whose instruments aboard the first US satellite Explorer 1 in 1958 led to the discovery of the Van Allen belts, two zones of intense radiation around the Earth. He pioneered high-altitude research with rockets after World War II.
After the end of World War II, Van Allen began utilizing unused German V2 rockets to measure levels of cosmic radiation in the outer atmosphere, the data being radioed back to Earth. He then conceived of rocket-balloons (rockoons), which began to be used in 1952. They consisted of a small rocket that was lifted by means of a balloon into the stratosphere and then fired off.