Richard Link

Principal Scientist

Instrumentation and Space Research Division

Southwest Research Institute


Dr. Link is a space scientist specializing in the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, as well as electron transport theory. He came to Southwest Research Institute as a Principal Scientist in July, 1993, from Computational Physics Inc., where he was a Senior Physicist and program manager for the Atmospheric Ultraviolet Radiance Integrated Code sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory. He was also Principal Investigator on research projects sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation, and managed research sponsored by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. From 1986 to 1990, he was an Assistant Research Physicist at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley. While there, he led the modeling and data analysis efforts of the Earth and Planetary Atmospheres Group, as well as the science definition and planning for two successful rocket experiments. As an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department at York University in Toronto, Canada from 1984 to 1986, he taught aeronomy in the Graduate Program in Experimental Space Science. In addition, he was a Co-Investigator in the definition and planning phases of the Wind Imaging Interferometer flown on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). From 1981 to 1984, he was a Project Scientist at York University, involved primarily in numerical modeling of airglow and auroral emission processes. He began his professional career at the Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie in Germany, where he developed numerical simulations used to design time-of-flight ion mass spectrometers for the Galileo, Ulysses, and Viking spacecraft. At Swri, he has led the UARS Particle Environment Monitor modeling efforts, and developed and validated the electron - bremsstrahlung energy deposition database used by Goddard Space Flight Center to generate the PEM Level 3AT data products. Currently, he is collaborating in the development of a 270° tophat electrostatic analyzer recently funded by NASA to measure energetic photoelectrons in planetary ionospheres. Dr. Link's recent research has concerned:

  • solar flare effects on oxygen airglow
  • plasmaspheric transport of photoelectrons
  • photoabsorption cross section measurements for molecular gases
  • X-ray emissions from the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact with Jupiter

    • Professional Chronology Education & Awards Publications Talks

    Back to home page