Emeritus Professor wins prestigious medal for contribution to Space Physics

Royal Astronomical Society award for Imperial professor - News

By Danielle Reeves
Tuesday 22 January 2008

Professor Andre Balogh from Imperial's Space and Atmospheric Physics research group has been awarded the 2008 Chapman Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society for his work in the area of solar-terrestrial physics.

Emeritus Professor Balogh, who retired in 2005, has since continued to work in the Physics Department as a Senior Research Investigator. Over the course of his career Professor Balogh has led many important scientific investigations including, in his most recent role as Principal Investigator for the magnetometer instruments which measure magnetic fields around the Earth, for the European Space Agency's four-spacecraft 'Cluster' mission.

Under his leadership, the Cluster science group at Imperial College London analysed data from the four spacecraft orbiting the Earth to make many important new observations of the solar wind – a supersonic stream of charged particles ejected from the Sun towards the Earth – and its interaction with the Earth's magnetic field. These studies have led to a new understanding of the structure and dynamics of the boundaries of the Earth's magnetosphere, the region of space that shields the Earth from the solar wind.

Prior to this Professor Balogh played a key leadership role in rebuilding the mission to put four Cluster craft into space following the Ariane 501 rocket disaster in 1996, which exploded after launch, destroying the orgininal Cluster craft. Professor Balogh's efforts culminated in the successful launch of Cluster on two Soyuz rockets in 2000.

He has also been Principal Investigator for the magnetometer instruments on NASA's Ulysses spacecraft launched in 1990 and still circling the Sun in a unique polar orbit. Data from these instruments allowed Professor Balogh and his team, for the first time, to determine the three-dimensional structure of the heliosphere – the vast 'bubble' which is blown out by our Sun's solar wind into the gas that permeates the entire solar system.

Commenting on receiving the Chapman Medal, Professor Balogh said: "This award is a great honour that recognises the important contributions made by our Imperial group to the understanding of the space environment of the Earth and of the solar system. I have enjoyed my 40-year career here at Imperial and the excitement of space research has remained a great motivation to me and is now motivating the newer generations of students and researchers in the group."

Congratulating Professor Balogh, Professor Donal Bradley FRS, Head of the Department of Physics, said: "Andre's had a long and distinguished career in space science and has played a major role in some of the most important studies in this field of the last 20 years. I'm delighted that the Royal Astronomical society have chosen to celebrate his work by giving him the Chapman Medal, which recognises not only the significance of his magnetic field experiments in space, but also the wider contribution he has made to space science programmes in Europe and beyond."

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