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593 B.C.- Aristotles theory said that the heat from the sun raised heat from the ground which caused the Aurora Borealis. Grochowski, Pia. "Pictures." ThisisFINLAND: Aurora Borealis. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013
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Hippocrates and Aeschylus develop a theory that the lights were just reflected sunlight off the earth. Grochowski, Pia. "Pictures." ThisisFINLAND: Aurora Borealis. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013
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Galileo created term Aurora Borealis after Roman Goddess of Morning. He thought the it was sunlight reflecting from the atmosphere. Dunbar, Brian. NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
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Henry Cavendish used triangulation to appproximate that the Aurora light was about 100-130 Kms above the surface of the earth. Dunbar, Brian. NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
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Kristian Birkeland, a Norwegian physicist, conducted an experiment that showed the Aurora light was caused by currents flowing through the gas of the upper atmosphere. Dunbar, Brian. NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
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Electrons were long suspected to cause the Aurora but were first seen by detectors on a rocket that was launched into the Aurora by Meridith Gottlieb and Van Allen. Stern, David. "#3H. The Polar Aurora -- History." The Polar Aurora. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
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Another rocket experiment by Carl Mcllwain showed that the electrons were of an average energy corresponding to accelerastion by 6000 volts. Stern, David. "#3H. The Polar Aurora -- History." The Polar Aurora. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
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One theory of the Aurora Borealis said that charged ions and electrons in space currents implodes towards earth one sixth of the distance to the moons orbit. Another theory was that when two magnetic field lines come close togather due to the storage of energy from the sun, the magnetic field lines reconnect causing magnetic energy to be transformed into kinectic energy and heat. Then the energy is released which creates the light. The UCLA space science team proved the second theory true.
