February of 1956 saw one of the most unusual periods of Solar Flare activity in history. The solar flare of 23 February 1956 and the resulting geophysical disturbance ranks as one of the most remarkable solar-terrestrial events of the twentieth century. It sparked many papers and has seldom been equalled.
The mid-fifties were an interesting time in solar-terrestrial science, culminating in the International Geophysical Year of 1957–1959. After a very low and flat minimum in 1954, solar activity rose sharply in 1955 and reached a high level by February 1956, with a number of major flares around that time. The events of 23 February 1956 were well observed, largely because numerous instruments were operating in readiness for the forthcoming International Geophysical Year.
Half-a-century later, the 1956 event is seen as one of the greatest solar-terrestrial happenings of the twentieth century. Since then there have been other significant solar-terrestrial events such as those in August 1972, March 1989, October 1989, October–November 2003 and January 2005. Ground-level solar cosmic ray enhancements occurred during each of those sequences of solar proton events and subsequent geomagnetic disturbances with the exception of the March 1989 events.
Shortly after that historic Solar Flare episode, the NBC Radio series Monitor ran a special program as part of their New World segment, where scientists from the Enrico Fermi Institute are interviewed regarding the unusual Solar activity late in February of that year.
Here is that segment from March 4, 1956. (Special thanks to Science Digest for the article Cosmic Rays From Past To Present).
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