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James Alfred Van Allen (September 7, 1914 – August 9, 2006) was an American space scientist at the University of Iowa. He was instrumental in establishing the field of magnetospheric research in space.

James Van Allen
James van Allen.jpg
James Van Allen in 1977
James Alfred Van Allen

(1914-09-07)September 7, 1914
DiedAugust 9, 2006(2006-08-09) (aged 91)
ResidenceUnited States
Alma materIowa Wesleyan College (B.S.) (1935)
University of Iowa (M.S.) (1936)
University of Iowa (Ph.D) (1939)
Known forVan Allen radiation belts
Magnetospheric physics[1]
AwardsTime magazine Man of the Year (1960)
Elliott Cresson Medal (1961)
William Bowie Medal (1977)
National Medal of Science (1987)
Crafoord Prize (1989)
Vannevar Bush Award (1991)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Iowa
Notable studentsNicholas M. Smith
InfluencedJames Hansen

The Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following their discovery by his Geiger–Müller tube instruments on the 1958 satellites: (Explorer 1, Explorer 3, and Pioneer 3)[2][3][4] during the International Geophysical Year. Van Allen led the scientific community for the inclusion of scientific research instruments on space satellites.

Early yearsEdit

Van Allen was born on 7 September 1914 on a small farm near Mount Pleasant, Iowa, the second of four sons of Alfred Morris and Alma Olney Van Allen, a woman of Dutch ancestry (van Allen being Dutch for "from Allen/Aalden"[5]). He grew up in the small town of Mount Pleasant, 45 miles south of Iowa City. As a child he was fascinated by mechanical and electrical devices and was an avid reader of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines. He once horrified his mother by constructing a Tesla coil that produced foot-long sparks and caused his hair to stand on end.[6] Van Allen credits C. A. Cottrell, a science instructor in his high school, with stimulating his initial interest in science. He developed parallel interests in wood and metal crafts and did well in other subjects, becoming valedictorian of his Mount Pleasant High School class upon his graduation in June 1931. His valedictorian address was: Pax Romana, Pax Americana.

With a strong interest in things nautical (which he retained throughout his life), he took the entrance examinations for entry into the U.S. Naval Academy while in high school. With outstanding grades, and with the backing of his local Congressman, William F. Kopp, he applied for admission. All went well initially, but when he appeared for his physical examination, he was rejected for three reasons. His flat feet, somewhat deficient eyesight, and inability to swim. Hence he pursued a different path.

Following high school, Van Allen went to Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant. There, during the summer of 1932, after completing his freshman year, Van Allen was introduced to geophysics research under the tutelage of physics professor Thomas C. Poulter. Van Allen had great admiration for this early mentor. He stated in one of his autobiographical sketches, "Poulter, [was] one of the most inspiring and creative experimentalists that I have ever known before or since that time...." Poulter employed him as a summer assistant, "at 35 cents an hour, payable occasionally."[7] Van Allen majored in physics and graduated summa cum laude with his 37 classmates in June 1935.

Byrd Second Antarctic Expedition USPS Commemorative Issue of 1933

Poulter had been chosen by Admiral Richard E. Byrd as his chief scientist for the 1933–1935 Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition. He had the task of planning and conducting geophysical investigations during that expedition. Van Allen assisted Poulter in those preparations; his contributions included the development of a number of instruments, including a simple seismograph and a tilt-meter for recording the shifting of glacial surfaces.

Van Allen was entrusted with the checkout of an extra sensitive field magnetometer on loan from the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC. In learning to use the magnetometer and its associated theodolite, he made a magnetic field survey of Henry County, Iowa, which was included in the 1932 national grid published by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Reflecting later on this magnetometer, he referred to it as, "...the most beautiful instrument that I have ever used." In the course of his work with Poulter, Van Allen learned machine shop practice, glass blowing, welding and brazing, vacuum techniques and, of greatest importance, the essential elements of original experimental research.[6]

Poulter invited Van Allen to accompany him as a member of the Antarctic Expedition, but his parents vetoed the idea. He had to be content with listening avidly to the short-wave radio reports from Little America to follow the expedition's progress. He, with the rest of the world, was electrified by Poulter's heroic rescue of Admiral Byrd from his lonely vigil at South Pole Station in August 1934.[8]

Poulter and Byrd were honored by a public parade in Mount Pleasant the next summer, and Admiral Byrd delivered the chief commencement address at Van Allen's graduation exercises. Van Allen went to his "family" university, the State University of Iowa, for his graduate work in physics. The physics faculty at the time numbered five, George W. Stewart (department head from 1909), John A. Eldridge, Edward P. T. Tyndall, Claude J. Lapp, and Alexander Ellett. Van Allen's master's thesis in solid-state physics, with Tyndall as his advisor, was entitled: A Sensitive Apparatus for Determining Young’s Modulus at Small Tensional Strains. He received his M.S. degree at the end of his first year there, in 1936. A fellowship allowed him to continue studying nuclear physics at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., where he also became immersed in research in geomagnetism, cosmic rays, auroral physics and the physics of Earth's upper atmosphere.

For his Ph.D. research, he worked with Professor Ellett, who was switching his primary focus at that time from atomic beams to experimental nuclear physics. As part of his work, Van Allen, with Robert Huntoon and others, built a highly improvised Cockroft-Walton high-voltage power supply and accelerator. After much hard work and diligent coaxing of the cantankerous machine, he was eventually able to make a pair of successful runs, resulting in his dissertation: Absolute Cross-Section for the Nuclear Disintegration H2 + H2 > H3 + H1 and Its Dependence on Bombarding Energy [50 to 380 keV]. He received his Ph.D. degree in June 1939.[9]

From 1940 through 1942, he helped develop radio proximity fuzes (detonators to increase the effectiveness of anti-aircraft fire) for the defense of ships. Sponsored by the National Defense Research Council, his work was conducted at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. In November 1942, he was commissioned as a naval officer, and he served 16 months on various ships in the South Pacific Fleet as assistant staff gunnery officer.

In 1946, Van Allen returned to the Applied Physics Laboratory where he organized and directed a team to conduct high-altitude experimental work using V2 and Aerobee rockets, and, in 1951, he accepted a Guggenheim research fellowship at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Later yearsEdit

Later in 1951, Van Allen became professor and head of the University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy, a position he held until he retired from teaching in 1985. During the 1950s, he and his graduate students used the UI football practice field to launch rockets and "rockoons"—rockets carried aloft by balloons—to conduct cosmic ray experiments above the atmosphere. A highlight of that work was the 1953 discovery of electrons believed to be the driving force behind the aurora. In 1956, he proposed the use of U.S. satellites for cosmic-ray investigations and through "preparedness and good fortune," he later wrote, the experiment was selected as the principal payload for the first flight of a four-stage Juno I rocket in October 1957.

Van Allen played an important role in planning the 1957–58 International Geophysical Year (IGY) and carried out shipboard expeditions to Greenland and southward to the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica in 1957. IGY culminated in the Jan. 31, 1958 launch of Explorer 1 and its scientific payload. Van Allen's instruments included a Geiger–Müller tube, which provided data and information that regions of intense radiation surround the Earth. The discovery marked the birth of the research field of magnetospheric physics, an enterprise that grew to involve more than 1,000 investigators in more than 20 countries.

In 1974 People Magazine listed Van Allen as one of the top 10 teaching college professors in the country. His former graduate students list among their accomplishments experiments on NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft. Van Allen joined the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 1948 and served as the organization's president from 1982 until 1984. He has received the AGU's highest honors, including the John A. Fleming Award in 1963 for eminence in geophysics and the William Bowie Medal in 1977 for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research.

Also, in 1962 Van Allen became the second recipient of the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim International Astronautical Award presented by the International Academy of Astronautics for noteworthy contributions to astronautics, and in March 2006 he received the 2006 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Trophy for lifetime achievement. In 1994, Van Allen received the 1994 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize from the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society "in recognition of his many contributions to the field of planetary science, both through his investigations of planetary magnetospheres and through his advocacy of planetary exploration." Also in 1994, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award by NASA on the occasion of his 80th birthday and the American Geophysical Union's 75th anniversary.

James Van Allen Elementary in North Liberty, Iowa

Van Allen's many other awards and honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences since 1959 and the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor for scientific achievement, presented in 1987 by President Reagan in ceremonies at the White House. In 1989, he received the Crafoord Prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and presented by the King of Sweden. The Crafoord Prize is the highest award the Academy can bestow for research in a number of scientific fields and, for space exploration, is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Perhaps his proudest achievement as an educator was leaving his mark on 34 doctoral students, 47 master's degree students and, especially, the numerous undergraduates who enjoyed his classes. In a February 2004 interview he said, "I taught 'General Astronomy' for 17 years, and it was my favorite course. I spent one or two hours preparing for each lecture because I had a genuine enthusiasm for the course. Today, I run into people all the time who say, 'You don't remember me, but I took your course in 1985.' Many former students tell me how much they enjoyed the course."

Van Allen's wife of 61 years was Abigail Fithian Halsey II of Cincinnati (1922–2008). They were married October 13, 1945 in Southampton, Long Island. They met at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) during WW2. Their five children are Cynthia, Margot, Sarah, Thomas, and Peter.[10]

World War IIEdit

In August 1939, Van Allen joined the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. as a Carnegie Research Fellow. At the time DTM was a world-class center for nuclear physics, with Merle Tuve as its driving force. During 1939–1940 Van Allen worked with Nicholas Monroe Smith Jr. on the photodisintegration of deuterium by gamma rays, and with Norman Ramsay on measuring neutron-proton cross sections using a proportional counter that he devised for observing recoil protons.

Van Allen crossed the culture gap at DTM from nuclear physics to the department's traditional research in geomagnetism, cosmic rays, auroral physics, and ionospheric physics. Under the influence of researchers like Scott Forbush, Harry Vestine, Sydney Chapman, and Julius Bartels, Van Allen's interest in low-energy nuclear physics dwindled. He resolved to make geomagnetism, cosmic rays, and solar-terrestrial physics his fields of research, but that transformation had to await the completion of Van Allen's significant wartime contributions.

In the summer of 1940, he joined DTM's national defense efforts with his appointment to a staff position in Section T with the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) in Washington, D.C. where he worked on the development of photoelectric and radio proximity fuzes. NDRC's most important project eventually became the Manhattan Project in 1941. With the outbreak of World War 2, the proximity fuze work was transferred to the newly created Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University in April 1942.[11]

Van Allen joined the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of Johns Hopkins University in Silver Spring, Maryland, at its founding, to continue his work on proximity fuses. He worked on improving the ruggedness of vacuum tubes subject to the forces from a gun battery.

This work at APL resulted in a new generation of radio-proximity fuses (detonators to increase the effectiveness of anti-aircraft fire—for the defense of ships) used for anti-aircraft and shore bombardment.

He was commissioned as a U.S. Navy lieutenant in November 1942 and served for 16 months on a succession of South Pacific Fleet destroyers, instructing gunnery officers and conducting tests on his artillery fuses. He was an assistant staff gunnery officer on the battleship USS Washington when the ship successfully defended itself against a Japanese kamikaze attack during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, (June 19–20, 1944). For his actions at the Pacific, Van Allen was awarded four battle stars.[12] He was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1946. "My service as a naval officer was, far and away, the most broadening experience of my lifetime," he wrote in a 1990 autobiographical essay.[6]

Aerobee and RockoonEdit

Discharged from the Navy in 1946, Van Allen returned to civilian research at APL. He organized and directed a team at Johns Hopkins University to conduct high-altitude experiments, using V-2 rockets captured from the Germans at the end of World War II. Van Allen decided a small sounding rocket was needed for upper atmosphere research and the Aerojet WAC Corporal and the Bumblebee missile were developed under a US Navy program. He drew specifications for the Aerobee and headed the committee that convinced the U.S. government to produce it. The first instrument-carrying Aerobee was the A-5, launched on March 5, 1948 from White Sands, carrying instruments for cosmic radiation research, reaching an altitude of 117.5 km.

Van Allen elected chairman of the V-2 Upper Atmosphere Panel on December 29, 1947. The panel was renamed Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel on March 18, 1948; then Rocket and Satellite Research Panel on April 29, 1948. The panel suspended operations on May 19, 1960 and had a reunion on February 2, 1968.[13]

Cmdr. Lee Lewis, Cmdr. G. Halvorson, S.F. Singer, and James A. Van Allen develop the idea for the Rockoon on March 1, 1949 during the Aerobee rocket firing cruise on the research vessel U.S.S. Norton Sound.

On April 5, 1950 Van Allen left the Applied Physics Laboratory, to accept a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation research fellowship at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The following year (1951) Van Allen accepted the position as head of the physics department at the University of Iowa. Before long, he was enlisting students in his efforts to discover the secrets of the wild blue yonder and inventing ways to carry instruments higher into the atmosphere than ever before. By 1952, Van Allen was the first to devise a balloon-rocket combination that lifted rockets on balloons high above most of the Earth's atmosphere before firing them even higher. The rockets were ignited after the balloons reached an altitude of 16 kilometers.

James Van Allen holding (Loki) instrumented Rockoon, Credit: JPL

As Time magazine reported in 1959, "Van Allen’s ‘Rockoons’ could not be fired in Iowa for fear that the spent rockets would strike an Iowan or his house." So Van Allen convinced the U.S. Coast Guard to let him fire his rockoons from the icebreaker Eastwind that was bound for Greenland. "The first balloon rose properly to 70,000 ft., but the rocket hanging under it did not fire. The second Rockoon behaved in the same maddening way. On the theory that extreme cold at high altitude might have stopped the clockwork supposed to ignite the rockets, Van Allen heated cans of orange juice, snuggled them into the third Rockoon’s gondola, and wrapped the whole business in insulation. The rocket fired."

In 1953 the Rockoons and their science payloads fired off Newfoundland detected the first hint of radiation belts surrounding Earth. The low-cost Rockoon technique was later used by the Office of Naval Research and The University of Iowa research groups in 1953–55 and 1957, from ships at sea between Boston and Thule, Greenland.[14][15]

In 1954, in a private discussion about the Redstone project with Ernst Stuhlinger, Wernher von Braun expressed his belief that they should have a "real, honest-to-goodness scientist" involved in their little unofficial satellite project. "I’m sure you know a scientist somewhere who would fill the bill, possibly in the Nobel Prize class, willing to work with us and to put some instruments on our satellite." Stuhlinger, himself a cosmic ray researcher during his college years, and having worked with Van Allen at White Sands with V-2 rockets, was ready with his reply: "Yes, of course, I will talk to Dr. Van Allen."

Stuhlinger followed this by a visit with Van Allen at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, where Van Allen was on sabbatical leave from Iowa to work on stellarator design. Van Allen later recounted, "Stuhlinger’s 1954 message was simple and eloquent. By virtue of ballistic missile developments at Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), it was realistic to expect that within a year or two a small scientific satellite could be propelled into a durable orbit around the earth (Project Orbiter).... I expressed a keen interest in performing a worldwide survey of the cosmic-ray intensity above the atmosphere."[16]

In 1955, the U.S. announced Project Vanguard as part of the US contribution to the International Geophysical Year, a project to launch an artificial satellite into an orbit around the Earth. It was to be run by the US Navy and to be based on developing sounding rockets, which had the advantage that they were primarily used for non-military scientific experiments.[17]

The symposium on "The Scientific Uses of Earth Satellites" was held on January 26 and 27, 1956 at the University of Michigan under sponsorship of the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel, chaired by Dr. Van Allen. 33 scientific proposals were presented for inclusion in the IGY satellites. Van Allen's presentation highlighted the use of planned U.S. satellites for continuing cosmic-ray investigations. At this same time his Iowa Group began preparations for scientific research instruments to be carried by 'Rockoons' and Vanguard for the International Geophysical Year. Through "preparedness and good fortune," as he later wrote, those scientific instruments were available for incorporation in the 1958 Explorer and Pioneer IGY launches.

International Geophysical YearEdit

  • July 1, 1957: The International Geophysical Year begins. IGY is carried out by the International Council of Scientific Unions, over an 18-month period selected to match the period of maximum solar activity (e.g. sun spots). Lloyd Berkner, one of the scientists at the April 5, 1950 Silver Spring, Maryland meeting in Van Allen's home, serves as president of the ICSU from 1957 to 1959.
  • September 26, 1957: Thirty-six Rockoons (balloon-launched rockets) were launched from Navy icebreaker U.S.S. Glacier in Atlantic, Pacific, and Antarctic areas ranging from 75° N. to 72° S. latitude, as part of the U.S. International Geophysical Year scientific program headed by James A. Van Allen and Lawrence J. Cahill of The University of Iowa. These were the first known upper atmosphere rocket soundings in the Antarctic area. Launched from IGY Rockoon Launch Site 2, Atlantic Ocean; Latitude: 0.83° N, Longitude: 0.99° W.
  • October 4, 1957: The Soviet Union (USSR) successfully launches Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, as part of their participation in the IGY.
Pickering, Van Allen & Von Braun IGY News Conference at National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
Model of Van Allen Radiation Belts, Credit: NASA
  • January 31, 1958: The first American satellite, Explorer 1, was launched into Earth's orbit on a Juno I four-stage booster rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Aboard Explorer 1 were a micrometeorite detector and a cosmic ray experiment designed by Van Allen and his graduate students, the satellite deployment of the sensor package supervised by Ernst Stuhlinger, who also had an expert cosmic ray background.[18] Data from Explorer 1 and Explorer 3 (launched March 26, 1958) were used by the Iowa group to make "the first space-age scientific discovery": "the existence of a doughnut-shaped region of charged particle radiation trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field".
  • July 29, 1958: United States Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the "Space Act"), which created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies.
  • December 6, 1958: Pioneer 3, the third intended U.S. International Geophysical Year lunar probe under the direction of NASA with the Army acting as executive agent, was launched from the Atlantic Missile Range by a Juno II rocket. The primary objective of the flight, to place the 12.95 pound (5.87 kg) scientific payload in the vicinity of the moon, failed. Pioneer III did reach an altitude of 63,000 miles (101 000 km), providing Van Allen additional data that led to discovery of a second radiation belt. Trapped radiation starts at an altitude of several hundred miles from Earth and extends for several thousand miles into space. The Van Allen radiation belts are named after Van Allen, their discoverer.

Foundation of space science and explorationEdit

Van Allen with four Soviet scientists visiting the University of Iowa, December 1959
John A. Simpson and James Van Allen, Pioneer 10/11 press conference on magnetic field and radiation belts at Jupiter, January 27, 1973.

In 1950 an event occurred that began small but was to affect the future of Van Allen and all his countrymen. In March, British Physicist Sydney Chapman dropped in on Van Allen [and] remarked that he would like to meet other scientists in the Washington area. Van Allen got on the phone, soon gathered eight or ten top scientists (Lloyd Berkner, S. Fred Singer, and Harry Vestine) in the living room of his small brick house. ‘It was what you might call a pedigreed bull session,’ he says.... The talk turned to geophysics and the two ‘International Polar Years’ that had enlisted the world’s leading nations to study the Arctic and Antarctic regions in 1882 and 1932. Someone suggested that with the development of new tools such as rockets, radar and computers, the time was ripe for a worldwide geophysical year. The other men were enthusiastic, and their enthusiasm spread around the world from Washington DC. From this meeting Lloyd Berkner and other participants proposed to the International Council of Scientific Unions that an IGY be planned for 1957–58 (during the maximum solar activity).... The International Geophysical Year (1957–58) stimulated the U.S. Government to promise earth satellites as geophysical tools. The Soviet government countered by rushing its Sputniks into orbit. The race into space or Space Race may be said to have started in Van Allen’s living room that evening in 1950.

— Time, 1959

In the May 4, 1959 issue of Time magazine, its writers credited James Van Allen as the man most responsible for giving the U.S. "a big lead in scientific achievement." They called Van Allen "a key figure in the cold war’s competition for prestige. .... Today he can tip back his head and look at the sky. Beyond its outermost blue are the world-encompassing belts of fierce radiation that bear his name. No human name has ever been given to a more majestic feature of the planet Earth."

Model of Pioneer 10 / 11 spacecraft at the National Air and Space Museum

James Van Allen, his colleagues, associates and students at The University of Iowa continued to fly scientific instruments on sounding rockets, Earth satellites (Explorer 52 / Hawkeye 1), and interplanetary spacecraft including the first missions (Pioneer program, Mariner program, Voyager program, Galileo spacecraft) to the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Their discoveries contributed important segments to the world's knowledge of energetic particles, plasmas and radio waves throughout the solar system.

In all, Van Allen was the principal investigator for scientific investigations on 24 Earth satellites and planetary missions.

Professor EmeritusEdit

Van Allen stepped down as the head of the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy in 1985, but continued his work at the University of Iowa and served as the Carver Professor of Physics, Emeritus.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan presented the National Medal of Science, the U.S.'s highest honor for scientific achievement, to James Van Allen at White House ceremonies. In 1989, he received the Crafoord Prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and presented by the King of Sweden. The Crafoord Prize is the highest award the Academy can bestow for research in a number of scientific fields and, for space exploration, is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

On October 9, 2004, The University of Iowa and the UI Alumni Association hosted a celebration to honor Van Allen and his many accomplishments, and in recognition of his 90th birthday. Activities included an invited lecture series, a public lecture followed by a cake and punch reception, and an evening banquet with many of his former colleagues and students in attendance. In August 2005 an Elementary School bearing his name opened in North Liberty, Iowa.

On August 9, 2006 James Van Allen died at University Hospitals in Iowa City from heart failure.[19][20] Professor Van Allen and his wife are buried in Southampton, New York,[21] where Mrs. Van Allen (Abigail Halsey) was born and the couple were married in 1945.[22]

Artist's rendition of Van Allen Probes in Earth orbit. Credit: NASA

In 2009 Van Allen's boyhood home in Mt. Pleasant, once maintained as a museum to him, was slated to be demolished. The new owner, Lee Pennebaker, chose not to demolish the home. It was donated to the Henry County Heritage Trust, which plans to move the house next to the old Saunders School which will be the home of the Henry County museum.[23][24]

Van Allen ProbesEdit

On Nov. 9, 2012 NASA renamed the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), a mission to study Earth's Van Allen radiation belts, as the Van Allen Probes mission in honor of the late James A. Van Allen, U.S. space pioneer and longtime distinguished professor of physics in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.[25] The Applied Physics Laboratory, where Dr. Van Allen worked for a decade, is responsible for the overall implementation and instrument management for RBSP. The primary mission is scheduled to last 2 years, with expendables expected to last for 4 years.

Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron LossesEdit

A balloon begins to rise over the brand new Halley VI Research Station, which had its grand opening in February 2013

Eighty years after the Second Byrd Expedition, the Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL), a NASA mission began to study Earth's Van Allen radiation belts at the Antarctic (South Pole) managed by Dartmouth College. BARREL launched 20 balloons from Antarctica during each of two balloon campaigns in January–February 2013 and December 2013 – February 2014. This scientific data will complement the Van Allen Probes data over the two-year mission.

See alsoEdit

  1. ^ "Sputnik Biographies—James A. Van Allen (1914– )". Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Explorer 1 Scientific instrument". NASA. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  3. ^ "Explorer 3 Scientific instrument". NASA. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Pioneer 3 Scientific instrument". NASA. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Van Allen Name Meaning & Van Allen Family History at". Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Van Allen. James (1990). "What Is A Space Scientist? An Autobiographical Example". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Annual Reviews, Inc. Retrieved 22 August 2002.
  7. ^ Van Allen, James A. (1997). Energetic Particles in the Earth's External Magnetic Field. History of Geophysics. 7. American Geophysical Union. pp. 235–251. Bibcode:1997HGeo....7..235V. doi:10.1029/HG007p0235. ISBN 978-0-87590-288-3.
  8. ^ Byrd, Richard E. (1938). Alone. Ace Books, Inc., New York.
  9. ^ George Ludwig (9 October 2004). "James Alfred Van Allen: From High School to Beginning of the Space Era - A Biographical Sketch" (PDF). Retrieved 3 July 2002.
  10. ^ "James Van Allen Biography - life, children, parents, wife, school, old, born, college, time - Newsmakers Cumulation". Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  11. ^ "Department of Terrestrial Magnetism". Carnegie Institution. 11 August 2006. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  12. ^ "James Van Allen Biography". Encyclopedia of World Biography. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  13. ^ "Meetings of Rocket and Satellite Research Panel". Beyond the Atmosphere: Early Years of Space Science. NASA. Archived from the original on 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  14. ^ "Light Ship USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279)". Stratocat. 2005. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  15. ^ "Light Ship USS Colonial (LSD-18)". Stratocat. 2005. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  16. ^ George H. Ludwig (9 October 2004). "The First Explorer Satellites" (PDF). p. 2. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  17. ^ "Project Vanguard". U.S. Naval Research Lab. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  18. ^ George H. Ludwig (October 9, 2004). "The First Explorer Satellites" (PDF). Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  19. ^ Galluzzo, Gary (2006-08-09). "U.S. Space Pioneer, UI Professor James A. Van Allen Dies" (Press release). University of Iowa News Services. Archived from the original on 2011-09-19. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  20. ^ "Pioneering Astrophysicist James Van Allen Dies". NASA. 2006-08-10. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  21. ^ "James Alfred Van Allen". Find A Grave.
  22. ^ "Abigail Van Allen Obituary". Iowa City Press-Citizen. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  23. ^ "James Van Allen's boyhood home being moved". Cedar Rapids Gazette. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
  24. ^ "Van Allen house in Mount Pleasant will be razed". 22 June 2009. Retrieved 2013-05-30.[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ Galluzzo, Gary (2012-11-12). "NASA renames space mission to honor University of Iowa's James Van Allen". IowaNow. Retrieved 2013-06-15.

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Wrongful death claim

  (Redirected from Wrongful death)

Wrongful death is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death.[1] The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute.

Types of wrongful death claimsEdit

Any fatality caused by the wrongful acts of another may result in a wrongful death claim. Many wrongful death claims are based upon death resulting from negligence, for example following a motor vehicle accident caused by another driver, a dangerous roadway or defective vehicle, or medical malpractice.[2] Dangerous roadway claims result from deaths caused in whole or in part by the condition of the roadway.[3]

Common law jurisdictionsEdit

In most common law jurisdictions, there was no common law right to recover civil damages for the wrongful death of a person.[4] Under common law, a dead person cannot bring a suit, and this created an anomaly in which activities that resulted in a person's injury would result in civil sanction, but activities that resulted in a person's death would not. Some jurisdictions recognized a common law right of recovery for wrongful death,[5] reasoning that “there is no present public policy against allowing recovery for wrongful death."[6] In other jurisdictions the cause of action did not exist until the passage of a wrongful death statute.[7]

Jurisdictions that recognize the common law right to recovery for wrongful death have used the right to fill in gaps in statutes or to apply common law principles to decisions.[8] Many jurisdictions enacted statutes to create a right to such recovery.[9] The issue of liability will be determined by the tort law of a given state or nation.

It may be possible for a family to seek retribution against someone who kills or is accused of killing a family member through tort rather than a criminal prosecution, which has a higher burden of proof. However, the two actions are not mutually exclusive; a person may be prosecuted criminally for causing a person's death (whether in the form of murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, or some other theory) and that person can also be sued civilly in a wrongful death action (as in the O.J. Simpson murder case).[10]

In Australia, the standard of proof in a wrongful death action is 'on the balance of probabilities'.[11]

To an extent, people can protect themselves from wrongful death lawsuits by having the participants sign a waiver.[12]

United StatesEdit

"Wrongful death" is a cause of action, or type of claim, that can be brought when one person or entity wrongfully causes someone's death.[13] It allows a lawsuit to be filed even though the person who was harmed is no longer alive to bring the case. Each state has its own wrongful death statute and, although the details of the statutes vary significantly from state to state, the roots of most can be traced back to Lord Campbell's Act, passed by the United Kingdom's Parliament in 1846.[14] In some states, the family of the decedent must bring two different types of claims: a "wrongful death" claim to recover the "full value of the life" of the deceased, and a survival claim on behalf of the decedent's estate to recover for funeral expenses, pain and suffering, or punitive damages.[13]

The standard of proof in the United States is typically preponderance of the evidence[15] as opposed to clear and convincing or beyond a reasonable doubt.

Each state has different laws regarding wrongful death claims.[16] In most states, the statute of limitations (time limit to file a case) varies according to how the death occurred. For example, in Oregon, many wrongful death claims are subject to a three year statute of limitations - but there are many exceptions, including: when alcohol is involved, when a public body is involved, or in product liability claims.

One of the most difficult wrongful death issues, and a particularly poignant illustration of how wrongful death expands liability beyond that at common law, is whether a wrongful death claim can be founded upon intentional infliction of emotional distress that caused the decedent to commit suicide. The first jurisdiction to allow such a claim was California in 1960,[17] followed by Mississippi,[18] New Hampshire,[19] and Wyoming.[20]

In the State of California, an entity is liable for a wrongful death based upon the condition of its property when substantial risk of injury or death exists when motorists are exercising due care.[21]

United KingdomEdit

In the United Kingdom, liability for causing a wrongful death arose from the Fatal Accidents Act 1846 (Lord Campbell's Act).[22] The burden of proof in a wrongful death action is 'on the balance of probabilities'.[11]

See alsoEdit

  1. ^ "Wrongful death action". Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  2. ^ Gross, Bruce (Spring 2005). "Death throes: professional liability after client suicide". Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association: 34. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  3. ^ Larson, Aaron (19 July 2016). "Road Design Issues in Motor Vehicle Accidents". ExpertLaw. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  4. ^ 22A Am. Jur. 2d Death § 1.
  5. ^ Smedley, T.A. (1959). "Wrongful Death--Bases of the Common Law Rules". Vanderbilt Law Review. 13: 605. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. ^ Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc., 398 U.S. 375, 90 S.Ct. 1772 (1970).
  7. ^ Williams, Robert A. "Johnson v. University Hospitals of Cleveland: Public Policy over Traditional Principles" (PDF). Akron Law Review. 23 (3): 599.
  8. ^ Restatement (Second) of Torts § 925 (1979).
  9. ^ 22A Am. Jur. 2d Death § 3.
  10. ^ Ayres, B. Drummond (11 February 1997). "Jury Decides Simpson Must Pay $25 Million in Punitive Award". New York Times. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  11. ^ a b Davies, Stephen (22 October 2009). "Proof on the balance of probabilities: what this means in practice". Practical Law. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  12. ^ Mitchell, Tony (23 July 2014). "Australia: Does a waiver wave away all rights to make a claim for restitution?". Mondaq. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  13. ^ a b Larson, Aaron (7 June 2017). "What is a Wrongful Death Claim". ExpertLaw. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  14. ^ Speiser, Stuart M.; Malawer, Stuart S. (1976). "American Tragedy: Damages for Mental Anguish of Bereaved Relatives in Wrongful Death". Tulane Law Review. 51 (1). Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  15. ^ See, e.g., "Motley v. Colley, 769 S.W.2d 477 (Mo.App. 1989)". Google Scholar. Google. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  16. ^ King, E.M.; Smith, J.P. (1988). "Computing economic loss in cases of wrongful death". K4Health. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  17. ^ Tate v. Canonica, 180 Cal. App. 2d 898, 909, 5 Cal. Rptr. 28, 36 (1960).
  18. ^ State ex rel. Richardson v. Edgeworth, 214 So.2d 579 (Miss. 1968).
  19. ^ Mayer v. Town of Hampton, 127 N.H. 81, 497 A.2d 1206 (1985).
  20. ^ R.D. v. W.H., 875 P.2d 26 (Wyo. 1994).
  21. ^ "Cordova v. City of Los Angeles, 61 Cal.4th 1099, 190 Cal.Rptr.3d 850, 353 P.3d 773 (2015)". Google Scholar. Google. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  22. ^ "Text Of Fatal Accidents Act 1846" (PDF). Retrieved 8 March 2012.

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text:
Chief accountant of a hospital in Chuvashia will face trial on charges of embezzling budget funds

According to the investigation, in the period from 2013 to 2018, the defendant sent to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic requests for allocation of funds, including into them not only the cost of maintaining the hospital and staff, but also additional amounts, which she disposed of at her discretion. At the same time, trying to hide her illegal actions, the chief accountant kept a second set of documentation, which was stored only in her personal computer.

At the initial stage, the offender appropriated insignificant sums of money, then the stolen funds began amounting to hundreds of thousands of rubles. Investigators of the Investigation Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Chuvashia found that within five years the woman had stolen more than 11 million rubles allocated for the needs of the medical institution. For the time of the investigation, a preventive measure in the form of house arrest was chosen for the defendant, she voluntarily reimbursed a part of the damage caused – about 300,000 rubles; the woman’s real estate worth 1 million rubles was arrested.

Currently, the materials of the criminal case charging the 35-year-old local resident with the crime stipulated by parts 3 and 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Theft of money by misappropriation or embezzlement with use of official position in large and especially large amounts” and Article 174 footnote 1 “Legalization of proceeds from crime”, have been sent to court for consideration on the merits.

The official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation
© 2019, The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation


text:
Le Gîte de la Plaine

Flat ,  House ,  Furnished flats and gîtes at Cormost

3c Terrasse avec table pique-nique.jpg
2 Entrée privative.JPG
1 Extérieur.JPG
4  Coin repas.JPG
5 Coin repas-cuisine.JPG
6 Cuisine américaine - salon.JPG
7 Grande pièce de vie.JPG
8 Salon.JPG
9 Canapé BZ.JPG
10 Grande chambre Lit 160x200.JPG
11 Mezzanine Lit 140x190 90x190.JPG
12 Salle d'eau.JPG
13 Fleurs.JPG
  • Patricia and Eric welcome you to their house: a duplex apartment on the first floor of a charming farmhouse Champagne; you will enjoy a large green area with a picnic table where you can relax with family in peace and quiet. You enter on the ground floor by a private door and go to the apartment by an authentic attic stairs.

    CORMOST is a small village located 12 km south of the TROYES agglomeration and on the edge of the Chaource forest. 10 mm from exit 21 of the A5 motorway.

    Patricia and Eric will welcome you to their gîte for 7 people: a duplex apartment on the first floor of a charming Champagne farmhouse; you will enjoy a large green space with a picnic table where you can recharge your batteries with your family in peace and quiet.
    You enter the ground floor through a private door and access the apartment through an authentic attic staircase.

    The 70m² gîte consists of a dining area with open plan kitchen, overlooking a spacious living room; a shower room with WC; a large bedroom with a large wardrobe; a mezzanine under the pretty oak frame.
    Beds are made upon your arrival. Animals accepted under conditions.

    To discover:
    -The Chaource forest and its cheeses.
    -The land of Othe and its cider.
    -The Lakes of the Eastern Forest.
    -The champagne.
    -Nigloland: Family amusement park
    .medieval city
    .its cathedral and its 9 churches
    .its museums ...
    -Factory stores:
    Brands Avenue Mode et Maison
    City brands
    .Brand Villages....
  • Environment
    • In the country
  • Capacity
    • Bedrooms :  2 Bedroom(s)
    • Accommodation :  7 Person(s)
  • Spoken languages
  • Equipment
    • Owner nearby
    • Picnic area
    • Barbecue
    • Corner sofa
    • Equipment for baby
    • Detached house
    • Common garden
    • Private car park
    • Picnic tables
    • Half shaded grounds
    • Terrace
  • Amenities
    • Vacuum cleaner
    • Baby's highchair
    • Non smoking rooms
    • Heating
    • Kitchen - kitchenette
    • Double-glazed windows
    • Shower
    • Kitchen appliances
    • Oven
    • Private washing machine
    • Dishwasher
    • Baby's bed
    • Microwave
    • Refrigerator
    • Hair dryer
    • Baby's changing table
    • Television
  • Services
    • Animals accepted
    • End of stay cleaning/housekeeping
    • Area closed at night
Payment methods
  • Holiday cheques
  • Cash
  • Transfers
  • Rates 2019
  • 190 €
  • Week (furnished flat)
    470 €
  • 13 €
  • 4 €
  • Cleaning
    60 €
  • Night (furnished flat)
    From 65 €
  • Tourist tax
    0,70 €
  • All year
    * Arrivée à partir de 17h et départ pour 10h.


text:
Economics - master

How are resources used in society, and how should they be used? These are the big issues in economics. A Master's degree in Economics provides you with a deeper understanding of theoretical and applied economic analysis, methodology and empirical research. Students will have the opportunity to work independently through self-study and assignments.

Duration:2 Years
Location: Tromsø
Credits (ECTS):120
Qualification:Master's Degree in Economics
Admission requirements:A Bachelor's degree, or equivalent degree, in Economics
Application deadline:Nordic applicants: 15 April
International applicants: 1 December
Application code:Nordic applicants: 6002 | International applicants: 2018
How to Apply
The programme consists of advanced courses in microeconomics, which also includes the use of linear algebra and static optimization. Macroeconomics includes the analysis of open economies and economic growth. In their first semester students will have a course in econometrics - advanced quantitative methods for economics. In the third semester students can choose between a course in advanced finance and a course in applied microeconomics. In the third semester students will also have to take a course that gives a common basis for working with the Master's thesis, and specializing within the subject field of the thesis. The Master's thesis constitutes 30 ECTS, and will be written during the fourth and last semester.

A Master's candidate is expected to have advanced and comprehensive knowledge of economic methodology, theories, concepts and relevant scientific approaches. The candidates who complete the programme are expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes, defined by knowledge, skills and general competence:

The candidate...

  • has extensive and broad knowledge of economic theory as well as solid skills in mathematical and econometric methods in accordance with national and international standards in economics
  • has acquired comprehensive knowledge at a high level in applied and theoretical economics

The candidate...

  • can find and evaluate relevant sources in a critical manner, and is further able to generate independent assessments and develop projects
  • can present information and ideas in an instructive manner to both researchers and the general public
  • can formulate relevant research questions in an independent manner, and analyze large amounts of information by applying economic models and quantitative methods in line with scientific and ethical standards
  • can participate in and lead projects and contribute to research activities
  • can carry out analytical and management tasks as well as assume responsibility for such tasks in knowledge-intensive environments, such as private businesses, government and NGOs

General competence:

The candidate...

  • has in-depth and specialized disciplinary competence through their education
  • has a sufficient foundation to participate in research projects and embark on doctoral studies
  • can analyse economic issues that require skills at a high level
  • can apply their knowledge and skills in economic theory and methods in new areas to perform advanced tasks and projects

Admission to the Master`s programme in Economics requires a Bachelor`s degree (180 ECTS), or equivalent degree, in Economics. Regarded as equivalent can be a Bachelor's degree in another field which includes at least 80 ECTS in Economics.

  • Applicants who hold a bachelor`s degree or equivalent issued in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand: An average grade C as a minimum requirement
  • Applicants who hold a bachelor`s degree or equivalent issued in countries other than the above mentioned region/countries: An average grade B as a minimum requirement.

More information on admission requirements:

Applicants from Norway or Nordic countries:

  • Application deadline: April 15th for admission to the autumn semester
  • Application code: 6002

International applicants/Applicants from outside the Nordic countries:

  • Application deadline: December 1st for admission to the autumn semester
  • Application code: 2018

Are you an international applicant? Read more here

A combination of teaching and assessment forms is used including lectures, seminars and self-study projects.

The language of instruction and all syllabus material is English.

A Master's Degree in Economics qualifies graduates for positions in research institutions, public administration, organisations and private companies. Economists work in many fields: within management, financial management and planning, analysis of economic development and the effects of economic measures. There are also professional opportunities within media and education.
On successful completion of the Master's degree programme, students may be qualified for admission to a PhD-programme at UiT The Arctic University of Norway or elsewhere.

Students at the Master's Degree Program in Economics have good opportunities for taking parts of their studies abroad. For more information please visit the website «Utveksling - en verdifull opplevelse» (only in Norwegian) or contact the international coordinator at the BFE faculty - International coordinator.

Heidi M Hemmingsen

Outreach officer
Phone: +4777645236

Bli student ved UiT!

Student life - see the film

Film: Nikolai Schirmer, August Schirmer, Simon Øverås and Christian Gamst Helgesen. Music: Cazadores - Islands.

Experiences of former students

Kia Johanna Uuskartano

Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in Economics

I currently work for Norges Sjømatråd (the Norwegian seafood council). I started in Norges Sjømatråd as an intern in the autumn of 2013, but now have a steady job there as a system developer/analyst. I work mainly with market information and statistics. These days I am, amongst other things, working on a project where we develop new systems for market information and statistics related to the seafood industry.

I am originally from Finland, but moved to Norway in 2007. After having worked here in the north for a year, I wanted to study, and the School of Business and Economics at UiT became a natural choice for me. I think the School of Business and Economics offers a good range of studies within economics.

I enjoyed my time at the School of Business and Economics very much. I felt that there was a good connection between lecturers and students, and I received good help with both counselling and questions that arose during my studies. I was also involved with student organizations during my time at the School of Business and Economics and felt that I benefited a lot from this.


text:
Follow Vogue Arabia

In This Saudi Curator’s Gallery, Activism And Art Go Hand In Hand

“We’re experiencing a traffic jam getting to our venue,” texts Saudi gallerist Mashael Al Rushaid. To prove her point, she sends a video. Gondolas and woodpaneled motorboats are bobbing in murky waters as they try to sort out drop-offs at a dimly lit palazzo. It’s an amusing scene from Venice, where Al Rushaid is currently attending the 58th Venice Biennale. However, at this year’s edition, the founder of London’s Heist Gallery is not just a guest – she is hosting “most of the biennale,” and her arrival is imperative to this and generally all the soirées.

The main affair is Heist’s showcase at the 18th century Palazzo Benzon. Called She Persists, it presents and all-female group of 23 established and emerging artists, including Judy Chicago, Lynda Benglis, and Rose McGowan. Using various creative mediums, female voices of rebellion and resilience are elevated.

Courtesy of Heist Gallery.

Al Rushaid – who comes from a family of trailblazing sisters, one of whom launched Raffles Riyadh, the first women’s international institute of design in the Middle East – is keen to offer a platform for debate for female “art activists” changing the art history narrative. “The Venice Biennale is the heart of the global art world,” she says. “As a gallerist and a Saudi woman, I felt a sense of responsibility to use this platform to spotlight a rich diversity of global artists’ perspectives.” Heist gallery showcased a series of subversive Guerrilla Girls posters, including The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist (1988) and Do Women Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met Museum? (1989). Heist also commissioned a film by Tonia Arapovic, starring #MeToo pioneer Rose McGowan. Indecision IV challenges prescribed notions of gender constructs via contemporary dance.

Courtesy of Heist Gallery.

In between hosting a lunch at Gritti Palace and dinner at a secret location, Heist held a panel discussion, called Breaking the Glass Ceiling in the Arts, moderated by Louisa Buck with McGowan and She Persists co-curator, art historian Sona Datta. One such work aiming to break through is The Paradise Bath (2009), a provocative photo series by Kuwaiti-born artist Hamra Abbas. The series, which was banned from production in Pakistan, is staged in a 15th century Ottoman bathhouse, with the artist ritualistically bathing a white European woman, “contextualizing colonization with Orientalism and addressing power structures while probing Islamic ideals of purity.”

Originally published in the June 2019 issue of Vogue Arabia

Read Next: Thinking Of Buying Art? Here’s A Beginner-Friendly Guide

View All
Vogue Collection


text:
1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Broadwick Street showing the John Snow memorial and public house. The memorial pump was removed due to new construction in March 2016. A plaque affixed to the public house reads: The Red Granite kerbstone mark is the site of the historic Broad Street pump associated with Dr John Snow's discovery in 1854 that cholera is conveyed by water.

The Broad Street cholera outbreak (or Golden Square outbreak) was a severe outbreak of cholera that occurred in 1854 near Broad Street (now Broadwick Street) in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, London, England, and occurred during the 1846–1860 cholera pandemic happening worldwide. This outbreak, which killed 616 people, is best known for the physician John Snow's study of its causes and his hypothesis that germ-contaminated water was the source of cholera, rather than particles in the air (referred to as "miasmata").[1][2] This discovery came to influence public health and the construction of improved sanitation facilities beginning in the mid-19th century. Later, the term "focus of infection" started to be used to describe sites, such as the Broad Street pump, in which conditions are good for transmission of an infection. Snow's endeavor to find the cause of the transmission of cholera caused him to unknowingly create a double-blind experiment.

A Court for King Cholera. Illustration from Punch (1852).

In the mid-19th century, the Soho district of London had a serious problem with filth due to the large influx of people and a lack of proper sanitary services: the London sewer system had not reached Soho. Cowsheds, slaughter houses, and grease-boiling dens lined the streets and contributed animal droppings, rotting fluids and other contaminants to the primitive Soho sewer system.[3] Many cellars had cesspools underneath their floorboards, which formed from the sewers and filth seeping in from the outside.[3] Since the cesspools were overrunning, the London government decided to dump the waste into the River Thames, contaminating the water supply.[4] London had already suffered from a "series of debilitating cholera outbreaks".[5] These included outbreaks in 1832 and 1849 which killed a total of 14,137 people.[5]

Competing theories of cholera[edit]

Preceding the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak, physicians and scientists held two competing theories on the causes of cholera in the human body: miasma theory and germ theory.[6] The London medical community debated between these causes for the persistent cholera outbreaks in the city. The cholera-causing bacterium Vibrio cholerae was isolated in 1854, but the finding did not become well-known and accepted until decades later.[7]

Miasma theory[edit]

Miasma theorists concluded that cholera was caused by particles in the air, or "miasmata", which arose from decomposing matter or other dirty organic sources. "Miasma" particles were thought to travel through the air and infect individuals, and thus cause cholera.[6] Dr. William Farr, the commissioner for the 1851 London census and a member of the General Register's Office, believed that miasma arose from the soil surrounding the River Thames. It contained decaying organic matter which contained miasmatic particles and was released into the London air. Miasma theorists believed in "cleansing and scouring, rather than through the purer scientific approach of microbiology".[6] Farr later agreed with Snow's germ theory following Snow's publications.[8]

Germ theory[edit]

In contrast, the germ theory held that the principal cause of cholera was a germ cell that had not yet been identified. Snow theorized that this unknown germ was transmitted from person to person by individuals ingesting water. John Simon, a pathologist and the lead medical officer for London labeled Snow's germ theory as "peculiar".[6]

Excerpt from John Simon:

"This doctrine is, that cholera propagates itself by a 'morbid matter' which, passing from one patient in his evacuations, is accidentally swallowed by other persons as a pollution of food or water; that an increase of the swallowed germ of the disease takes place in the interior of the stomach and bowels, giving rise to the essential actions of cholera, as at first a local derangement; and that 'the morbid matter of cholera having the property of reproducing its own kind must necessarily have some sort of structure, most likely that of a cell."[6]

Even though Simon understood Snow's theory, he questioned its relation to the cause of cholera.

Investigation by John Snow[edit]

Original map by John Snow showing the clusters of cholera cases (indicated by stacked rectangles) in the London epidemic of 1854. The contaminated pump is located at the intersection of Broad Street and Cambridge Street (now Lexington Street), running into Little Windmill Street.

The Broad Street outbreak was an effect rather than a cause of the epidemic. Snow's conclusions were not predominantly based on the Broad Street outbreak, as he noted that he hesitated to come to a conclusion based on a population that had predominantly fled the neighborhood and redistributed itself. He feared throwing off results of the study.[9]

From a mathematics perspective John Snow's "most brilliant idea" [10] was not based on data from victims of the Broad Street pump (which drew water from a well) but rather death rates in districts served by two water companies which drew water from the Thames River. This work also led to a far greater health & safety impact than the removal of the Broad Street pump handle; in fact, deactivating the pump "hardly made a dent in the citywide cholera epidemic, which went on to claim nearly 3,000 lives" [11].

Snow was skeptical of the prevailing miasma theory, which held that diseases such as cholera or the Black Death were caused by pollution or a noxious form of "bad air". The germ theory was not established at this point (Louis Pasteur did not propose it until 1861). Snow did not understand the mechanism by which disease was transmitted, but the evidence led him to believe that it was not due to breathing foul air. Based on the pattern of illness among residents, Snow hypothesized that cholera was spread by an agent in contaminated water.[12] He first published his theory in 1849, in an essay titled "On the Mode of Communication of Cholera".[13] In 1855 he published a second edition, including a more elaborate investigation of the effect of the water supply in the 1854 Soho outbreak.[14]

The cholera epidemic of 1849-1854 was also related to the water supplied by companies in London at the time. The main players were the Southwark and Vauxhall Company, and the Lambeth Water Company. Both companies provided water to their customers that was drawn from the Thames River, which was highly contaminated with visible and invisible products and bacteria. Dr Hassall examined the filtered water and found it contained animal hair, among other foul substances. He made the remark that:

It will be observed, that the water of the companies of the Surrey Side of London, viz., the Southwark, Vauxhall, and Lambeth, is by far the worst of all those who take their supply from the Thames[15]

Other companies, such as the New River Company and Chelsea Company, were observed to have better filtered water; few deaths occurred in the neighborhoods which they supplied. These two companies not only obtained their water from cleaner sources than the Thames, but they filtered the water and treated it until there were no obvious contaminants.[15]

As mentioned above, Snow is known for his influence on public health, which arose after his studies of the cholera epidemic. In attempting to figure out who was receiving impure water in each neighborhood, what is now known as a double-blind experiment fell right into his lap. He describes the conditions of the situation in his essays:

In many cases a single house has a supply different from that on either side. Each company supplies both rich and poor, both large houses and small; there is no difference in the condition or occupation of the persons receiving the water of the different companies...As there is no difference whatever either in the houses or the people receiving the supply of the two Water Companies, or in any of the physical conditions with which they are surrounded, it is obvious that no experiment could have been devised which would more thoroughly test the effect of water supply on the progress of Cholera than this, which circumstances placed ready made before the observer. The experiment too, was on the grandest scale. No fewer than three hundred thousand people of both sexes, of every age and occupation, and of every rank and station, from gentlefolks down to the very poor, were divided into two groups without their choice, and, in most cases, without their knowledge; one group being supplied water containing the sewage of London, and amongst it, whatever might have come from the cholera patients, the other group having water quite free from such impurity.[15]

Snow went on to study the water contents from each home through a test performed on each sample. In this way, it could be deduced from which supplier the home was receiving their water. He concluded that it was indeed impure water on behalf of the big companies that allowed the spread of cholera to progress rapidly. He went on to prove his theory through the observation of prisons in London, finding that cholera ceased in these places only a few days after switching to cleaner water sources. [15]

Broad Street outbreak[edit]

On 31 August 1854, after several other outbreaks had occurred elsewhere in the city, a major outbreak of cholera occurred in Soho. Snow, the physician who eventually linked the outbreak to contaminated water, later called it "the most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in this kingdom."[16]

Over the next three days, 127 people on or near Broad Street died. During the next week, three quarters of the residents had fled the area. By 10 September, 500 people had died and the mortality rate was 12.8 percent in some parts of the city. By the end of the outbreak, 616 people had died.

Many of the victims were taken to the Middlesex Hospital, where their treatment was superintended by Florence Nightingale, who briefly joined the hospital in early September in order to help with the outbreak. According to a letter from Elizabeth Gaskell, "She herself [Nightingale] was up night and day from Friday afternoon (Sept. 1) to Sunday afternoon, receiving the poor creatures (chiefly fallen women of that neighbourhood - they had it the worst) who were being constantly brought in - - undressing them - putting on turpentine stupes, etc, doing it herself to as many as she could manage".[17]

By talking to local residents (with the help of Reverend Henry Whitehead), Snow identified the source of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street) at Cambridge Street.[18] Although Snow's chemical and microscope examination of a sample of the water from this Broad Street pump water did not conclusively prove its danger, his facts about the patterns of illness and death among residents in Soho persuaded the St James parish authorities to disable the well pump by removing its handle.

Although this action has been popularly reported as ending the outbreak, the epidemic may have already been in rapid decline, as explained by Snow:

There is no doubt that the mortality was much diminished, as I said before, by the flight of the population, which commenced soon after the outbreak; but the attacks had so far diminished before the use of the water was stopped, that it is impossible to decide whether the well still contained the cholera poison in an active state, or whether, from some cause, the water had become free from it.[19]

Snow later used a dot map to illustrate how cases of cholera occurred around this pump.[20] Snow's efforts to connect the incidence of cholera with potential geographic sources was based on creating what is now known as a Voronoi diagram. He mapped the locations of individual water pumps and generated cells which represented all the points on his map which were closest to each pump. The section of Snow's map representing areas in the city where the closest available source of water was the Broad Street pump included the highest incidence of cholera cases. He also used statistics to compare fatalities among the customers of London's different water suppliers, and to illustrate the connection between the quality of the source of water and the number of cholera cases.[21]

Regarding the decline in cases related to the Broad Street pump, Snow said:

It will be observed that the deaths either very much diminished, or ceased altogether, at every point where it becomes decidedly nearer to send to another pump than to the one in Broad street. It may also be noticed that the deaths are most numerous near to the pump where the water could be more readily obtained. [15]

There was one significant anomaly—none of the workers in the nearby Broad Street brewery contracted cholera. As they were given a daily allowance of beer, they did not consume water from the nearby well.[22] During the brewing process, the wort (or un-fermented beer) is boiled in part so that hops can be added. This step killed the cholera bacteria in the water they had used to brew with, making it safe to drink. Snow showed that the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company were taking water from sewage-polluted sections of the Thames and delivering it to homes, resulting in an increased incidence of cholera among its customers. Snow's study is part of the history of public health and health geography. It is regarded as the founding event of epidemiology.

In Snow's own words:

On proceeding to the spot, I found that nearly all the deaths had taken place within a short distance of the [Broad Street] pump. There were only ten deaths in houses situated decidedly nearer to another street-pump. In five of these cases the families of the deceased persons informed me that they always sent to the pump in Broad Street, as they preferred the water to that of the pumps which were nearer. In three other cases, the deceased were children who went to school near the pump in Broad Street ...

With regard to the deaths occurring in the locality belonging to the pump, there were 61 instances in which I was informed that the deceased persons used to drink the pump-water from Broad Street, either constantly or occasionally ...

The result of the inquiry then was, that there had been no particular outbreak or prevalence of cholera in this part of London except among the persons who were in the habit of drinking the water of the above-mentioned pump-well.

I had an interview with the Board of Guardians of St. James's parish, on the evening of Thursday, the 7th September, and represented the above circumstances to them. In consequence of what I said, the handle of the pump was removed on the following day.[23]

It was discovered later that this public well had been dug 3 feet (0.9 m) from an old cesspit that had begun to leak faecal bacteria. Waste water from washing nappies, used by a baby who had contracted cholera from another source, drained into this cesspit. Its opening was under a nearby house that had been rebuilt further away after a fire and a street widening. At the time there were cesspits under most homes. Most families tried to have their raw sewage collected and dumped in the Thames to prevent their cesspit from filling faster than the sewage could decompose into the soil.

At the same time, an investigation of cholera transmission was being conducted in Deptford. Around 90 people died within a few days in that town, where the water was known to be clean, and there had been no previous outbreaks of cholera. Snow was informed that the water had recently turned impure. Residents were forced to let the water run for a while before using it, in order to let the sudsy, sewer-like water run until it was clear. Snow, finding that the water the residents were using was not different from the usual water from their pump, determined that the outbreak must be caused by a leak in the pipes that allowed surrounding sewage and its contaminants to seep in to the water supply. This scenario was similar to that of the Broad Street outbreak. The incoming water was being contaminated by the increasing levels of sewage, coupled with the lack of proper and safe plumbing.[14]

After the cholera epidemic had subsided, government officials replaced the Broad Street pump handle. They had responded only to the urgent threat posed to the population, and afterwards they rejected Snow's theory. To accept his proposal would have meant indirectly accepting the oral-faecal method of transmission of disease, which was too unpleasant for most of the public to contemplate.[24]

Snow's post-outbreak evaluation[edit]

Snow's analysis of cholera and cholera outbreaks extended past the closure of the Broad Street pump. He concluded that cholera was transmitted through and affected the alimentary canal within the human body. Cholera did not affect either the circulatory or the nervous system and there was no "poison in the blood...in the consecutive fever...the blood became poisoned from urea getting into the circulation".[25] According to Snow, this "urea" entered the blood through kidney failure. (Acute renal failure is a complication of cholera.)[26]

Therefore, the fever was caused by kidney failure, not by a poison already present in the subject's bloodstream. Popular medical practices, such as bloodletting, could not be effective in such a case. Snow also argued that cholera was not a product of Miasma. "There was nothing in the air to account for the spread of cholera".[25] According to Snow, cholera was spread by persons ingesting a substance, not through atmospheric transmittal. Snow cited a case of two sailors, one with cholera and one without. Eventually the second became sick as well from accidentally ingesting bodily fluids of the first.

Involvement of Henry Whitehead[edit]

Rev. Henry Whitehead

The Reverend Henry Whitehead was an assistant curate at St. Luke's church in Soho during the 1854 cholera outbreak.

A former believer in the miasma theory of disease, Whitehead worked to disprove false theories. He was influenced by Snow's idea that cholera spreads by consumption of water contaminated by human waste. Snow's work, particularly his maps of the Soho area cholera victims, convinced Whitehead that the Broad Street pump was the source of the local infections. Whitehead joined Snow in tracking the contamination to a faulty cesspool and the outbreak's index case (the baby with cholera).[27]

Whitehead's work with Snow combined demographic study with scientific observation, setting an important precedent for epidemiology.[28]

Board of Health[edit]

The Board of Health in London had several committees, of which the Committee for Scientific Inquiries was placed in charge of investigating the cholera outbreak. They were to study the atmospheric environment in London; however, they were also to examine samples of water from several water companies in London. The committee found that the most contaminated water supply came from the South London water companies, Southwark and Vauxhall.[2]

As part of the Committee for Scientific Inquiries, Richard Dundas Thomson and Arthur Hill Hassall examined what Thomson referred to as "vibriones". Thomson examined the occurrence of vibriones in air samples from various cholera wards and Hassall observed vibriones in water samples. Neither identified vibriones as the cause of cholera.[2]

As part of their investigation of the cholera epidemic, the Board of Health sent physicians to examine in detail the conditions of the Golden Square neighbourhood and its inhabitants. The Board of Health ultimately attributed the 1854 epidemic to miasma.[2]

Dr Edwin Lankester's evaluation[edit]

Dr Edwin Lankester was a physician on the local research conglomerate that studied the 1854 Broad Street Cholera Epidemic. In 1866, Lankester wrote about Snow's conclusion that the pump itself was the cause of the cholera outbreak. He agreed with Snow at the time; however, his opinion, like Snow's, was not publicly supported. Lankester subsequently closed the pump due to Snow's theory and data on the pattern of infection, and infection rates dropped significantly. Lankester eventually was named the first medical officer of health for the St. James District in London, the same area where the pump was located.[25]

Broadwick Street Pump in the 21st century[edit]

A replica pump was installed in 1992 at the site of the 1854 pump. Every year the John Snow Society holds "Pumphandle Lectures" on subjects of public health. Until August 2015, when the pump was removed due to redevelopment, they also held a ceremony here in which they removed and reattached the pump handle to pay tribute to Snow's historic discovery. The original location of the historic pump is marked by a red granite paver. In addition, plaques on the John Snow pub at the corner describe the significance of Snow's findings at this site.[29]

See also[edit]

  1. ^ Eyeler, William (July 2001). "The changing assessments of John Snow's and William Farr's Cholera Studies". Sozial- und Präventivmedizin. 46 (4): 225–32. doi:10.1007/BF01593177. PMID 11582849.
  2. ^ a b c d Paneth, N; Vinten-Johansen, P; Brody, H; Rip, M (1 October 1998). "A rivalry of foulness: official and unofficial investigations of the London cholera epidemic of 1854". American Journal of Public Health. 88 (10): 1545–1553. doi:10.2105/ajph.88.10.1545. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 1508470. PMID 9772861.
  3. ^ a b Frerichs, Ralph R. "Broad Street Pump Outbreak". www.ph.ucla.edu. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  4. ^ Paneth, Nigel; Vinten-Johansen, Peter (October 1998). "A Rivalry of Foulness: Official and Unofficial Investigations of the London Cholera Epidemic of 1854". American Journal of Public Health. 88 (10): 1545–1553. doi:10.2105/ajph.88.10.1545. PMC 1508470. PMID 9772861.
  5. ^ a b "Broad Street Cholera Pump". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e Frerichs, Ralph R. "Competing Theories of Cholera". www.ph.ucla.edu. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  7. ^ "John Snow | British physician". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  8. ^ "John Snow | British physician". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  9. ^ Snow, John (1855). On the Mode of Communication of Cholera. London: John Churchill.
  10. ^ Pearl, Judea (2018). The Book of Why. New York: Basic Books. p. 246.
  11. ^ Pearl 2018.
  12. ^ "John Snow | British physician". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  13. ^ Snow, John (1849). On the Mode of Communication of Cholera (PDF). London: John Churchill.
  14. ^ a b Snow 1855.
  15. ^ a b c d e Snow 1855, pp. [1].
  16. ^ Robert Friis. Epidemiology 101. Jones & Bartlett. p. 13.
  17. ^ O'Malley, Ida (1931). Florence Nightingae, 1820-1856, A Study of Her Life Down to the End of the Crimean War. London: Thornton Butterworth. p. 208.
  18. ^ 51°30′48″N 0°8′12″W / 51.51333°N 0.13667°W / 51.51333; -0.13667Coordinates: 51°30′48″N 0°8′12″W / 51.51333°N 0.13667°W / 51.51333; -0.13667
  19. ^ Snow 1855, p. 38.
  20. ^ Snow 1855, p. 45.
  21. ^ Johnson, Steven (2006). The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World. Riverhead Books. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-1-59448-925-9.
  22. ^ Snow 1855, p. 42.
  23. ^ Snow 1855, pp. 39-40.
  24. ^ Frank Chapelle, Wellsprings, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2005, p. 82
  25. ^ a b c Frerichs, Ralph R. "John Snow and the removal of the Broad Street pump handle". www.ph.ucla.edu. Retrieved 5 March 2017. Dr. Edwin Lankester wrote: 'The Board of Guardians met to consult as to what ought to be done. Of that meeting, the late Dr. Snow demanded an audience. He was admitted and gave it as his opinion that the pump in Broad Street, and that pump alone, was the cause of all the pestilence. He was not believed -- not a member of his own profession, not an individual in the parish believed that Snow was right. But the pump was closed nevertheless and the plague was stayed.'
  26. ^ Knobel, B.; Rudman, M.; Smetana, S. (15 December 1995). "[Acute renal failure as a complication of cholera]". Harefuah. 129 (12): 552–555, 615. ISSN 0017-7768. PMID 8682355.
  27. ^ Johnson, Steven (2006). The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World. Riverhead Books. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-59448-925-9.
  28. ^ Frerichs, Ralph R (11 October 2006). "Reverend Henry Whitehead". Archived from the original on 16 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  29. ^ "Broad Street Cholera Pump". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 5 March 2017.

External links[edit]


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Pete Rozelle

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Pete Rozelle
Pete Rozelle and George Halas (cropped).jpg
Rozelle in the early 1980s.
of the National Football League
In office
January 1960 – November 1989
Preceded byAustin Gunsel (interim)
Succeeded byPaul Tagliabue
Personal details
Alvin Ray Rozelle

(1926-03-01)March 1, 1926
South Gate, California
DiedDecember 6, 1996(1996-12-06) (aged 70)
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Spouse(s)Jane Coupe (m.1949-1972) Carrie Cooke (m.1973- d. 1996)
Alma materUniversity of San Francisco
HonorsSportsman of the Year (1963)
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (/rˈzɛl/; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was an American businessman and executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retirement in November 1989. He is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.[1][2]

Early life[edit]

Born in South Gate, California, Rozelle grew up in neighboring Lynwood during the Great Depression. He graduated from Compton High School in 1944, with Duke Snider, lettering in baseball and basketball. He was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1944 and served 18 months in the Pacific on an oil tanker.

Rozelle entered Compton Community College in 1946.[3] While there he worked as the student athletic news director and also worked part-time for the Los Angeles Rams as a public relations assistant. Pete Newell, head coach for the University of San Francisco Dons basketball team, came to Compton in 1948 for a recruiting visit. Impressed by Rozelle, Newell helped arrange for him to get a full scholarship to work in a similar capacity at USF.[3]

Rozelle enrolled at USF that year and worked as a student publicist for the USF Dons athletic department. In addition to promoting the school's football team he was able to draw national attention to the Dons' 1949 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship basketball team. After graduating from USF in 1950 he was hired by the school as the full-time athletic news director.[4]

In 1952, he re-joined the Rams as a PR specialist. Leaving after three years, he held a series of public relations jobs in southern California, including marketing the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia for a Los Angeles based company. In 1957, he returned to the Rams, a disorganized, unprofitable team, lost in the growing L.A. market, as their general manager. In spite of continued struggles on the field, including a league-worst 2–10 record in 1959, he turned them into a business success in just three years.[3]

NFL commissioner[edit]

After Bert Bell's death in October 1959, the 33-year-old Rozelle was the surprise choice for his replacement as NFL commissioner. According to Howard Cosell in his book I Never Played the Game, the owners took 23 ballots before settling on Rozelle as NFL Commissioner at a January 26, 1960 meeting.[5][6]

When he took office following the 1959 season, there were twelve teams in the NFL playing a twelve-game schedule to frequently half-empty stadiums, and only a few teams had television contracts. The NFL in 1960 was following a business model that had evolved from the 1930s. One of Rozelle's early accomplishments was helping the league adopt profit-sharing of gate and television revenues. The revenue-sharing was a major factor in stabilizing the NFL and guaranteeing the success of its small-market teams. Another important contribution was Rozelle's success in negotiating large television contracts to broadcast every NFL game played each season. In doing so he deftly played one television network against the other. In 1962, Rozelle was re-elected to a five-year contract to remain as commissioner.[7]

JFK assassination[edit]

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, Rozelle wrestled with the decision of whether to cancel that Sunday's games. Rozelle and White House press secretary Pierre Salinger had been classmates at the University of San Francisco, so Rozelle consulted with him. Salinger urged Rozelle to play the games, so he agreed for the schedule to proceed. Rozelle felt that way, saying: "It has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy. Football was Mr. Kennedy's game. He thrived on competition."[8] After their win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia, players on the Washington Redskins asked Coach Bill McPeak to send the game ball to the White House, thanking Rozelle for allowing the games to be played that weekend,[9] saying that they were "playing...for President Kennedy and in his memory."[10] There were players and news outlets that disagreed with the decision, and Rozelle subsequently thought it might have been wiser to cancel those games.[11]

Citing his "aptitude for conciliation" with the league's owners, his work in expanding the NFL, and his crackdown on player gambling, Sports Illustrated named Rozelle the magazine's 1963 "Sportsman of the Year".[12]

The AFL[edit]

By 1965, the rival American Football League obtained a new NBC-TV contract and had signed a new superstar in Joe Namath. As the leagues battled to sign top talent, bonuses and salaries grew dramatically, especially after a series of "raids" on each other's talent, both signed and unsigned. The leagues agreed to a merger in 1966. Among the conditions were a common draft and a championship game played between the two league champions first played in early 1967, the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, which would eventually become known as the Super Bowl. Rozelle led negotiations with AFL and NFL executives to merge the two leagues.[13] In October 1966, he testified in front of Congress and convinced them to allow the merger.[14] Rozelle played an important role in making the Super Bowl the most watched sporting event in the United States.[15]

Due to television contracts, the AFL and NFL operated as separate leagues until 1970, with separate regular season schedules, but they met in the preseason and in the championship game. Although Rozelle nominally remained the NFL commissioner, he was given broad authority over both leagues after AFL Commissioner Al Davis was forced to resign and ultimately replaced by an AFL President subordinate to the NFL Commissioner. During this time, the NFL Commissioner's office came to resemble that of the Commissioner of Baseball and Rozelle unofficially became known as the Football Commissioner although that was never an official title. Meanwhile, the AFL expanded, adding the Miami Dolphins in 1966, and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1967. Also during this period, the NFL added the Atlanta Falcons in 1966, and the New Orleans Saints in 1967. In 1970, the AFL was absorbed into the NFL and the league reorganized with the ten AFL franchises along with the previous NFL teams Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers becoming part of the newly-formed American Football Conference (AFC), with all of the remaining pre-merger NFL teams forming the National Football Conference (NFC). By 1970, the newly-reconstituted NFL stood at 26 teams.

In 1970, Rozelle proposed his concept, Monday Night Football, to Roone Arledge, then the head of the ABC television network.[16] After selling his idea to ABC, Monday Night Football premiered in September 1970 with the Cleveland Browns against the New York Jets; the Browns won the game, 31-21.[17] The program is still broadcast today (it moved to ESPN in 2006) Monday Night Football aired on ABC for 36 years at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The first broadcast announcing team was Don Meredith, Howard Cosell, and Keith Jackson.[18] The NFL expanded by two more teams in 1976, with the addition of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks; this brought the league to 28 teams, which would stand as such for the rest of Rozelle's tenure as commissioner.

In the 1980s, Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders franchise, sued the NFL in order to relocate the team to Los Angeles. Rozelle represented the NFL, testifying in court to block the Raiders' move. Ultimately, the NFL lost its court case with Davis, and the Oakland franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1982. The tension between Rozelle and Davis, who had wanted to be NFL commissioner, was apparent throughout the case. In January 1981, just after the case was settled, the Oakland Raiders won Super Bowl XV and Rozelle as commissioner was tasked with handing the Super Bowl Trophy to Davis.[19][20] The Raiders moved back to Oakland in 1995.

Under Rozelle the NFL thrived and became an American institution, despite two players' strikes and two different competing leagues. He retired as commissioner on November 5, 1989. By the time of his resignation, the number of teams in the league had grown to 28, and team owners presided over sizable revenues from U.S. broadcasting networks.

Rozelle's legacy of equalization has been felt not only in the NFL,[21] but also in the Australian Football League, the major Australian-rules football competition. In 1986, The AFL Commission adopted a policy of equalization based on the method pioneered by Rozelle in the NFL. It is because of this decision that expansion clubs have been able to survive, as well as older clubs with smaller support bases.[22] An example of this is the 1996 AFL Grand Final between North Melbourne and the Sydney Swans, two teams with small supporter bases.[23]

Rozelle was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 while still serving as its commissioner.[24] The NFL's annual Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award was established in 1989 to recognize "longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football",[25] and is awarded annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In 1990, the league instituted the Pete Rozelle Trophy to honor the Super Bowl MVP, first awarded in the 1990 season at Super Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991.[26] A month after Rozelle's death in December 1996, the NFL honored his legacy with a decal on the back of the helmets of the teams competing in Super Bowl XXXI.[27]

In 1991, Rozelle was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation.

For his contribution to sports in Los Angeles, Rozelle was honored by Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum commissioners with a "Court of Honor" plaque at the Coliseum.[28]

Personal life and death[edit]

Rozelle married Jane Coupe, an artist, in 1949. The couple had one child, Anne Marie, born in 1958. Rozelle was awarded full custody of Anne Marie after his divorce due to Coupe's alcoholism. Rozelle remarried in December 1973 to Carrie Cooke, a former daughter-in-law of Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the Washington Redskins.[29]

Seven years after his retirement, Rozelle died of brain cancer at the age of 70 at Rancho Santa Fe, California, and was interred at El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego.

See also[edit]

  1. ^ "Rozelle praised as the greatest". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. December 8, 1996. p. 10.
  2. ^ Bock, Hal (December 8, 1996). "Rozelle leaves storied legacy". Sunday Courier. Prescott, Arizona. Associated Press. p. 4B.
  3. ^ a b c Michael MacCambridge (November 26, 2008). America's Game. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 141–. ISBN 978-0-307-48143-6.
  4. ^
  5. ^ "Rams' Rozelle, 33, elected NFL boss". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. January 27, 1960. p. 2, part 2.
  6. ^ "Rams' Pete Rozelle, 33, elected NFL czar". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 27, 1960. p. 16.
  7. ^ "Happy Birthday George Halas". Chicago Bears. January 31, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  8. ^ Brady, Dave (November 24, 1963). "It's Tradition To Carry on, Rozelle Says". The Washington Post. p. C2.
  9. ^ Walsh, Jack (November 25, 1963). "Game Ball Going to White House". The Washington Post. p. A16.
  10. ^ Associated Press (November 25, 1963). "Redskins Send Game Ball to White House". The Chicago Tribune. p. C4.
  11. ^ Pierce, Charles P. "Black Sunday: The NFL plays on after JFK'S assassination".
  12. ^ Rudeen, Kenneth. "SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR".
  13. ^ GOLDBERG, DAVE (June 9, 1991). "Football War Ended With Merger 25 Years Ago". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  14. ^ OATES, BOB (January 27, 1996). "It's His Baby : Pete Rozelle Brought the Super Bowl Into the World, and It Grew Up in a Hurry". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  15. ^ Carter, Bob. "ESPN Classic - Rozelle made NFL what it is today". ESPN.
  16. ^ ELLIOTT, HELENE (December 7, 1996). "Pete Rozelle, Father of Modern-Day Football, Dies" – via LA Times.
  17. ^ "Monday Night Football - MNF History: 1970".
  18. ^ "Monday Night Football".
  19. ^ Belson, Ken (February 3, 2017). "Awkward Handoff of Lombardi Trophy Has Roots in Renegade Raiders". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  20. ^ "Potential Tom Brady-Roger Goodell Super Bowl meeting reminiscent of Al Davis-Pete Rozelle encounter". Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  21. ^ Sandomir, Richard (December 8, 1996). "Rozelle's N.F.L. Legacy: Television, Marketing and Money". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  22. ^ "The AFL's equalisation changes explained -". Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  23. ^ AFL Football Record, April 18–20, 1997
  24. ^ "Pete Rozelle's legacy | Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site". Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  25. ^ "JAMES BROWN NAMED THE 2016 WINNER OF PRESTIGIOUS PETE ROZELLE RADIO-TV AWARD - General - News | Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site". Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  26. ^ "Sports People: Pro Football; The Rozelle Trophy". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. October 10, 1990. Retrieved February 25, 2007.
  27. ^ "Uni Watch: Reveal the shield". Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  28. ^ "LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM COURT OF HONOR PLAQUES". Archived from the original on March 8, 2010.
  29. ^ "Pete Rozelle gets married". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. wire services. December 7, 1973. p. 2D.

Further reading[edit]

  • Davis, Jeff (2008). Rozelle: Czar of the NFL. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780071471664.
  • Fortunato, John (2006). Commissioner: The Legacy of Pete Rozelle. Lanham, Md.: Taylor Trade Pub. ISBN 9781589792913.
  • Harris, David (1986). The League: The Rise and Decline of the NFL. Toronto, New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0553051679.

External links[edit]