---
category: Private Organization
location: Stanford, California
start: 1885
summary: Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California,
  whose Linear Accelerator Center physicist Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky served on the
  expert panel that analyzed VELA satellite data from the suspected 1979 South Atlantic
  nuclear explosion.
tags:
- Organization
- Academic
- USA
---

Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, [California](/places/california/). Its Linear Accelerator Center was home to Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky, a physicist who was a key colleague of [Jack P. Ruina](/people/jack-p-ruina/) on an ad hoc panel of distinguished scientists tasked with studying the [VELA Satellite](/concepts/vela-satellite/) data related to a probable nuclear explosion in the South Indian Ocean in 1979.[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.