My Life in Space Exploration

After a humanistic school education, Gerhard Haerendel choseto study physics with the intention of becoming a researcher in astrophysics. Commencingas graduate student with Ludwig Biermann, the leading astrophysicist of thattime, he was soon "handed over" to Arnulf Schlüter, Germany's foremostplasma theorist, as thesis advisor. Shortly afterward, the Max PlanckInstitute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich under Werner Heisenberg set upa research group for space research under Reimar Lüst, who hired Haerendel asyoung theorist supporting the experimental program consisting of seedingvisible barium plasma clouds in space. In 1969, he was appointed leader of this experimental program and, three years later, became co-director of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics in Garching/Germany.He led this program from simple sounding rocket experiments to international projects involving combined active and diagnostic payloads focusing on specific phenomena such as plasma instabilitieslike equatorial spread F, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, auroralacceleration, and finally to the ultimate goal of creating two artificialcomets in the solar wind, so far the only experiments ever of this kind.  The latter step of this program was enabled by his group having acquired the competence to build entire satellite payloads.This led naturally into participation in the global exploration of themagnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind.  The missions were conceived and carried outas national programs under the control of the his institute, however withstrong international cooperation and support by NASA, ESA, and the SwedishSpace Corporation. He was strongly involved in the interpretation ofthe data obtained and the development of pertinent theories.He played a role in the creation of three majorresearch institutions, the European Incoherent Scatter Radar (EISCAT), theSkinakas Observatory on the Island of Crete, and the International UniversityBremen (IUB), now Jacobs University. He was involved in the evaluation ofEastern German Academy institutes in geo-astrophysics and, as a follow-up,created an external laboratory of his Max Planck Institute in Berlin for aduration of five years. He served as chair or member of various advisorycommittees including the European Space Science Committee (ESSC) of theEuropean Science Foundation and, for eight years, as president of the Committeeon Space Research (COSPAR). After retiring from his last job as the foundingdean of the School of Engineering and Science of the IUB, he devoted his timeto developing theories of geomagnetic processes, in particular the formation ofauroral arcs and the transfer of energy from thegeomagnetic tail to themagnetosphere, and of various phenomena on the active sun.

• 1. My way into physics.- 2. The assignment.- 3. Diverse paths.- 4. Years of harvest.- 5. Reflection.