Richard Horne - Biography#

Professor Richard Horne FRS is Distinguished Research Scientist at the British Antarctic Survey and Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield. He received the PhD degree in space plasma physics from the University of Sussex in 1982 and DSc from University of Cambridge in 2020. His scientific career started as a Higher Scientific Officer at the Rutheford Appleton Laboratory in 1981. In 1984 he moved to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), where he has since served in various scientific positions. Since 2014 he is a member of the BAS executive team, and now holds the highest individual merit promotion (IMP band 1) across UKRI.

Richard Horne has published more than 230 scientific papers that have been cited more than 15,000 times, his ISI WoS h-index being 70 (Jan. 13, 2023). In the 1980s his studies focused on theoretical investigations of propagation, growth and decay of electromagnetic waves in magnetized space plasmas. This included the development of, at that time, the most advanced wave propagation model HOTRAY that still is a widely used tool in studies of wave propagation in the Earth’s magnetosphere. Around 1990 Richard Horne’s main interest began to focus on interactions between energetic charged particles and various plasma waves leading, e.g., to acceleration, transport and loss of relativistic electrons in the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding the Earth. As these processes are universal, he has applied the same methods to investigate the radiation environments of Jupiter and Saturn.

The relativistic electrons moving close to the speed of light in Van Allen belts form one of the most serious space weather hazards during geomagnetic storms. During the first two decades of the present century Horne has participated in several international investigations, which have contributed to establishing European capabilities in managing space weather hazard risks.