This biography conveys the life and accomplishments of a Norwegian hero to the English speaking world, illustrating the beginnings of collaboration between science and industry. It shows how work in a small country laid the foundation for the green revolution.

Just over one hundred years ago Kristian Birkeland looked into the night sky of his native Norway and saw in the beautiful Northern Lights a mystery waiting to be solved. Determined to prove to the world his bold theory about the heavens above, this misunderstood genius began a quest that would take him from Norway's ice mountains to the deserts of Africa, and across a continent ravaged by war. It was a quest that alienated friends and family, ruined his health and sanity, and ended in his mysterious death in a Japanese hotel in 1917. Lucy Jago brilliantly tells the fascinating and tragic story of Kristian Birkeland, the man who saw in the night sky a secret that no one else could see, but who died trying to convince the world of his vision.

The general background of this monograph and the aim of it is described in detail in Chapter I. As stated in 1.7 it is written according to the principle that "when rigour appears to conflict with simplicity, simplicity is given preference", which means that it is intended for a rather broad public. Not only graduate students but also advanced undergraduates should be able to understand at least most of it. This monograph is the result of many years of inspiring discussions with a number of colleagues, for which I want to thank them very much. Especially I should mention the groups in Stockholm and La Jolla: in Stockholm, Dr Carl-Gunne Flilthammar and many of his collaborators, including Drs Lars Block, Per Carlqvist, Lennart lindberg, Michael Raadu, Staffan Torven, Miroslav Babic, and Itlgvar Axniis, and further, Drs Bo Lehnert and Bjorn Bonnevier, all at the Royal Institute of Technology. Of other col leagues in Sweden, I should mention Dr Bertel Laurent, Stockholm University, Dr Aina Elvius, The Stockholm Observatory, and Dr Bengt Hultqvist, Kiruna. In La Jolla my thanks go first of all to Dr Gustaf Arrhenius, who once invited me to La Jolla, which was the start of a most interesting collaboration; further, to Dr W.B.

This Symposium, the first devoted entirely to the measurement and the role of magnetic fields in the non-solar Universe, was held in Heidelberg, on June 19-23, 1989. The meeting began with review talks on magnetic phenomena near the solar photosphere, corona, and in stellar winds, since these nearby "laboratories", studied for many years, provide much of the prior knowl edge of magnetic effects in astrophysical plasmas. The Symposium contained presentations of considerable new work concerning the role of magnetic fields in accretion disks, bipolar outflows, and related magnetic phenomena in molecular clouds and star forming regions. Both observa tions and related theory of the large-scale magnetic fields in the Milky Way were covered, in addition to a session on the more general theme of magnetohydrodynamics of galactic magnetic fields. Dynamo mechanisms were discussed in considerable detail. It was apparent that recent observational data on polarized emission from external galaxies are now of sufficiently high quality that meaningful tests of large-scale field amplification, and of ideas on the origin of galactic magnetic fields, can be undertaken. Both new observations and numerical simulation work were described in the context of active galaxy nuclei, supernova remnants, radio source jets and extended lobes, and also in the environment of galaxy clusters. Recent large-scale computer simulations incorporating magnetic fields in star formation, radio source jets, and many other phenomena were presented, and much of this was very new.

Science, biography, and arctic exploration coverage in this extraordinary true story of the life and work of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland, the troubled genius who solved the mysteries of one of nature’s most spectacular displays. Captivated by the otherworldly lights of the aurora borealis, Birkeland embarked on a lifelong quest to discover their cause. His pursuit took him to some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, from the remote snowcapped mountains of Norway to the war-torn deserts of Africa. In the face of rebuke by the scientific establishment, sabotage by a jealous rival, and his own battles with depression and paranoia, Birkeland remained steadfast. Although ultimately vindicated, his theories were unheralded—and his hopes for the Nobel Prize scuttled—at the time of his suspicious death in 1917. The Northern Lights offers a brilliant account of the physics behind the aurora borealis and a rare look inside the mind of one of history's most visionary scientists.

All aspects of space plasmas in the Solar System are introduced and explored in this text for senior undergraduate and graduate students. Introduction to Space Physics provides a broad, yet selective, treatment of the complex interactions of the ionized gases of the solar terrestrial environment. The book includes extensive discussion of the Sun and solar wind, the magnetized and unmagnetized planets, and the fundamental processes of space plasmas including shocks, plasma waves, ULF waves, wave particle interactions, and auroral processes. The text devotes particular attention to space plasma observations and integrates these with phenomenological and theoretical interpretations. Highly coordinated chapters, written by experts in their fields, combine to provide a comprehensive introduction to space physics. Based on an advanced undergraduate and graduate course presented in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, the text will be valuable to both students and professionals in the field.

The world was coming to a crossroads, and many were concerned. As the world population began to boom during the course of the 1800s, the scientific question began to circulate – how long would the world population survive on current food supply production? To answer that challenge, it was just over a century ago in Norway that a major transformation took place. During the course of just a short decade, power plants, factories, transport systems and company towns were created. The urgent and immediate goal - producing enough mineral fertiliser to increase world food production. This is the story of the UNESCO Rjukan-Notodden Industrial Heritage Site. 250 pages of interactivity, videos, 1000+ photos, historical documentation, human-interest essays, facts, figures, innovative technology, architecture, trains, ships, design, and more - all colourfully presented in this state-of-the-art eBook.