Mary Hudson (scientist)

Last updated
Mary K. Hudson
Born (1949-01-06) January 6, 1949 (age 75) [1]
Santa Monica, California
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Scientific career
Thesis Equatorial spread F : Low frequency modes in a collisional plasma  (1974)
Doctoral advisor Charles F. Kennel
Doctoral students Elena Belova

Mary Hudson (born January 6, 1949} is the Eleanor and Kelvin Smith Distinguished Professor of Physics at Dartmouth College. [2] She is known for her research on the weather patterns that occur due to solar eruptions. She was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1984.

Contents

Education and career

While in college, Hudson worked for the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation as a mathematician and earned her B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1969. [1] She then worked for the Aerospace Corporation while working on her M.S. degree which she earned from UCLA in 1971. [1] She earned her Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following her Ph.D., Hudson joined the University of California, Berkeley where she remained until 1985 when she moved to Dartmouth College. In 1990 she was promoted to professor. [2] From 2010 until 2016, she retained an affiliate position at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the High Altitude Observatory. [3]

Research

Hudson's interest in space developed as a child raised during the space race who had her own childhood telescope. [4] Starting with her Ph.D. research, Hudson worked on the spread F problem, [5] [6] a phenomenon known to impact the transmission of signals by satellites. [4] During her time at the University of California Berkeley, Hudson worked on the team led by Forrest Mozer that made the first electric field measurements in the ionosphere using the S3-3 satellite; [7] [8] the electrostatic shocks they measured accelerate electrons to make the auroras that can be seen at night in high latitudes. [9] Hudson's research on geomagnetic storms, disruptions in the Earth's magnetosphere, [10] [11] establishes the conditions that cause radiation belts to form during these storms. [12] From 2002 until 2013, Hudson co-lead the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling. [2] Her research on this project centered on magnetosphere physics, especially the trapping of solar energetic particles, [13] [14] which has consequences for technology used on Earth. [15] [16] Hudson has also examined the movement of particles in radiation belts, the Van Allen radiation belts, that surround the Earth. [17] [18] [19]

Selected publications

Awards and honors

In 1984, Hudson was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union [20] and awarded the James B. Macelwane Medal, [21] thereby becoming the first woman to receive the award. [4] She gave the Van Allen Lecture for the American Geophysical Union in 2006, [22] and received the James A. Van Allen Space Environments Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2012. [2] In 2017, she received the John Adam Fleming Medal from the American Geophysical Union. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar wind</span> Stream of charged particles from the Sun

The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between 0.5 and 10 keV. The composition of the solar wind plasma also includes a mixture of particle species found in the solar plasma: trace amounts of heavy ions and atomic nuclei of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, and iron. There are also rarer traces of some other nuclei and isotopes such as phosphorus, titanium, chromium, and nickel's isotopes 58Ni, 60Ni, and 62Ni. Superimposed with the solar-wind plasma is the interplanetary magnetic field. The solar wind varies in density, temperature and speed over time and over solar latitude and longitude. Its particles can escape the Sun's gravity because of their high energy resulting from the high temperature of the corona, which in turn is a result of the coronal magnetic field. The boundary separating the corona from the solar wind is called the Alfvén surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Allen radiation belt</span> Zone of energetic charged particles around the planet Earth

The Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind, that are captured by and held around a planet by that planet's magnetosphere. Earth has two such belts, and sometimes others may be temporarily created. The belts are named after James Van Allen, who published an article describing the belts in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetosphere of Saturn</span> Cavity in the solar wind the sixth planet creates

The magnetosphere of Saturn is the cavity created in the flow of the solar wind by the planet's internally generated magnetic field. Discovered in 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, Saturn's magnetosphere is the second largest of any planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. The magnetopause, the boundary between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind, is located at a distance of about 20 Saturn radii from the planet's center, while its magnetotail stretches hundreds of Saturn radii behind it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cluster II (spacecraft)</span> European Space Agency space mission

Cluster II was a space mission of the European Space Agency, with NASA participation, to study the Earth's magnetosphere over the course of nearly two solar cycles. The mission was composed of four identical spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation. As a replacement for the original Cluster spacecraft which were lost in a launch failure in 1996, the four Cluster II spacecraft were successfully launched in pairs in July and August 2000 onboard two Soyuz-Fregat rockets from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. In February 2011, Cluster II celebrated 10 years of successful scientific operations in space. In February 2021, Cluster II celebrated 20 years of successful scientific operations in space. As of March 2023, its mission was extended until September 2024. The China National Space Administration/ESA Double Star mission operated alongside Cluster II from 2004 to 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetosphere of Jupiter</span> Cavity created in the solar wind

The magnetosphere of Jupiter is the cavity created in the solar wind by Jupiter's magnetic field. Extending up to seven million kilometers in the Sun's direction and almost to the orbit of Saturn in the opposite direction, Jupiter's magnetosphere is the largest and most powerful of any planetary magnetosphere in the Solar System, and by volume the largest known continuous structure in the Solar System after the heliosphere. Wider and flatter than the Earth's magnetosphere, Jupiter's is stronger by an order of magnitude, while its magnetic moment is roughly 18,000 times larger. The existence of Jupiter's magnetic field was first inferred from observations of radio emissions at the end of the 1950s and was directly observed by the Pioneer 10 spacecraft in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polar wind</span> High-altitude atmospheric effect

The polar wind or plasma fountain is a permanent outflow of plasma from the polar regions of Earth's magnetosphere. Conceptually similar to the solar wind, it is one of several mechanisms for the outflow of ionized particles. Ions accelerated by a polarization electric field known as an ambipolar electric field is believed to be the primary cause of polar wind. Similar processes operate on other planets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment</span>

Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE) was the sixth National Science Foundation sponsored CubeSat mission. It was built by students at the University of Colorado at Boulder with advising from professionals at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The CSSWE mission was a joint effort by the University of Colorado's Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The mission principal investigator was Prof. Xinlin Li, and the Co-PIs are Prof. Scott Palo and Dr. Shri Kanekal. The project manager for the project was Dr. Lauren Blum, the system engineer was Dr. David Gerhardt, and the instrument scientist was Dr. Quintin Schiller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JEDI</span> Radiometer and particle detector on the Juno spacecraft

JEDI (Jupiter Energetic-particle Detector Instrument) is an instrument on the Juno spacecraft orbiting planet Jupiter. JEDI coordinates with the several other space physics instruments on the Juno spacecraft to characterize and understand the space environment of Jupiter's polar regions, and specifically to understand the generation of Jupiter's powerful aurora. It is part of a suite of instruments to study the magnetosphere of Jupiter. JEDI consists of three identical detectors that use microchannel plates and foil layers to detect the energy, angle, and types of ion within a certain range. It can detect electrons between 40 and 500 keV (Kilo electron-volts), and hydrogen and oxygen from a few tens of keV to less than 1000 keV (1 MeV). JEDI uses radiation-hardened Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC)s. JEDI was turned on in January 2016 while still en route to Jupiter, to study interplanetary space. JEDI uses solid state detectors (SSDs) to measure the total energy (E) of both the ions and the electrons. The MCP anodes and the SSD arrays are configured to determine the directions of arrivals of the incoming charged particles. The instruments also use fast triple coincidence and optimum shielding to suppress penetrating background radiation and incoming UV foreground.

Robyn Margaret Millan is an American experimental physicist, best known for her work on radiation belts that surround the Earth.

Richard Mansergh Thorne was an American physicist and a distinguished professor in the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UCLA. He was known for his contributions to space plasma physics. He was a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mei-Ching Fok</span> NASA scientist and researcher

Mei-Ching Hannah Fok is a research space physicist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. She was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2011 and elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2019. She has worked on the IMAGE, Van Allen Probes and TWINS missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Siscoe</span> American physicist

George L. Siscoe was an American physicist and professor emeritus of space physics at Boston University. He made major contributions to the understanding of the Earth's magnetosphere and the heliosphere, particularly in helping to establishing the field of space weather and the term heliophysics - a term which is now standard use.

Wen Li is a space physicist at Boston University. Her research interests include space plasma waves, Earth's radiation belt physics, solar-wind magnetosphere coupling, energetic particle precipitation, and Jovian magnetosphere and aurora: She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

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In space physics, an electrostatic solitary wave (ESW) is a type of electromagnetic soliton occurring during short time scales in plasma. When a rapid change occurs in the electric field in a direction parallel to the orientation of the magnetic field, and this perturbation is caused by a unipolar or dipolar electric potential, it is classified as an ESW.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2007). Encyclopedia of World Scientists. Infobase Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4381-1882-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Mary K. Hudson". Department of Physics and Astronomy. 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  3. ↑ "Mary Hudson | High Altitude Observatory". www2.hao.ucar.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  4. 1 2 3 "Mary K. Hudson Receives 2017 John Adam Fleming Medal". Eos. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  5. ↑ Hudson, Mary K. (1978). "Spread F bubbles: Nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor mode in two dimensions". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 83 (A7): 3189–3194. doi:10.1029/JA083iA07p03189. ISSN   2156-2202.
  6. ↑ Hudson, Mary K.; Kennel, Charles F. (1975). "Linear theory of equatorial spread F". Journal of Geophysical Research. 80 (34): 4581–4590. doi:10.1029/JA080i034p04581. ISSN   2156-2202.
  7. ↑ Mozer, F. S.; Carlson, C. W.; Hudson, M. K.; Torbert, R. B.; Parady, B.; Yatteau, J.; Kelley, M. C. (1977-02-07). "Observations of Paired Electrostatic Shocks in the Polar Magnetosphere". Physical Review Letters. 38 (6): 292–295. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.38.292. ISSN   0031-9007.
  8. ↑ Hudson, M. K.; Lysak, R. L.; Mozer, F. S. (1978). "Magnetic field-aligned potential drops due to electrostatic ion cyclotron turbulence". Geophysical Research Letters. 5 (2): 143–146. doi:10.1029/GL005i002p00143. ISSN   1944-8007.
  9. ↑ "Forrest S. Mozer Receives 2018 John Adam Fleming Medal". Eos. December 19, 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  10. ↑ Hudson, M. K.; Kotelnikov, A. D.; Li, X.; Roth, I.; Temerin, M.; Wygant, J.; Blake, J. B.; Gussenhoven, M. S. (1995). "Simulation of proton radiation belt formation during the March 24, 1991 SSC". Geophysical Research Letters. 22 (3): 291–294. doi:10.1029/95GL00009. ISSN   1944-8007.
  11. ↑ Hudson, M. K.; Elkington, S. R.; Lyon, J. G.; Marchenko, V. A.; Roth, I.; Temerin, M.; Gussenhoven, M. S. (1996), "MHD/Particle Simulations of Radiation Belt Formation During a Storm Sudden Commencement", Radiation Belts: Models and Standards, American Geophysical Union (AGU), pp. 57–62, doi:10.1029/gm097p0057, ISBN   978-1-118-66426-1 , retrieved 2021-09-06
  12. ↑ Hudson, M. K.; Elkington, S. R.; Lyon, J. G.; Marchenko, V. A.; Roth, I.; Temerin, M.; Blake, J. B.; Gussenhoven, M. S.; Wygant, J. R. (1997). "Simulations of radiation belt formation during storm sudden commencements". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 102 (A7): 14087–14102. doi:10.1029/97JA03995. ISSN   2156-2202.
  13. ↑ Hudson, M.K.; Kress, B.T.; Mazur, J.E.; Perry, K.L.; Slocum, P.L. (2004). "3D modeling of shock-induced trapping of solar energetic particles in the Earth's magnetosphere". Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. 66 (15–16): 1389–1397. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2004.03.024.
  14. ↑ Hudson, M. K.; Denton, R. E.; Lessard, M. R.; Miftakhova, E. G.; Anderson, R. R. (2004-01-01). "A study of Pc-5 ULF oscillations". Annales Geophysicae. 22 (1): 289–302. doi: 10.5194/angeo-22-289-2004 . ISSN   1432-0576.
  15. ↑ Jeffrey Hughes, W.; Hudson, Mary K. (2004). "Towards an integrated model of the space weather system". Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. 66 (15–16): 1241–1242. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2004.06.001. ISSN   1364-6826.
  16. ↑ Skibba, Ramin (2021-02-26). "Solar storms can wreak havoc. We need better space weather forecasts". Science News. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  17. ↑ Hudson, Mary K.; Kress, Brian T.; Mueller, Hans-R.; Zastrow, Jordan A.; Bernard Blake, J. (2008-03-01). "Relationship of the Van Allen radiation belts to solar wind drivers". Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. 70 (5): 708–729. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2007.11.003. ISSN   1364-6826.
  18. ↑ Baker, D. N.; Kanekal, S. G.; Hoxie, V. C.; Henderson, M. G.; Li, X.; Spence, H. E.; Elkington, S. R.; Friedel, R. H. W.; Goldstein, J.; Hudson, M. K.; Reeves, G. D. (2013-04-12). "A Long-Lived Relativistic Electron Storage Ring Embedded in Earth's Outer Van Allen Belt". Science. 340 (6129): 186–190. doi:10.1126/science.1233518. OSTI   1221156. PMID   23450000. S2CID   206547050.
  19. ↑ Li, W.; Hudson, M.K. (November 2019). "Earth's Van Allen Radiation Belts: From Discovery to the Van Allen Probes Era". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 124 (11): 8319–8351. doi: 10.1029/2018JA025940 . S2CID   213666571.
  20. ↑ "Hudson". Honors Program. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  21. ↑ "James B. Macelwane Medal | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  22. ↑ "James Van Allen Lecture". AGU. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  23. ↑ "John Adam Fleming Medal | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
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