Talk:James Van Allen

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• It was like going hunting for rabbits and encountering an elephant instead.
  • Concerning the discovery of the radiation belts.

• Certainly one of the most enthralling things about human life is the recognition that we live in what, for practical purposes, is a universe without bounds.

• ...Outer space, once a region of spirited international competition, is also a region of international cooperation. I realized this as early as 1959, when I attended an international conference on cosmic radiation in Moscow. At this conference, there were many differing views and differing methods of attack, but the problems were common ones to all of us and a unity of basic purpose was everywhere evident.

• Many of the papers presented there depended in an essential way upon others which had appeared originally in as many as three or four different languages. Surely science is one of the universal human activities.

• I'm one of the most durable advocates for space exploration around.
  • In 2005 at the age of 90.

• I believe in scientific inquiry for its own sake. I think the history of science gives ample examples that pure investigation has enormous benefit. ... I can't tell you what this might be good for, but learning about nature is important. And lovely things turn up.