He was the son of the late Kenneth and Geraldine Parker. Eugene went on to college and graduated Pepperdine University with a BA in Business administration and received the Wall Street Journal award for outstanding student for maintaining a high-grade average while working full time. 2023 Neptune Society. Running through the math, he determined the conditions should produce a supersonic flow of particles off the suns surface. At first, almost no one believed his findings on gigantic eruptions from the sun. "I will never forget the pleasure he took in exploring a science problem, and his terrific physical insights which were then buttressed by his analytical skills," Rosner added. Gene always said that after his father died that he was the patriarch of his line of the Parkers and the first born with his fathers new name. If you do something new or innovative, expect trouble. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. If you know of an upcoming event for Eugene Parker, please add one. Months later, Dr. Fox traveled to Chicago to share some of the early data from the Parker probe with Dr. Parker. A star tour from the inside out, NASA's Parker Solar Probe captures stunning Venus photo during close flyby, A string of planets in our solar system sparkles in photos from 3 different sun probes, NASA sun probe spies the solar wind in 1st birthday photo, We need more rules for space junk and moon bases, NASA and US officials say, NASA's SWOT water satellite suffers instrument shutdown in orbit, NASA's IBEX spacecraft not responding to commands after computer glitch during 15-year mission to study interstellar border, Intense solar storm supercharges auroras over UK and more (photos), Pictures from space! Find an Obituary. Eugene Parker Obituary - Olathe, KS - Dignity Memorial The next year, Dr. Parker and his family traveled to Florida to watch the launch of his namesake spacecraft. What will the Buffalo Bills do without defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier? Parker's work focused on understanding the sun. Over the past 47+ years, our experienced team has assisted families, their loved ones, and caregivers in carrying out final wishes more affordably, with dignity and respect. He was loved and cherished by many people including : his parents, Eugene Rayne Parker and Louise Morris Parker Burbage; his aunt Eileen M Powell; his cousins, Mitchell Montalvo Parker (Nancy) and Gene; and also, Mitchell Rayne Parker and Olivia Calcutt Parker. He retired from the University in 1995 but remained active in the field, publishing articles and books. Texas FD #3523, #5075, #3185, #3349, #3705 (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben), SpaceX Crew-6 astronaut launch: Live updates, What's inside the sun? Gene was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Janis Kaye (Gibson) Parker. He later tried his wifes ukulele (no luck). "Dr. Parker's legacy will live on, through the many active and future NASA missions that build upon his work. Ruthie (Eggers) Parker, age 87 of Sioux Falls, passed away Friday, May 13, 2022. Other scientists didn't believe him, Parker recalled in 2018. NY 10036. 5260 Daniel J. Enea, Manager. Sign up for service and obituary updates. "Anyone who knew Dr. Parker, knew that he was a visionary," Nicola Fox, director of NASA's heliophysics division, said in the agency statement. November 24, 2020 Obituaries Search for Eugene Parker - dignitymemorial.com In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Baker & Parker Stephen Decatur Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc., 1324 Belmont Ave., Suite 401, Salisbury MD 21804. The spacecraft uses four instrument suites to study the superheated corona in an attempt to understand where the solar wind originates. When they left Welborn the lessons stopped. After retirement he worked for a small local communications company and then went on to work and retire from Sprint after 15 years. His family plans to attend the ceremony on Parkers behalf. Skip to content. In the following decades, Parker expanded his research to examine cosmic rays, galactic magnetic fields, and other topics in astrophysics. Eugene later married longtime friend Ruthie Parker in 1987 and they lived in Seal Beach CA until his retirement from Rockwell in February of 1993. New York, He was 94. Visit our page for journalists or call (773) 702-8360. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Dr. Fox remembered when she met with Dr. Parker the first time after the launch of the probe. Send Flowers. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Niesje, their two children, three grandsons and two great-grandchildren. Eugene Newman Parker was born in Houghton, Michigan (1927), received a B.S. As a result of his broad interests, a range of scientific concepts are named for him. Together Eugene and Ruthie enjoyed family events, both with his family and hers, visiting the Black Hills, attending Renner Lutheran Church and most of all being together. Shortly afterward, in 1962, NASAs Mariner II spacecraft flew to Venus and encountered a constant stream of particles. His father was born in Elmira, New York and his birth name was Kenneth Miles Carey. He was the expert on magnetism in the universe and understood it better than anyone else.. Eugene "Butch" Parker Mt. He married his childhood sweetheart, Bobbie Hill Parker, and they were happily married for 57 years. Thomas Parker Obituary - Norman, OK - dignitymemorial.com Eugene Lawrence Parker Jr., age 91, of Olathe, Kansas passed away on Tuesday, February 15, 2022. XFL Week 3 preview: Can AJ McCarron, Battlehawks continue their fourth-quarter heroics? ", Related: What's inside the sun? He retired from the school in 1995 but continued to publish books and articles. Eugene married Shirley Parker in 1955 and they had three sons together, David, Ronald and George. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Eugene Parker to pay them a last tribute. Prominent NFL agent Parker dies of cancer at 60, The future of the NFL combine: Is there really a chance it could end forever? Interment Woodlawn Cemetery, Sioux Falls, SD. Obituary information for Harold Eugene Miley Football agent Eugene Parker of Relativity Sports, whose client list included Hall of Famers Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith, died Thursday night. Flowers will be accepted or donations in memory of Dr. Larry Parker to Roper Heights Church of Christ in . Where do breakthrough discoveries and ideas come from? Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. 5801 S. Ellis Ave., Suite 120, Chicago, IL 60637, Submit your images from UChicago research to 2023 Science as Art contest, John W. Rogers Jr. discusses the importance of socially responsible business practices, UChicago to partner on new Chan Zuckerberg Initiative biomedical research hub, Why Mourning Is Essential to Our Well-Being, with Jonathan Lear (Ep. However, it is remarkable that his theory was largely ignored until 1962, when Mariner 2 observed the supersonic solar wind and Parker was vindicated. He was 60. Gene was born October 17, 1939, to the union of George O. Parker, Sr., and Katie Mae Lupo Parker and passed away November 2, 2018, in Monroe at St. Francis Hospital surrounded by his family. "Dr. Eugene Parker's contributions to science and to understanding how our universe works touches so much of what we do here at NASA," he added. He authored four books: Interplanetary Dynamical Processes (1963), Cosmical Magnetic Fields: Their Origin and Their Activity (1979), Spontaneous Current Sheets in Magnetic Fields, with Applications to Stellar X-rays (1994), and Conversations on Electric and Magnetic Fields in the Cosmos (2007). She was contributing writer for Space.com (opens in new tab) for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. We are devastated by the loss of my father, but we know his legacy spans not only our family and friends, but the international community of scientists around the globe, said his son Eric Parker. Eugene N. Parker, the astrophysicist who predicted the existence of the solar wind, a continuous outpouring of charged particles traveling from the sun at a million miles per hour, died on Tuesday at his home in Chicago. During the COSPAR General Assembly in Athens (July 2022), Parker was leading the Scientific Organizing Committee of the session I organize: Exploring the cradle of the solar wind with Parker Solar Probe/Solar Orbiter/Proba-3: what do we really know about the inner solar corona? EAST BROOKFIELD - Eugene M. Parker, 62, died on Sunday, December 6, 2020 at home. Additionally, he correctly predicted the twisted shape that the rotating suns magnetic field would take as the solar wind carried it to the outer solar system, which is now called the Parker spiral. Sympathy Ideas. Parker, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer in November, was known as the most prominent and distinguished African-American agent. CANDLE HAS BEEN LIT CANDLES HAVE BEEN LIT, We are reviewing your submission. My father, Harvey Eugene Parker, was a remarkable man whose positive influence on the lives of many is a measure of his legacy that will live on for many generations. Parker himself attended the launch, his first ever. Eugene Parker Obituary (2015) - Birmingham, AL - The Birmingham News Dr. Obituary. Search by Name. I only saw him cry twice. Dr. Fox, then project scientist for the mission, recalled saying, Parker, meet Parker.. Harold Eugene Miley August 20, 1939 - February 28, 2023 Obituary My Career long attorney/agent & lifetime friend,hero,brother & confidant EUGENE PARKER has gone on to be with the Lord. Top draft hopefuls Jaylon Smith, Laquon Treadwell and Noah Spence had signed with Parker. He was this ideal of a physicist: a person who has a strong intuition, who can see one step ahead and who can then sit down and show the intuition is correct, she said. Harry "Gene" Eugene Parker, 70, of Amazonia, Missouri, went to his heavenly home on Friday, September 30, 2022 at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, KS. His work did not rely on 20th-century physics breakthroughs like quantum mechanics or Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity, but rather on older physics like Maxwells equations, devised by James Clerk Maxwell in the 1860s to describe the behavior of electric and magnetic fields. The University and the department has lost one of its giants, said Michael Turner, the Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UChicago and a colleague of Parkers for decades. Leave a memory or share a photo below to show your support. In a long series of papers entitled Sunspots and the physics of magnetic flux tubes (1979), with myself contributing two papers, Parker studied the basic properties and interactions of isolated twisted magnetic flux tubes, proposing that sunspots are a conglomeration of isolated flux tubes. Obituary. Heliophysicist Eugene Parker as seen in 2019. If you do something new or innovative, expect trouble, he said in 2018 when asked to give advice to early-career scientists. Ocean City - Eugene (Gene) Rayne Parker Jr, age 81, died peacefully in his home on November 24, 2020. Get more with UChicago News delivered to your inbox. Danny was born July 27, 1955 in Joplin, son of the late Ray L. Reynolds and Velma (Harper) Reynolds. Parker was internationally known for proposing the concept of the solar windan idea that was first met with skepticism to outright ridicule. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Born in 1927 in Houghton, Michigan, Parker completed his undergraduate degree in physics from Michigan State University in 1948 and his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1951. . The Parker Solar Probes successful launch, which Parker attended at age 91, has since provided unprecedented views of the sun. He was the first born of Eugene and Hazel Marie (Anderson) Parker. He first worked as an instructor and assistant professor at the University of Utah. Home . He wrote the textbook on heliophysics, said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for NASAs science directorate, who spearheaded the name change. In addition to his children, survivors include his wife of 67 years, Niesje; a brother; three grandsons; and two great-grandchildren. He joined the St. Andrews Society band. The observational verification of the solar wind theory (1958) is a unique example in astrophysics, due to its immediate and brief confirmation by observations (1962). But as the Parker Solar Probe makes closer and closer approaches to the sun in the coming years, using flybys of Venus as a gravitational brake, it might pick up radio signals generated by nanoflares and prove Dr. Parker correct again. Parkers theory of the solar wind remains even today one of the most elegant chapters of modern astrophysics, both for its simplicity and for the plausible and beautiful way of explaining a not-so-simple natural phenomenon. Credit: The photo below is courtesy of the author. He was born in Jackson, MI on July 31, 1937, to Loy and Goldie Parker. All rights reserved. Dr. Parker later turned to other research puzzles, like how the sun produces magnetic fields, the magnetic fields of galaxies and the structure of magnetized shock waves. Grief Support. Eugene Lawrence Parker Jr., age 91, of Olathe, Kansas passed away on Tuesday, February 15, 2022. Woodrow Eugene Edwards Obituary (1944 - 2023) | Elkview, West Virginia Send a note, share a story or upload a photo. Parker went on to revolutionize the field of astrophysics, unraveling the complex physics behind magnetic fields in space and the dynamics of plasma. Woodrow Eugene Edwards Obituary. Learn more here. It was so exciting to have the honor of taking Gene into the cleanroom at the Applied Physics Lab to introduce him to his spacecraftand of course I said Parker, meet Parker, said Fox. Send Flowers. Although the common wisdom among scientists in the 1950s was that space was empty, comets had already suggested otherwise. East Wakefield, NH Gene Willis Parker passed away on October 10 th, 2021 while diving in Lake Winnipesaukee. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. Dr. Zurbuchen then called Dr. Parker to ask if that would be all right with him. Obituary | Ruthie (Eggers) Parker of Sioux Falls, South Dakota | Miller Authorize the publication of the original written obituary with the accompanying photo. Both NASA and the University of Chicago, where Parker had worked for decades, announced his death. Dr. Parker at his home in Chicago in 2018. Parker was invited to attend a ceremony in Sweden next month to celebrate the Crafoord Prize, which he won in 2020. She recalled his seemingly boundless energy in the early morning hours preceding the launch and his childlike grin when everything went smoothly. Support at last came from a colleague of Parker's at the university, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who himself, decades later became the namesake of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Eugene Parker Obituary And they led him to some very interesting phenomena that people hadnt discovered.. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science since 2015. Parker is survived by his wife Niesje, to whom he was married for 67 years, as well as brother Phillip; son Eric Glenn Parker (married to Susan) and daughter Joyce Marie Parker (married to Ed); grandchildren Owen Loh (married to Allison), Miles Loh (married to Michelle), and Nolan Loh (fiance Hillary Wang); and great-grandchildren Lena and Elliott. Gene always said he learned to play Red River Valley and that was it. The first theoretical framework of magnetic reconnection was established by Peter Sweet and Eugene Parker (1956). Parker twice served as chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and also served as chair of the astronomy section of the National Academy of Sciences. Keith was born in Laurens, SC, August 20, 1961, a son of Roy and Rita Parker. But thats cool compared with the outer atmosphere known as the corona, where the wisps of gas are much sparser but much hotter well over a million degrees. He is best known for his 1958 theory of the existence of solar wind a supersonic flow of particles off the suns surface. Prominent football agent Eugene Parker dies of cancer at 60 - ESPN.com Parker, Eugene W. Age 71, of Oak Park passed away peacefully on July 30, 2012 surrounded by his family and friends; loving father of Tony and Jim; dear brother of Edmond (Lorraine) and Sheila Parker; . He was Mr. Magnetism, Dr. Turner said. Obituary | Danny Eugene Allen | Parker Mortuary Born in Providence, RI, he. He grew up in Joplin and graduated from Memorial High School before joining the United States Marines Corp . on June 25,1958 the son of the late Kenneth and Marjorie Parker. He finally mastered the bagpipes. Eugene "Gene" Lawrence Parker, Jr. was born August 21, 1930 in Highland Park, Michigan. Dr. Parker, he said, was happy when people pointed out a mistake in his calculations but not pleased when people accepted prevalent scientific assumptions without question. Let others know about your loved one's death. The importance of saying "I love you" during COVID-19, Effective ways of dealing with the grieving process, Solutions to show your sympathy safely during the Covid-19 pandemic, Burbage Funeral Home - Berlin, MD - Berlin. The Dignity Memorial online obituary search tool gives you access to obituaries from thousands of locations across North America. Parker correctly predicted that the solar wind would create a large bubble around the sun, the heliosphere (1961). Parker inducted Sanders into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. He worked for Standard Oil, Sears, Trans America, and Rockwell. Editor's note: The University will hold a memorial service for Eugene Parker on Oct. 8 in Bond Chapel. Sechrest-Davis Funerals and Cremations. A few months afterward, Dr. Parker went to visit the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, where the spacecraft was built and tested. Eugene Lawrence Parker Jr., age 91, of Olathe, Kansas passed away on Tuesday, February 15, 2022. The Dignity Memorial brand name is used to identify a network of licensed funeral, cremation and cemetery providers that include affiliates of Service Corporation International, 1929 Allen Parkway, Houston, Texas. Words are poor to describe these two legendary scientists. CANDLE HAS BEEN LIT CANDLES HAVE BEEN LIT, We are reviewing your submission. But think critically about it because if youre wrong, you want to be the first one to know that., I dont think it is in any way an overstatement to say that the field of heliophysics exists today largely because of the work of Dr. Eugene Parker, said Nicky Fox, director of NASAs Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington and a friend of Parkers. New Jersey Residents: N.J. Lic. The mission named for him seeks to understand the origins of the solar wind within the sun. These children were Joanne had a younger brother, Kenneth, who passed away in February of 1989. Eric Parker said he and his sister, Joyce, simply knew their dad was a scientist and didnt learn about his stature in the field until later in their lives. OBITUARY Harvey E. "Gene" Parker November 23, 1930 - May 22, 2019. . "Gene represented to me the ideal physicist brilliant and accomplished, personable, articulate, but also humble," Robert Rosner, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago and a longtime colleague of Parker's, said in the university statement. He was also cherished by friends and relatives. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Eugene Parker Obituary (1937 - 2016) - Detroit, MI - Jackson Citizen Eugene is survived by his sons, David (Nancy) Parker, Ronald (Sherry) Parker, and George (Dana Conde) Parker; grandchildren, Katie (Corey Ott) Parker, Ryan Parker, Kristina Parker, Nicholas Parker, Sabrina Parker, and Samantha Parker; and great-granddaughter, Blakely Ott, all from California. But Dr. Zurbuchen, who had met Dr. Parker years earlier, said he did not have much trouble getting Robert Lightfoot, the acting administrator of NASA at the time, to approve the change in 2017.