Sir Ian Axford FRS 1933–2010

OBITUARIES there, and he had a substantial say (but no offi- cial authority of decision) in selecting the other Sir Ian directors. As one of the new directors called under his aegis, I had the privilege of working with Ian for some 25 years and observing his Axford FRS remarkable talents of science management. Departing from the traditional structure of a Max Planck institute, with people and resources 1933–2010 assigned to separate divisions each headed by a director who determines its research, Ian had all the resources pooled together, to be made avail- Fellow, Honorary Fellow and Chapman able to research projects as needed. In the selec- Medallist of the RAS, internationally tion of research topics, available opportunities were to be considered as well as the interests renowned space and astrophysical of the participating scientists. The one over- plasma physicist. riding principle was that the topic be new and address significant questions at the cutting edge of research; the one thing Ian had no use for ir Ian Axford FRS, one of the greatest Medallist and also Gold Medallist of the RAS) was continuing routine data collection, which figures in space and astrophysical plasma published a few months earlier had shown that he felt was a task for some outfit other than a Downloaded from Sresearch whose work revolutionized our reconnection of interplanetary and terrestrial Max Planck institute. understanding of the magnetosphere, died at magnetic fields could produce such a circula- Under Ian’s leadership, the Institute achieved his home in Napier, New Zealand on 13 March tion, and Ian soon accepted that mechanism as a world renown in areas such as investigations 2010 after a long illness. reasonable alternative to the unspecified viscous with atmospheric and ionospheric radars and William Ian Axford was born in Dannevirke, drag he and Hines had assumed. This led him to observations of energetic particle spectra and http://astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org/ New Zealand on 2 January 1933. He attended investigate the properties of the magnetic recon- composition in the solar wind and in planet- the University of Canterbury in Christchurch nection process itself and to propose the funda- ary magnetospheres. It also moved into (for where he earned a double degree, ME (with mental concept (sometimes called the “Axford it) completely new areas, investigating com- distinction) and MSc (first class honours, in conjecture”) that although reconnection can- ets (in particular the Giotto mission to comet mathematics). In 1957, having joined the New not occur unless there is a non-zero electrical Halley, including the first images of a come- Zealand Defence Scientific Corps, he went to resistivity (or some other departure from ideal tary nucleus) and the Sun. (The name MPI for Britain to study aerodynamics at Manchester MHD), the process is governed primarily by Aeronomy, obsolete almost since Ian’s arrival, and Cambridge, receiving a PhD in applied large-scale dynamics and boundary conditions, was finally changed in 2004 to MPI for Solar mathematics in 1960. His research involved top- not by the value of the resistivity. Ian’s favourite System Research.) The principle of available by guest on September 24, 2015 ics in magnetohydrodynamics and interstellar analogy was with viscosity in aerodynamics: the opportunities was not left to chance: either Ian gas flow, from which he soon developed an inter- lift of a plane does not depend on the coefficient personally or Institute scientists at his instiga- est in geophysical and astrophysical applications of viscosity, but if air were non-viscous then tion played a major role in the genesis of several of plasma physics, a research area that was then, planes couldn’t fly. space missions, particularly Ulysses, Giotto, in the Space Age after Sputnik, undergoing a SOHO/Cluster, and Cassini/Huygens. vast expansion. Ian joined a group under Colin Fundamental contributions Ian was much concerned with the organization Hines at the Defence Research Board of Canada Other topics on which Ian made fundamental of science and was instrumental in restructuring in Ottawa. After returning briefly to New Zea- contributions include cosmic rays (one of his the European Geophysical Society and trans- land for a stint with the NZ Air Force, in 1963 favourite subjects), both in the solar system and forming the EGS (now EGU) annual assembly he moved again to North America and took an in the galaxy; the ionosphere and in particular from an obscure European meeting to its present academic position at Cornell University, up to the polar wind (outflow from the upper atmo- status of a major international conference Associate Professor of Astrophysics and Profes- sphere analogous to the solar wind from the rivalled only by the AGU fall meeting. One tool sor of Astronomy in 1966. From 1967 to 1974 corona); interaction of the solar wind with the in the transformation was the founding (largely he was Professor of Physics and Applied Physics interstellar medium and with comets; and the at Ian’s initiative) of the Copernicus Society for at University of California, San Diego. formation of the solar wind itself. the Promotion of International Cooperation in It was at Ottawa that what is arguably Ian’s A major career change for Ian Axford came in Earth and Space Sciences in 1988. He was also most important (and certainly his most cited) 1974 when he accepted the call to become Sci- a founding member (2003) of the Asia–Oceania paper was written: the 1961 “Axford and entific Member and Director at the Max Planck Geosciences Society. Hines” paper in Canadian J.Physics known Institute for Aeronomy (as it was then called) in Among the many honours awarded to Ian to every magnetospheric physicist. Axford and Katlenburg-Lindau (near Göttingen), Germany, Axford, in addition to the Chapman Medal, may Hines introduced the concept of magnetospheric where he remained until his retirement in 2001, be mentioned the John Adam Fleming Medal convection, a vast circulation of plasma driven except for returning to New Zealand between of the American Geophysical Union (1972), by interaction with the solar wind as it flows 1982 and 1985 as Vice-Chancellor of Victoria election as Fellow of the Royal Society (1986), past the Earth, derived its basic properties, and University in Wellington. The Institute had lost election as foreign associate of the National showed that it could account for many observed one director by premature death and was about Academy of Sciences of the United States, and features of geomagnetic disturbances and the to lose the other two by retirement, so Ian’s having Asteroid 5097 named after him (1993). aurora (a list subsequently expanded to include charge was to redirect and revitalize its research Although he spent most of his career abroad, he many features observed by spacecraft in situ). work. He could bring in some new people but was well appreciated in New Zealand, where he A paper by James Dungey (another Chapman mostly had to make do with those already was frequently compared to another great New A&G • June 2010 • Vol. 51 3.37 OBITUARIES Zealand scientist, Ernest Rutherford. He was shire and identifying an independent branch in lated have been deposited at the Hoover Insti- elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society Cornwall/Devon. In the last decade of his life tution Archives at Stanford University as the of New Zealand (1993), received the Ruther- he began working together with Tamara Breus, W Ian Axford collection. ford Medal (New Zealand’s highest scientific already known by him and by many of us for Sir Ian Axford was always soft-spoken and award) in 1994, was named New Zealander of her work as scientist at the Space Research Insti- calm, whether dealing with intriguing questions the Year in 1995, and was knighted in 1996. An tute (IKI) in Moscow, on aspects of the history of physics or tortuous issues of policy. He was exchange fellowship programme of the govern- of the Soviet Union, to which Tamara, born in adept at seeing the essential aspects of a scien- ment was named in his honour the Ian Axford Georgia just prior to the outbreak of World War tific problem; his conference presentations as (New Zealand) Fellowships in Public Policy. II, could contribute from personal experience. well as personal discussions were always illu- Under the pen-name “Tatiana” the two pub- minating. The influence of his published work Cricket and Soviet history lished “In Soso’s Web (Scenes from Russian Life continues to shape research to this day. With As well as his scientific interests, Ian played 1)” (Copernicus GmbH, 2004), intended as the the passing of Ian Axford, the field of magneto- cricket for Cambridge in 1959, enjoyed music, first volume of a trilogy. Sadly, Ian’s health did spheric and astrophysical plasma physics has and investigated the genealogy of the Axford not allow him to continue participating in this lost one of its founding fathers. family, tracing his ancestry to a branch in Wilt- work; the extensive materials he had accumu- Vytenis M Vasyliu¯nas importance of this innovative work has just been recognized by the award to Tim from NASA Tim Hawarden of their Exceptional Technology Achievement Downloaded from Medal, for which the citation reads: “For the breakthrough concepts that made possible the 1943–2009 James Webb Space Telescope and its succes- sors.” These are the highest awards made by NASA. Tim was aware of his nomination but http://astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org/ sadly did not live to hear of its confirmation. At a time when major evaluations of the future of 4 m telescopes in the era of the next generation 8 m telescopes was taking place, Tim became Project Scientist for the UKIRT Fellow of the RAS, infrared Upgrades Programme.

Load more