15 Facts About Eugene Parker

1.

Eugene Newman Parker was an American solar and plasma physicist.

2.

In 1987, Eugene Parker proposed the existence of nanoflares, a leading candidate to explain the coronal heating problem.

3.

Eugene Parker obtained his PhD from Caltech and spent four years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Utah.

4.

Eugene Parker joined University of Chicago in 1955 and spent the rest of his career there, holding positions in the physics department, the astronomy and astrophysics department, and the Enrico Fermi Institute.

5.

Eugene Parker was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1967.

6.

Eugene Parker was born in Houghton, Michigan to Glenn and Helen Eugene Parker on June 10,1927.

7.

Eugene Parker received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Michigan State University in 1948 and a Doctor of Philosophy from Caltech in 1951.

8.

Eugene Parker spent four years at the University of Utah before joining the University of Chicago in 1955, where he spent the rest of his career.

9.

Eugene Parker held positions in Chicago's physics department, astronomy and astrophysics department, and the Enrico Fermi Institute.

10.

Eugene Parker was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1967.

11.

Eugene Parker's work increased understanding of the solar corona, the solar wind, the magnetic fields of both the Earth and the Sun, and their complex electromagnetic interactions.

12.

Eugene Parker published several textbooks, including Cosmical Magnetic Fields in 1979, and one on magnetic fields in X-ray astronomy in 1994.

13.

Eugene Parker's theory became a leading candidate to explain the problem.

14.

Eugene Parker was married for 67 years to his wife, Niesje, with whom he had two children.

15.

Eugene Parker died in Chicago on March 15,2022, at the age of 94.