About the Event
As director of the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), Distinguished Professor Dan Baker will present a broad sweep of the observational programs of LASP, which in their breadth are truly unique in the academic world and one of the real strengths of what CU does in both teaching and research. Part of the pleasure for those working at LASP is to compare and contrast solar, terrestrial, and planetary observations to get a much more profound understanding of the physical processes in our solar system. One fascinating issue is the search for life elsewhere in the solar system, such as in the ocean of Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Recently LASP astronomers have ventured beyond the solar system and are exploring exoplanets, those planets that orbit other stars. Founded in 1948 on the Boulder campus, LASP is the world’s only research institute to have sent instruments to all eight planets and Pluto.
About the Speaker
Distinguished Professor Dan Baker is the Director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is Distinguished Professor of Planetary and Space Physics at CU and is Professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and Professor of Physics there. Dr. Baker studied under Prof. James A. Van Allen and subsequently worked with Prof. Edward C. Stone at the California Institute of Technology. He was Group Leader for Space Plasma Physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory (1980-87) and was Division Chief at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (1987-1994).
Dr. Baker is lead investigator on NASA missions including the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (Van Allen Probes) mission, and the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP). He chaired the National Academy’s 2013-2022 Decadal Survey in Solar and Space Physics. He has edited nine books and published over 800 refereed papers. Dr. Baker was the 2010 winner of the AIAA James Van Allen Space Environments Medal. In 2015 Dr. Baker was chosen as the Vikram Sarabhai Professor of the Indian Physical Research Laboratory. He also received the Colorado Governor’s Award for High-Impact Research related to his Space Weather research (2016).
About the Series
The CU Boulder Retired Faculty Association (UCBRFA) presents the distinguished professors of the University of Colorado, a lecture and presentation series featuring some of our finest professors and their extraordinary research and scholarly work.