Sentman, Davis Daniel "Dave" 1945-2011

SENTMAN, YODER, SHIRKEY, ZWETZIG

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Date: 4/22/2024 at 14:48:33

Davis Daniel “Dave” Sentman VVETERAN
BIRTH
19 Jan 1945
Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa, USA
DEATH
15 Dec 2011 (aged 66)
Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USA
BURIAL
Ridgewood Cemetery
North Liberty, Johnson County, Iowa, USA
Show MapGPS-Latitude: 41.7693522, Longitude: -91.6049682
PLOT
West Addition, Lot 116, Plot 1
MEMORIAL ID
84846019 · View Source
MEMORIAL
PHOTOS 1
FLOWERS 3
Davis D. Sentman, resident of Fairbanks, Alaska, passed away on December 15, 2011, at the age of 66, at the Providence Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska.

Davis was born in Iowa City, Iowa on January 19, 1945 to Howard and Ardis (Yoder) Sentman.

Davis served in the United States Air Force from 1965 to1969, and was stationed in Tokyo, Japan.

He was a proud veteran of the Vietnam conflict and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal.

Davis earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics, and master's and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Iowa in 1971, 1973, and 1976, respectively. In 1974, he spent several months in the Peace Corps in Kenya as a mathematics and physics teacher.

Davis studied under Dr. James Van Allen and made initial predictions of radiation levels in Jupiter's radiation belts as part of the NASA/Ames Research Center spacecraft Pioneer ten and Pioneer eleven programs. His predictions were later confirmed by Voyager spacecraft observations in 1997.

After leaving Iowa, Davis joined the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles. While there, he led investigations of solar wind interactions with the earth's magnetosphere, and new methods to measure and model the interaction between global lightning and Schumann resonances.

In 1991, Davis joined the Geophysical Institute and the Physics Department of the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a researcher and professor of physics. Most notably, Davis was a pioneer in observing and modeling a new form of lightning, which he named 'sprites' and 'blue jets', that occurs above thunderstorms. The phenomena became widely studied after their initial study in 1994, spawning new fields of both terrestrial and planetary lightning research.

Over his career, Davis served as principal investigator on more than 30 research projects with NASA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

Davis also published 89 papers, including articles in Scientific American and Science, collaborated with 128 co-authors from around the world, and currently has 1,690 citations of his work.

He was a specialist in plasma physics, solar-terrestrial relationships and upper atmospheric electrical phenomena, and served as a special editor to the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics since 1996.

In May 2011, Davis achieved status of professor emeritus from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks for his extensive contributions in teaching, research and scientific community service.

A classical guitar aficionado, Davis was beloved by family, friends and colleagues as an engaging educator and mentor, a world traveler, and humble scientist who loved the exploration and sharing of new knowledge through observation and the intellectual exchange of ideas.

Davis was preceded in death by his father, Howard Sentman; his mother, Ardis Sentman/Shirkey; step-father, Ralph Shirkey; and step-brother, Dale Shirkey.

He is survived by his three brothers and their spouses, Harold (Tom) and Rosemary Sentman, Richard and Jeanne Sentman, John and Debbie Shirkey; step-sister, Virginia Zwetzig; nephews, Mark Sentman, Alan Sentman, and Thad Sentman; and niece, Melissa Sentman.

Funeral arrangements will be announced at a future date.

Published in Des Moines Register on January 16, 2012
Family Members
Parents

Howard Sentman
1913–1945

Ardis Yoder Sentman Shirkey
1916–1995

Siblings

Harold Thomas "Tom" Sentman
1939–2022 ~ Find A Grave (and the Des Moines (IA) Register 16 Jan 2012.)