PHYSICIST

Hannes Alfvén

1908 - 1995

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Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (Swedish: [alˈveːn]; 30 May 1908 – 2 April 1995) was a Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He described the class of MHD waves now known as Alfvén waves. He was originally trained as an electrical power engineer and later moved to research and teaching in the fields of plasma physics and electrical engineering. Alfvén made many contributions to plasma physics, including theories describing the behavior of aurorae, the Van Allen radiation belts, the effect of magnetic storms on the Earth's magnetic field, the terrestrial magnetosphere, and the dynamics of plasmas in the Milky Way galaxy. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Hannes Alfvén is the 107th most popular physicist (up from 147th in 2019), the 50th most popular biography from Sweden (up from 75th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular Swedish Physicist.

Hannes Alfvén is most famous for his work in plasma astrophysics. He helped develop the theory of magnetohydrodynamics, which explains how plasmas behave in space.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Hannes Alfvén ranks 107 out of 851. Before him are Donald A. Glaser, Aage Bohr, Thomas Young, Peter Debye, Mikhail Lomonosov, and Georges Lemaître. After him are Dennis Gabor, Clinton Davisson, Wilhelm Eduard Weber, Peter Higgs, Ernest Lawrence, and Jagadish Chandra Bose.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1908, Hannes Alfvén ranks 16. Before him are Lev Landau, Otto Skorzeny, Amon Göth, Edward Teller, Willard Van Orman Quine, and Olivier Messiaen. After him are Henri Cartier-Bresson, Don Bradman, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Simon Wiesenthal, Bette Davis, and Anna Magnani. Among people deceased in 1995, Hannes Alfvén ranks 10. Before him are Emil Cioran, Gilles Deleuze, Juan Manuel Fangio, Emmanuel Levinas, Adolf Butenandt, and Eugene Wigner. After him are Mikhail Botvinnik, Maurizio Gucci, Michael Ende, Milovan Đilas, Gunnar Nordahl, and Dean Martin.

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In Sweden

Among people born in Sweden, Hannes Alfvén ranks 50 out of 1,879. Before him are John III of Sweden (1537), Emanuel Swedenborg (1688), Benny Andersson (1946), Oleg of Novgorod (900), Björn Ulvaeus (1945), and Raoul Wallenberg (1912). After him are Haakon VI of Norway (1340), Eric XIV of Sweden (1533), Princess Birgitta of Sweden (1937), Anders Jonas Ångström (1814), Eyvind Johnson (1900), and Hilma af Klint (1862).

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Among PHYSICISTS In Sweden

Among physicists born in Sweden, Hannes Alfvén ranks 3. Before him are Manne Siegbahn (1886), and Gustaf Dalén (1869). After him are Anders Jonas Ångström (1814), Kai Siegbahn (1918), Johannes Rydberg (1854), Rolf Maximilian Sievert (1896), Christopher Polhem (1661), Oskar Klein (1894), Wilhelm Hisinger (1766), Vagn Walfrid Ekman (1874), and Knut Ångström (1857).

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