Carl Størmer

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Nugget
Number: 429
1st Author: Hugh HUDSON
2nd Author: Lyndsay FLETCHER
Published: 15 April 2022
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Contents

Introduction

Carl Størmer (1874-1957) followed Kristian Birkeland (subject of an earlier Nugget) in the illustrious history of Norwegian pioneers of heliophysics Both were active during the early years of 20th century Oslo. Figure 1 shows a well-known picture featuring both of them engaged in photographing the aurora (Birkeland taking notes). This led to triangulation that demonstrated the high altitude of the phenomenon, eliminating terrestrial explanations. The mystery here is that this famous photograph seems to have been taken in broad daylight, not the best time to see the aurora.

Figure 1: Størmer (standing) and Birkeland (seated).

This Nugget cannot add much to the existing biographies, but will touch on a single scientific item. For those interested in visiting Størmer's final resting place in Oslo's beautiful Vestre Gravlund, you will find him near Birkeland.

The origins of cosmic rays

Størmer solved the difficult mathematical problem of defining the trajectory of a charged particle in a dipole magnetic field. His hope was to be able to trace cosmic rays, as observed at the Earth's surface, back to their celestial origins. This is just the numerical integration of the Lorentz force on a particle of specified energy (or rigidity) as it arrives from infinity and interacts with the dipole.

Conclusion

This concludes our series of RHESSI Nuggets on Norwegian pioneers of heliophysics.

References

[1]

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