Shun-Ichi Akasofu publishes paper about Sydney Chapman

Syun-Ichi Akasofu's paper, “Sydney Chapman: A Biographical Sketch Based on the Book ‘Chapman Eighty, From His Friends,’” was published Dec. 3, 2020, in Perspectives of Earth and Space Scientists, an AGU journal.

Akasofu’s biographical sketch is about Sydney Chapman, one of the greatest geophysicists of the last century. The Chapman Building on UAF's campus, the original home of the Geophysical Institute, was named for him.

In his early days, Chapman devoted his studies to the transport properties of gases and wrote “The Mathematical Theory of Non‐Uniform Gases” with T. G. Cowling. In the field of geophysics (geomagnetism, ionospheric physics and auroral physics), Chapman made fundamental contributions in each field on the basis of rigorous mathematical physics and deep insight. Chapman also wrote the book “Geomagnetism” with J. Bartels. These efforts helped establish the foundation of a new field, space physics.

Beginning in 1953, Chapman served as the GI’s advisory scientific director, spending a few months each year in Alaska, and also took on a similar post at the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, two years later. It was he who invited the young Akasofu to come to Alaska to study in 1958.

Chapman contributed to the development of the kinetic theory of gases, geomagnetism, ionospheric physics, upper atmospheric physics, and auroral physics. His work became the foundation of both magnetospheric physics and space physics. Present advances in geophysical sciences owes greatly to his devotion and accomplishments.

UAF Centennial article about Chapman

"From a cabin to a rocket range," UAF Aurora Magazine article about Akasofu and Chapman

A pdf of Akasofu’s paper is available for download below.

Akasofu-2020CN000135.pdf