Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (b. May 30, 1908; Norrköping, Sweden – d. April 2, 1995; Djursholm, Sweden) was a Swedish scientist who is considered one of the founding father of the field of space plasma physics.[2] He made many contributions and discoveries associated with both terrestrial and cosmic plasmas, (not always acknowledged by his peers), and in 1970 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work developing a theory of plasmas called magnetohydrodynamics.
He originally trained as an electrical power engineer and later moved to research and teaching in the fields of plasma physics. Alfvén’s contributions to plasma physics includes theories describing the behavior of aurorae, the Van Allen radiation belts, the effect of magnetic storms on the Earth’s magnetic field, magnetic and electric fields in cosmic plasmas, the terrestrial magnetosphere, and the dynamics of plasmas in our galaxy.