Solar System Magnetic Fields Group
James A. Slavin is a Professor of Space Science in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Prof. Slavin’s research program focuses on the measurement and analysis of solar, interplanetary, and planetary magnetic fields that are found throughout the solar system. These magnetic fields are generated by the dynamo action of the hot plasmas in the Sun’s interior and the covecting outer cores of the planets. They are amplified and dissipated by plasma processes taking place in the solar corona, the interplanetary medium, and planetary magnetospheres. Magnetic fields play critical roles in the plasma properities and dynamics of all of these regions.
Professor Slavin has over 30 years of experience in the development and operation of space-borne magnetometer systems and their utilization in space and planetary science research. Presently, he is one of the lead science investigators for the MESSENGER mission orbiting Mercury. He is also a Co-Investigator for the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale, BepiColombo and JUICE missions, which will conduct intensive investigations of magnetospheric plasma processes at Earth, Mercury and Jupiter – Ganymede. Professor Slavin is the author of over 350 scientific journal articles on magnetospheric physics, the solar wind interactions with planets and comets, and the structure of the heliosphere.
