Ian Axford

{{Short description|New Zealand space scientist (1933–2010)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Sir Ian Axford |image = File:Ian W. Axford.webp |image_size = |caption = Axford in 2000 |birth_name = William Ian Axford |birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1933|01|02}} |birth_place = Dannevirke, New Zealand |nationality = |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2010|03|13|1933|01|02}} |death_place = Napier, New Zealand |field = |work_institution = Cornell University (1963–1967) University of California, San Diego (1967–1974) Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (1974–2001) Victoria University of Wellington (1982–1985) |alma_mater = |academic_advisors = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = |prizes = Rutherford Medal (Royal Society of New Zealand) 1994 Chapman Medal (RAS) 1994 Fellow of the Royal Society<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Allan | first1 = W. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2013.0007 | doi-access = free| title = Sir William Ian Axford. 2 January 1933 -- 13 March 2010 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 59 | pages = 5–31 | year = 2013 | s2cid = 71073144 }}</ref> |footnotes = }} '''Sir William Ian Axford''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}} (2 January 1933 – 13 March 2010) was a New Zealand space scientist who was director of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy from 1974 to 1990. Axford's research was focused on the interaction of the Sun with the magnetic field of Earth (magnetosphere) or the interstellar medium (heliosphere).

==Career==

Axford studied at Canterbury University in Christchurch for his double bachelor's degrees in science and engineering, followed by a double Master's in science with first class honours and in engineering with distinction, then undertook doctoral studies at the University of Manchester and received his PhD in 1960.<ref name="tributecollection"/>

After a year at the University of Cambridge in 1960, where he played two matches of first-class cricket for the Cambridge University Cricket Club,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27581/27581.html Ian Axford] – CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 November 2012.</ref> Axford then joined the Defence Research Board of Canada, where he published one of his most cited papers: ''A unifying theory of high-latitude geophysical phenomena and geomagnetic storms'', in 1961.<ref name="Axford1961">{{Cite journal | last1 = Axford | first1 = W. I. | author-link1 = Ian Axford| last2 = Hines | first2 = C. O. | doi = 10.1139/p61-172 | title = A Unifying Theory of High-Latitude Geophysical Phenomena and Geomagnetic Storms | journal = Canadian Journal of Physics | volume = 39 | issue = 10 | pages = 1433 | year = 1961 | bibcode = 1961CaJPh..39.1433A }}</ref> He became a professor of physics and astronomy at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York in 1963. He later moved to the University of California, San Diego.

Axford became a director at the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (since renamed the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research) in 1974.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.mps.mpg.de/en/aktuelles/mitteilungen/mitteilung_20100317.html| title = Professor Sir Ian Axford| access-date = 2010-03-21| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100320123533/http://www.mps.mpg.de/en/aktuelles/mitteilungen/mitteilung_20100317.html| archive-date = 20 March 2010}}</ref> He held that position, with a short break in which he was Vice Chancellor of the Victoria University of Wellington from 1982 to 1985, until his retirement in 2001. The institute participated in the international missions Giotto to Halley's Comet, solar observatories ''Ulysses'' and SOHO while Axford was director of the institute. The science of all three missions had a strong connection to the activity of the Sun: SOHO and ''Ulysses'' monitored solar activity, and the Giotto mission was able to monitor the interaction of solar particles with Halley's Comet. Most of Axford's research was associated with the magnetosphere and the heliosphere.

==Personal life== Axford married Joy Lowry in January 1955 and the couple had four children.<ref name="joy"/> Axford died at his home in Napier on 13 March 2010, aged 77, following a long illness.<ref name="Uni">{{cite web | url = http://www.uni-protokolle.de/nachrichten/id/67670/ | title = Professor Sir Ian Axford tritt in den Ruhestand (Professor Sir Ian Axford retires) | access-date = 2010-03-21 | archive-date = 13 June 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110613140037/http://www.uni-protokolle.de/nachrichten/id/67670/ | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="Cent">{{cite web | url =http://nzmathsoc.org.nz/downloads/centrefolds/NZMScentrefold21_Ian_Axford.pdf | title =CENTREFOLD: Professor W. Ian Axford | access-date =2010-03-21 | archive-date =26 May 2010 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100526070339/http://nzmathsoc.org.nz/downloads/centrefolds/NZMScentrefold21_Ian_Axford.pdf | url-status =dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/3467782/Tributes-for-NZ-space-scientist | title =Tributes for NZ space scientist| date =17 March 2010| access-date = 2010-03-21}} with image of Ian Axford</ref><ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwifs/mathnews/centrefolds/21/Aug1981.shtml | title =Professor W. Ian Axford | access-date =2010-03-21 | archive-date =7 June 2011 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110607122723/http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwifs/mathnews/centrefolds/21/Aug1981.shtml | url-status =dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url =http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10632525 | title =NZ space scientist Sir Ian Axford dies| access-date = 2010-03-21 | work=The New Zealand Herald | date=17 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="scoop">{{cite web | url =http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1003/S00057.htm | title =Death of Sir Ian Axford, NZ scientist| access-date = 2010-03-21}}</ref> His wife, (Catherine) Joy (Lowry), Lady Axford, died in 2025.<ref name="joy">[https://www.knowledgebank.org.nz/person/lady-catherine-joy-axford-1932-2025/ "Lady Catherine Joy Axford"], Hawkes Bay Knowledge Bank, viewed 2026-05-09</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.legacy.com/nz/obituaries/thepost-nz/name/lady-axford-obituary?id=57267173 |title=Lady Axford obituary |date=15 January 2025 |work=The Post |access-date=15 January 2025}}</ref>

==Honours== Axford received several awards, for example the John Adam Fleming Medal in 1972, the Tsiolkovsky Medal in 1987, the Chapman Medal, and the Rutherford Medal in 1994. In 1995 he was named New Zealander of the Year. In the 1996 New Year Honours, Axford was appointed as a Knight Bachelor, for services to science.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54256 |date=30 December 1995 |page=33 |supp=2}}</ref> Since 1986 he was a Fellow of the Royal Society in London and since 1993 he was an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.<ref name="Uni"/><ref name="Cent"/><ref name="scoop"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=A-C |url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/who-we-are/our-people/our-fellows/all-honorary-fellows/a-c/ |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=Royal Society Te Apārangi}}</ref>

On his 60th birthday, the asteroid 5097 Axford was named in his honour at an astronomical symposium in Germany.<ref name="tributecollection">{{cite web|url=http://sciblogs.co.nz/griffins-gadgets/2010/03/20/remembering-a-new-zealand-science-icon/|title=Remembering a New Zealand science icon|access-date=22 March 2010}}</ref>

In 2021, Mount Axford, a mountain in Fiordland National Park, was named in his honour.<ref name="nzgb-naming-release">{{cite web|url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU2110/S00103/mount-axford-officially-named-after-prominent-space-scientist.htm|title=Mount Axford Officially Named After Prominent Space Scientist|date=13 October 2021|access-date=13 October 2021|author=New Zealand Geographic Board|publisher=Scoop}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axford, Ian}} Category:1933 births Category:2010 deaths Category:New Zealand cricketers Category:20th-century New Zealand astronomers Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:Cambridge University cricketers Category:Cornell University faculty Category:University of California, San Diego faculty Category:Recipients of the Rutherford Medal Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Category:People from Dannevirke Category:New Zealand Knights Bachelor Category:Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Category:New Zealand fellows of the Royal Society Category:People from Napier, New Zealand Category:Vice-chancellors of Victoria University of Wellington Category:Planetary scientists Category:Max Planck Institute directors