James Van Allen — American Physicist born on September 07, 1914, died on August 09, 2006

James Alfred Van Allen was an American space scientist at the University of Iowa. He was instrumental in establishing the field of magnetospheric research in space... (wikipedia)

These days, it's really been uninteresting except when disasters occur.
We had an erector set, and I was an avid fan of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines.
Our family was very fond of the University of Iowa. We thought it was a good place to go.