Buchbesprechung über: Cosmic Electrodynamics (Ref. E. Richter)

Dungey, J. W., Buchbesprechung über: Cosmic Electrodynamics (Ref. E. Richter), Zeitschrift fur Astrophysik, 47, 135 (1959) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

From Dungey's [1] rather inaccessible book "Cosmic Electrodynamics," which must have been influential in popularizing magnetic reconnection. This is a tool for explaining difficult features of plasma astrophysics in the relatively tractable fluid approximation of MHD. By hearsay the Archivist understands that Dungey's early research papers on this subject tended to be rejected by the referees, and his response was to write the 1958 book. Note that he was thinking very generally about reconnection, labeling the round item "star" rather than "Earth". Note also that the sin of two-dimensional reasoning also appears in this cartoon, as in many another in the flood of imitators that followed. See for example CSHKP. This, in spite of the fact that Giovanelli's 1948 cartoon had already illustrated the basis of the "spines and fans" of the more general three-dimensional geometry.

      Thanks to Gordon Rostoker for making this historically important cartoon available. Note that the link in the title refers to a review of Dungey's book, rather than the book itself.


[1] J. Dungey

Date: 2007 March 19

Update: 2019 February 12