After a humanistic school education, Gerhard Haerendel chose

to study physics with the intention of becoming a researcher in astrophysics. Commencing

as graduate student with Ludwig Biermann, the leading astrophysicist of that

time, he was soon "handed over" to Arnulf Schlüter, Germany's foremost

plasma theorist, as thesis advisor. Shortly afterward, the Max Planck

Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich under Werner Heisenberg set up

a research group for space research under Reimar Lüst, who hired Haerendel as

young theorist supporting the experimental program consisting of seeding

visible barium plasma clouds in space. In 1969, he was appointed leader of this experimental program and, three years later, became co-director of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics in Garching/Germany.

He led this program from simple sounding rocket experiments to international projects involving combined active and diagnostic payloads focusing on specific phenomena such as plasma instabilities

like equatorial spread F, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, auroral

acceleration, and finally to the ultimate goal of creating two artificial

comets in the solar wind, so far the only experiments ever of this kind. The latter step of this program was enabled by his group having acquired the competence to build entire satellite payloads.

This led naturally into participation in the global exploration of the

magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. The missions were conceived and carried out

as national programs under the control of the his institute, however with

strong international cooperation and support by NASA, ESA, and the Swedish

Space Corporation. He was strongly involved in the interpretation of

the data obtained and the development of pertinent theories.

He played a role in the creation of three major

research institutions, the European Incoherent Scatter Radar (EISCAT), the

Skinakas Observatory on the Island of Crete, and the International University

Bremen (IUB), now Jacobs University. He was involved in the evaluation of

Eastern German Academy institutes in geo-astrophysics and, as a follow-up,

created an external laboratory of his Max Planck Institute in Berlin for a

duration of five years. He served as chair or member of various advisory

committees including the European Space Science Committee (ESSC) of the

European Science Foundation and, for eight years, as president of the Committee

on Space Research (COSPAR). After retiring from his last job as the founding

dean of the School of Engineering and Science of the IUB, he devoted his time

to developing theories of geomagnetic processes, in particular the formation of

auroral arcs and the transfer of energy from thegeomagnetic tail to the

magnetosphere, and of various phenomena on the active sun.

Tells the inside story of Germany's first contributions to space research

May be rocket science, but the author makes it readily accessible to nonspecialists

A first-hand account of exciting and dramatic events, including some spectacular rocket failures

1. My way into physics.- 2. The assignment.- 3. Diverse paths.- 4. Years of harvest.- 5. Reflection.