Obituary of James Edward Bishop

Dr. James Bishop, Senior Research Physicist in the Upper Atmospheric Physics Branch of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Space Science Division since August, 1999, passed away at age 52 on December 30, 2006, after a long illness. James was recognized worldwide as an authority on the spectroscopy of ultraviolet emissions by planetary atmospheres, including that of the Earth, and he was constantly in demand to participate in ongoing and proposed observing missions and campaigns. He had great enthusiasm for the fundamental physics of atoms and molecules and was the reigning authority on hydrogen and helium in the interplanetary medium and in the Earth’s exosphere, including the hydrogen geocorona.

James received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Austin College in Texas and began his graduate studies at Texas Christian University before moving on to Rice University to work with Dr. J. W. Chamberlain, an international leader in the physics of the Earth’s upper atmosphere. After receiving his PhD in 1985, he conducted postdoctoral research, oriented primarily toward the giant planets and exoatmospheric phenomena, at the University of British Columbia and became a Research Scientist at the University of Michigan and then a Senior Physicist at Computational Physics, Inc. (CPI) in 1992. At CPI, he broadened his influence to modeling of processes in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and to analysis of rocket and satellite data, encompassing dayglow, nightglow, auroral optical emissions, and the ionosphere. He led an investigation which resolved a significant long-standing discrepancy between measurements and models of terrestrial upper atmospheric twilight helium emiss! ions, yet he also found time to author a comprehensive treatise on the upper atmosphere of Neptune. As both a scientist and a technical manager, James was a key figure at CPI, offering a unique depth of understanding and taking a careful and comprehensive approach to each topic. At NRL, this role expanded, as his encyclopedic knowledge of physics became an essential resource for his many collaborators.

James’s colleagues esteemed him highly as a rigorous and insightful researcher, and as a treasured mentor and teacher. Those who knew James remember his dry, sardonic sense of humor and his love of music and movies. James is survived by his children Jennifer and Aaron Bishop; mother Demaris Overman; brothers L. Doug Bishop and Michael Overman; and sister Bonnie Bishop.