Robert Helliwell, electrical engineer who expanded understanding of Earth's atmosphere, dies at 90
Monday, June 13, 2011 - 00:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Stanford electrical engineer Robert Helliwell used radio waves to figure out the structure of the global atmosphere's upper layers. He showed that the Earth's ionosphere extends as high as 20,000 miles.Robert Helliwell, a Stanford electrical engineer whose study of radio waves emitted by lightning opened a new window to understanding the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere, died May 3 in Palo Alto of complications of dementia. He was 90.