Abstract
IN Nature of June 16, in a communication on the theory of magnetic storms and auroras, Prof. H. Alfvén emphasizes the need for the theorist to test his work by experiment. He and his colleagues have striven to follow this laudable maxim, which was also urged in his book1, for example, on p. 37 regarding cosmic discharges, and on p. 78 regarding magneto-hydrodynamic waves (and a note added in proof records the success of S. Lundquist in experimentally demonstrating them). He gave (pp. 39–41) the scale relations between various physical magnitudes involved in laboratory experiments for illustrating large-scale natural phenomena, and these he discussed also (pp. 201–203) in relation to Malmfors's experiment intended to illustrate magnetic storm and auroral theory.
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References
Alfvén, H., “Cosmical Electrodynamics” (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1950).
Chapman, S., J. Terr. and Atmos. Phys., 1, 189 (1951).
Chapman, S., and Ferraro, V., Terr. Mag. and Atmos. Elec., 36, 77, 171, 186 (1931); 37, 147, 421 (1932); 38, 79 (1933); 45, 245 (1940); 46, 1 (1941).
Alfvén, H., Kungl. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl., (3), 18, Nos. 3 and 9 (1939, 1940).
Cowling, T. G., Terr. Mag. and Atmos. Elec., 47, 209 (1942).
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CHAPMAN, S. The Theory of Magnetic Storms and Auroras. Nature 168, 86 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1038/168086b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/168086b0
