Alfvén

American

[ahl-veyn, al-] / ɑlˈveɪn, æl- /

noun

Hannes (Olof Gösta) 1908–1995, Swedish physicist: Nobel Prize 1970.

Alfvén British

/ alˈven /

noun

Hannes Olaf Gösta (ˈhannɛs ˈuːlaf ˈjøsta). 1908–95, Swedish physicist, noted for his research on magnetohydrodynamics; shared the Nobel prize for physics in 1970

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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Alfvén waves are magnetic vibrations that move through plasma, first predicted in 1942 by Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén.

From Science Daily • Oct. 27, 2025

Understanding how Alfvén waves behave has practical significance for predicting space weather.

From Science Daily • Oct. 27, 2025

Researchers have made a major leap in solar physics by finding the first direct evidence of small-scale torsional Alfvén waves within the Sun's corona.

From Science Daily • Oct. 27, 2025

The spacecraft crossed the Alfvén boundary when it was around 14 million kilometres, or just under 20 solar radii, from the Sun’s surface.

From Scientific American • Dec. 15, 2021

As it crossed the Alfvén surface, the Parker probe flew through a ‘pseudostreamer’ of electrically charged material, inside which conditions were quieter than the roiling environment outside.

From Scientific American • Dec. 15, 2021

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023