JOHN W. BELCHER, Class of
'22 Professor of Physics; Division Head, Astrophysics
Research Interests
Professor Belcher's research interests are within the areas of
space plasma physics, outer planet magnetospheres, solar wind in
the outer heliosphere, and astrophysical plasmas. He was the principal
investigator on the Voyager Plasma Science Experiment during the
Voyager Nepture Encounter—the end of the Grand Tour. He is
now a co-investigator on the Plasma
Science Experiment on board the Voyager
Interstellar Mission.
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Biographical Sketch
Professor Belcher was born in Louisiana in 1943, and graduated
from Odessa High School in West Texas in 1961. He attended Rice
University in Houston, graduating with a double major in math and
physics in 1965, summa cum laude. He then went to Caltech for
graduate school where he earned his Ph.D. in Physics in 1971.
Professor Belcher came to MIT in 1971, to work with Professors
Herbert Bridge
and Alan Lazarus, who had the plasma probe on board Mariner 5. Just
after he arrived, the Space Plasma Group wrote a proposal for the
Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn. After reaching these two
planets, as well as Uranus and Neptune, Voyager is still going strong.
In its most recent incarnation, it is refered to as the Voyager
Interstellar Mission. Within the next twenty years, it is probable
that the MIT plasma instrument on Voyager 2 will make measurements
in the interstellar medium.
Professor Belcher has twice received the NASA Exceptional Scientific
Achievement Medal, once for contributions to the understanding of
the plasma dynamics of the Jovian magnetosphere, in 1980, and once
for his role as principal investigator on the Plasma Science Experiment
on Voyager during the Neptune encounter, in 1990. In 2004, the Institute
awarded Belcher with the Class of '22 professorship, designed to
honor "a tenured faculty member with a record of excellence
in education, with respect to both curriculum development and classroom
teaching."
In July 2007, Prof. Belcher was named Division Head for Astrophysics.
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Selected Publications
Belcher, J.W. and L. Davis, Jr.: Large Amplitude Alfven Waves
in the Interplanetary Medium, 2, J. Geophys. Res. 76, 3534,
1971.
Belcher, J.W.: Alfven wave pressures and the solar wind,
Astrophys. J. 168, 509, 1971.
Belcher, J.W. and K.B. MacGregor: Magnetic Acceleration of
Winds from Solar-type Stars, Astrophys. J. 210, 498-507, 1976.
Belcher, J. W., C. K. Goertz, J. D. Sullivan, M. H. Acuna:
Plasma Observations of the Alfven Wave Generated by Io, J.Geophys.
Res. 86, 8319, 1981.
Belcher, J.W., The Low Energy Plasma in the Jovian Magnetosphere,
Physics of the Jovian Magnetosphere, ed. A. J. Dessler, Cambridge
University Press, 1983.
Belcher, John W., The Jupiter-Io Connection: An Alfven Engine
in Space, Science 258, 133-248, 1987.
Belcher, J. W., H. S. Bridge, F. Bagenal, B. Coppi, O. Divers,
A. Eviatar, G. S. Gordon, Jr., A. J. Lazarus, R. L. McNutt, Jr.,
K. W. Ogilvie, J. D. Richardson, G. L. Siscoe, E. C. Sittler, Jr.,
J. T. Steinberg, J. D. Sullivan, A. Szabo, L. Villanueva, V. M.
Vasyliunas, and M. Zhang, Plasma Observations Near Neptune:
Initial Results from Voyager 2, Science, 246, 1478-1483, 1989.
Belcher, John W., Alan J. Lazarus, Ralph L. McNutt, Jr. and George
S. Gordon, Jr., Solar Wind Conditions in the Outer Heliosphere
and the Distance to the Termination Shock, J. Geophys. Res.
15,177-15,183, 1993.
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