Joan Feynman

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Joan Feynman spent the bulk of her career studying the interactions between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. While working at the NASA Ames Research Center in 1971, Feynman discovered that the periodic spouting of solar material known as a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) could be identified by the presence of helium in the solar wind. This was an important find because, although CME's were known at the time, they had until then been difficult to detect.

After her time at NASA Ames, Feynman moved on to a number of different research posts. These included positions with the High Altitude Observatory; the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado; the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC; and Boston College in Massachusetts. Finally, in 1985 Feynman accepted a position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she remained until her retirement.

As part of her research, Feynman made a critical discovery about the nature and cause of auroras. Using data collected by NASA spacecraft Explorer 33, she demonstrated that the occurrence of auroras is a product of the interaction between the Earth's magnetosphere and the magnetic field of the solar wind.

Feynman also helped to develop a model for estimating the environmental hazards of the local space environment. This work was taken on as high-velocity coronal mass ejections are known to cause geomagnetic storms, which can have dangerous effects on both functioning spacecraft and on humans in space at the time. Such fast-moving coronal mass ejections cause shock waves in the solar wind, speeding up solar particles and instigating geomagnetic storms as the particles arrive at the outer edge of Earth's magnetosphere. Often, the commencement of such storms is coupled with a high influx of protons, which can wreak havoc on communications systems and space flight activities. Feynman's model ultimately helped engineers determine the flux of high-energy particles that would affect a spacecraft over its functional lifetime. Her work in this area led to important new developments in spacecraft design.

Later in her career, Feynman studied the science behind climate change. She was particularly interested in transient solar events and solar cycle variations. Among other things, she studied the influence of the sun on patterns of wintertime climate anomalies known as the Arctic oscillation or North Annular Mode (NAM). Along with her colleague and husband Alexander Ruzmaikin, she found that for periods of lower solar activity, the NAM index is systematically lower. Such periods of low solar activity coincide with cooling periods for certain parts of the world; for example, this was seen in Europe during a time known as the Little Ice Age. Feynman and her colleagues also discovered a link between solar variability and climate change in ancient water levels of the Nile River. During periods of high solar activity, conditions around the Nile were found to be drier, and when solar activity was low, conditions were wetter.

In 1974, Feynman became the first woman to be elected as an officer of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). She organized an AGU committee charged with advancing the fair treatment of women within the geophysics community. Feynman was a long-standing member of the International Astronomical Union. She was a member of a number of the IAU's subdivisions, including Division E Sun and Heliosphere, Division G Stars and Stellar Physics, and Division E Commission 49 Interplanetary Plasma & Heliosphere.

Feynman retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a senior scientist in 2003. However, she continued to work, publishing in 2009 on the influence of solar activity on the climate of the first millennium.

During her career, Feynman was an author or co-author of more than 100 scientific publications. She also edited three scientific books.

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