The sky is falling: The sun is exploding, duck! Revisited

Speaker: Jaap Akkerhuis

Abstract

In May 2013 at the Ripe 66 meeting in Dublin, at the maximum of solar cycle 24, I presented a short talk on mass emisions from the sun and it effects on our planet. Now, at the start the 25th solar cycle, it is a good moment to talk about Space Weather again and its effect on our environment. This talk doesn't need any special knowledege and will try to make you understand alarmist headlines better.

Biography

After a period of seven years in the U.S., where he was active at the Information Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, software company mtXinu, and AT&T Bell Labs, Jaap returned to the Netherlands where he joined the NLnet, the first independent ISP in the Netherlands. Later he worked as a technical advisor for Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie Nederland (SIDN)

Jaap went back and forth between scientific institutes, research labs, Internet service providers and registries in Europe and across the U.S., playing a key role as a global connector in the technical community.

Throughout his career, Jaap has spent a generous amount of time sharing his knowledge with others and playing key roles in organisations such as the European Unix User Group, Advanced Computing Systems Association (USENIX), the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Society, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE) and The Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries (CENTR). Currently, he is a research engineer in the research and development group at NLnet Labs, focusing on IT development.

Jaap always had ample interest in astronomy and was asked to help with the outreach project of the Stanford Solar Research Center and ending up maintaining the software of the solar monitors which are scattered around the world. The International Heliophysical Year 2007-2009 Education Center recognized his role in the the Space Weather Monitor Program. In 2014 he and the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers received an Award of Excellence and the title "Hero in Solar and Space Physics".