Eugene Parker visits the solar probe that bears his name in the clean room where it was being built, in 2017. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL
Key Takeaways:
- Eugene Parker (1927-2022) made significant contributions to theoretical solar and plasma astrophysics.
- His 1958 prediction of the solar wind was confirmed by the Mariner II spacecraft in 1962.
- Parker also predicted the spiral structure of the Sun's magnetic field and contributed to theories of coronal heating and stellar/galactic magnetic fields.
- NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the first mission named after a living person, was named in his honor in 2017.
Eugene Parker, pioneer of theoretical solar and plasma astrophysics, was born June 10, 1927. Parker revolutionized the field of heliophysics, notably by first proposing the existence of the solar wind — a stream of charged particles ejected from the Sun — in 1958. His theory was confirmed by Mariner II in 1962. Among many other achievements, he also predicted the spiral structure of the Sun’s magnetic field, and contributed to theories of coronal heating and the magnetic fields of galaxies and stars. In 2017, NASA renamed its Solar Probe Plus as the Parker Solar Probe in his honor, the first instance of a NASA space mission being named after a living individual. Parker passed away five years later, in 2022.
