Jim Van Allen was our illustrious colleague. More importantly, he was our beloved friend.

"A Son of the Middle Border" himself, Jim would have been assigned by a junior high teacher to read that autobiography by Hamlin Garland about growing up in Iowa a few decades earlier. A lifelong Iowan, Jim epitomized the personal virtues we idealize about Iowans.

Born in Mount Pleasant, Jim attended its public schools when all they had to offer was straight forward reading, writing and arithmetic to the disciplinary tune of the hickory stick. His family prized education. His mother was a teacher and his father a lawyer. His three brothers distinguished themselves in their respective fields - William as a successful business man in California, George as an able lawyer and respected judge in Iowa, and our treasured colleague, Maurice, an exceptional neurologist and department head in our medical school and hospital.

At an early age Jim was both self motivated and nurtured, and inspired by great teachers. One such teacher was Professor Thomas Poulter at Iowa Wesleyan who was engaged in polar exploration and research. To the youth of the 1920s and 1930s, Admiral Byrd was a real hero and Buck Rogers the fictional hero of the future.

With his baccalaureate degree, he entered graduate school at Iowa in 1936 and received his doctorate in 1939 - the year of the Iowa Ironmen. He then left Iowa for a decade during which he both advanced professionally and served his country - all worthwhile, of course. But of greatest significance, he met and married Abigail Halsey, and they returned to Iowa City in 1951 where they have blessed our lives and our University.

We here today came to know Jim as our good friend. He was always approachable and outgoing. A mutual nurse of ours in pulmonary rehab wrote of Jim. "He made my day when I asked him a question, and he replied `that is a very good question!' Such a nice, gentle man."

Jim was both intellectual and modest - a rare combination. He listened more than he spoke. He was an astute observer of his environment and judicious in his commentary. When he spoke, he had something worth hearing. He never raised his voice to make a point, and we paid attention. He had a wry and insightful sense of humor. In discussing the evils of smoking with Charles Davidson, he commented that he had never heard of a pipe smoker who was convicted of murder.

He liked homespun theater. For over a decade the Van Allens would journey with friends to Mount Pleasant, Whelan or Wapello to attend the tent show of Toby and Suzy, where city slickers encountered country bumpkins. Jim was also an enthusiastic actor in our home-produced plays usually written for the occasion by John Gerber, who had developed his playwriting skills to keep boy campers occupied. Abbie discovered John was still receiving royalties on Dress Reversal so that was the first production.

When it came to teaching, Jim was a contradiction in the modern research university. He was an engaging teacher who taught undergraduates an introductory course. He was a favorite with junior high and grade school students. It is particularly appropriate that elementary schools are named for him in our school district and Mount Pleasant. These students were, however, often better informed about space fiction than Jim. From one of them he first learned of "The Fantastic Four" who became mutants after their encounter with the Van Allen radiation belts.

As a campus citizen, Jim was loyal to the entire University. He joined faculty colleagues across campus standing nightlong fire watches during the turbulent spring of 1970. Jim, with his space data, and his friend E.F. Lindquist, with his testing data, were the first two volume users of computer technology on the campus. As the University struggled financially and programmatically to develop what we now call information technology, Lin and Jim arranged their extensive computing schedules to provide computing capacity for their colleagues across the University. You have to remember that these two were people who got things done without the aid of bureaucracy. In this Jim and Dean Stuit of Liberal Arts were birds of a feather. When the need arose, they immediately met and settled the matter with a brief chat. Woe unto me, if I as president or provost, had the temerity to suggest that I should be consulted. And, of course, that modus operandi worked well in advancing the University.

Two final Van Allen wit and wisdom moments:

First - wisdom - one time in a social gathering Jim was engaged in a dialogue with the famous theologian, Paul Tillich who finally asked Jim if in reaching out into space he felt closer to God. Jim replied that he felt closest to God when his five children were born.

And then - wit - during his last illness Jim remained completely alert even though his body was pierced with tubes. The last time I saw him, he took off his oxygen mask and said "Sandy, I feel oppressed, but I am not depressed!"

Today, we feel oppressed, but we are not depressed. We are ever grateful for our years with Jim.

Last updated October 5, 2006. © The University of Iowa 2006. All rights reserved. Contact information. Send questions or comments to the webmaster. The Department of Physics and Astronomy is a part of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.