Jerry Goldstein

Who is Jerry Goldstein?

Jerry Goldstein is a space physicist whose research has focused on the Earth's plasmasphere, a high-altitude extension of the ionized portion of the planet's upper atmosphere. During the years 2002-2005 he published a series of papers on the density structure and global dynamics of the plasmasphere.

In addition to covering fundamental scientific aspects of plasmaspheric dynamics, Goldstein's research has brought attention to plasmaspheric influence on space weather, i.e., space-based phenomena that affect human activities and society. For example, when so-called "space storms" strike, they erode away the outer layers of the plasmasphere, and this erosion produces significant space weather effects in the form of increased radiation hazards for satellites and astronauts, and range errors in GPS navigation signals.

Goldstein got his B.S. at Brooklyn College and his Ph.D at Dartmouth College, where he studied magnetospheric cavity mode resonance, a phenomenon in which the Earth's magnetic field traps electromagnetic waves. As a postdoc at Rice University, Goldstein’s job was to interpret and model the brand-new space weather data being obtained by the IMAGE satellite.