Kristian Birkeland
Videos
Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland was a Norwegian space physicist, inventor, and professor of physics at the Royal Fredriks University in Oslo. He is best remembered for his theories of atmospheric ele
Portrait by Asta Nørregaard, 1900
Kristian Birkeland
Kristian Birkeland and his terrella experiment
Coilgun
Videos
A coilgun is a type of mass driver consisting of one or more coils used as electromagnets in the configuration of a linear motor that accelerate a ferromagnetic or conducting projectile to high veloci
Kristian Birkeland
…of atmospheric electric currents that elucidated the nature of the aurora borealis. In order to fund his research on the aurorae, he invented the electromagnetic cannon and the Birkeland–Eyde process of fixing nitrogen from the air. Birkeland was nominated for the Nobel Prize seven times. Birkeland was born in Christiania…
A single stage coilgun
A multistage coilgun
A M934 mortar round is adapted for experimental coilgun launch with a conformal armature tail kit, to be fired through a barrel composed of short solenoidal electromagnets stacked end to end
A large coilgun concept, a coaxial electromagnetic launcher firing projectiles to orbit