of exploring the Earth's magnetic field!
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From page 370... ...
by plasma instabilities proclucecl by the electron beams. The later Echo experiments carried wave en cl plasma oscillation analyzers in their payloads.
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a simple light bucket consisting of an aluminum tube with a photomultiplier tube placecl at its bottom. Pointed toward the dark sky the photometer recorclec!
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In this way he continued his long-time interest in combining aesthetics with science. IN ADDITION TO his contribution to the section on John Winckler s Echo project, Professor Paul Kellogg made many helpful comments on other parts of this memoir.
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Each of his early graduate students underwent the rite of measuring the count rate versus applied voltage of dozens of Geiger-Mueller tubes to ensure each one had a broad count-rate "plateau." 3.
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Balloon observations of solar cosmic rays on March 26, 1958.
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Echo III: The study of electric and magnetic fields with conjugate echoes from artificial electron beams injected into the auroral zone ionosphere. Geophys.
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Pollock. The energization of electrons and ions by electron beams injected in the ionosphere.
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