Robert Allen "Bob" LANGEL
Obituary

Robert Langel III

NASA Physicist

Robert Langel III, 62, a retired physicist who headed the geomagnetism research program at Goddard Space Flight Center and who led efforts to map the Earth's magnetic field from space, died of a pulmonary embolism Feb. 9 at a nursing home in Blacksburg, Va.


During a 27-year career at the space flight center -- part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- Dr. Langel specialized in satellite surveys of the Earth's magnetic field. He helped compile the findings in a publication known as the International Geomagnetic Reference Field.

He was involved in the creation of Magsat, a U.S. satellite launched in 1979 to scan the entire surface of the globe, and he co-authored a 1988 book, "The Magnetic Field of the Earth's Lithosphere -- the Satellite Perspective."

He retired in 1997 and moved to Blacksburg from Laurel.

Dr. Langel was born in Pittsburgh. He graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., and received master's and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Maryland.

Survivors include his wife, Carolyn M. Langel of Blacksburg; three daughters, Kathy Hadsell of White Plains, Susan Langley of Pasadena and Joy Hungerford of Northampton, Mass.; and six grandchildren.

washingtonpost.com

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