Editing Loren Acton

{{short description|American astronaut and physicist (born 1936)|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=December 2012}}
{{Update |[[Yohkoh]] mission|date=August 2010}}
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{{Infobox astronaut
| name          = Loren Wilber Acton
| image         = Loren Acton.jpg
| type          = [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] Payload Specialist
| status        = Retired
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1936|3|07}}
| birth_place   = [[Lewistown, Montana]],<br/>[[United States]]
| occupation    = [[Physicist|Solar X-ray Physicist]]
| alma_mater    = [[Montana State University]], ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br>[[University of Colorado at Boulder|University of Colorado, Boulder]], ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| selection     =
| time          = 7d 22h 45min
| mission       = [[STS-51-F]]
| insignia      = [[Image:Sts-51-f-patch.png|30px]]
||child=Cheryll Glotfelty|citizenship=American}}
'''Loren Wilber Acton''' (born 7 March 1936) is an American physicist who flew on [[Space Shuttle]] mission [[STS-51-F]] as a [[Payload Specialist]] for the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory. He is also the father of Cheryll Glotfelty, a leading [[Ecocriticism|ecocritic]].<ref>{{cite report|title=JSTOR {{!}}|jstor = 41616853|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41616853}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Acton was born in [[Lewistown, Montana]]. He received a bachelor of science degree in Engineering Physics from [[Montana State University - Bozeman|Montana State University]] in 1959, and a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] in [[astrophysics]] from the [[University of Colorado at Boulder]] in 1965.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Biographies of Aerospace Officials and Policymakers, A-D |url=https://history.nasa.gov/biosa-d.html |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref>

== Career ==
Acton was a senior staff scientist with the [[Space Sciences Laboratory]], Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, [[California]].<ref name=":0" /> As a research scientist, his principal duties included conducting scientific studies of the Sun and other celestial objects using advanced space instruments and serving as a co-investigator on one of the [[Spacelab]] 2 solar experiments, the Solar Optical Universal Polarimeter. He was selected as one of four payload specialists for Spacelab 2 on August 9, 1978, and after seven years of training he flew on [[STS-51-F]]/ Spacelab-2 in 1985. At mission conclusion, Acton had travelled over 2.8 million miles in 126 Earth orbits, logging over 190 hours in space.

Acton is married and has two children.  In 2006 he ran in an election to be the state representative of Montana's District 69, as a Democratic candidate. In the event, he lost to the Republican incumbent, Jack M. Wells of Belgrade.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acton4montana.com/home.htm|title=Wrap Up of an Honorable (but losing) Campaign|work=Volunteers for Loren Acton|access-date=18 December 2012|archive-date=4 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004214546/http://acton4montana.com/home.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Acton is currently a retired Research Professor of Physics at [[Montana State University - Bozeman|Montana State University]], where he was responsible for the formation of the Solar Physics group and the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory.  The MSU solar group carries on an active research program under [[NASA]] and [[NSF International|NSF]] support and is actively involved in day-to-day operation and scientific utilization of satellite missions for studies of the Sun. Acton was a principal investigator for [[Soft X-ray]] Telescope (SXT) experiment on the Japan/US/UK Yohkoh mission {{cite web|url=http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ylegacy/|title=Yohkoh Legacy Archive}} The Yohkoh mission focused on the study of high-energy solar processes, such as [[Solar flare|solar flares]], [[eruptions]] and the heating of the [[Stellar corona|corona]]. The primary emission of the extremely hot outer atmosphere of the Sun, the solar corona, is at X-ray wavelengths. The extended duration, high resolution, X-ray imagery from Yohkoh contribute to the study of why the Sun has a corona at all and why it varies in intensity so strongly in response to the 11-year sunspot cycle.

==Awards==
*2000 [[George Ellery Hale Prize]] by the [[Solar Physics Division]] of the [[American Astronomical Society]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=George Ellery Hale Prize - Previous Winners {{!}} AAS Solar Physics Division|url=https://spd.aas.org/prizes/hale/previous|access-date=2020-06-03|website=spd.aas.org}}</ref>
*Recognized in February 2020 as Legacy Fellow of [[American Astronomical Society]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=AAS Fellows Program {{!}} American Astronomical Society|url=https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/aas-fellows|access-date=2020-06-03|website=aas.org}}</ref>
*2017 The [[Order of the Rising Sun]], Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by [[Japanese government]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=List of Honorable foreigners in 2017 (Written in Japanese)|url=https://www8.cao.go.jp/shokun/hatsurei/29aki/meibo_gaikokujinjokun/kyokujitsu-zaigai.pdf|access-date=2020-12-02|website=www.cao.go.jp}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/acton-lw.html NASA Biography]
*[http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/acton_loren.htm Spacefacts biography of Loren Acton]
*[http://solar.physics.montana.edu/acton/ Loren Acton Academic Homepage]
*[http://solar.physics.montana.edu Montana State University Solar Physics Group]
*[http://www.physics.montana.edu Montana State University Physics Department]
*[http://www.montana.edu Montana State University]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060620080524/http://www.worldcic.org/ World Championship in Cooperation]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Acton, Loren}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American physicists]]
[[Category:American science teachers]]
[[Category:People from Lewistown, Montana]]
[[Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni]]
[[Category:Montana Democrats]]
[[Category:Montana State University alumni]]
[[Category:NASA civilian astronauts]]
[[Category:Lockheed Martin people]]
[[Category:American astronaut-politicians]]
[[Category:Space Shuttle program astronauts]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Astronomical Society]]