List of plasma physicists

Last updated October 13, 2024

This is a list of physicists who have worked in or made notable contributions to the field of plasma physics.

Name	Known for
Robert Ellis	Head of experimental projects at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; co-led the Spheromak project
Igor Grabec	Exploration of unstable ionization waves (striations) in a positive column of a glow discharge and corresponding ionization turbulence.
Hannes Alfvén	1970 Nobel Prize in Physics "for fundamental work and discoveries in magneto-hydrodynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics"
Irving Langmuir	coined the term "plasma" to hint at the lifelike behavior of this state of matter. Developed electron temperature concepts and an electrostatic probe, the Langmuir probe.
Ksenia Aleksandrovna Razumova	first stable plasmas in tokamaks, first experimental measurement of plasma energy with diamagnetic loop, disruption studies, confinement studies, pioneering female leader of Russian fusion research, Alfvén Prize 2017
Anatoly Vlasov	first suggested the Vlasov equation, a correct description of plasma with long-range interaction between particles
Andrey Dmitriyevich Sakharov	proposed the development of the tokamak device for use in controlled thermonuclear fusion.
Boris B. Kadomtsev	early plasma turbulence theory, stability and nonlinear theory of MHD and kinetic instabilities. James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1998)
Katherine Weimer	scientific research in the field of plasma magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability theory
Yu Lin	computational research in nonlinear physics in the boundary layers of space plasmas, Katherine Weimer Award (2002).
Elena Belova	numerical contributions to the fundamental physics of magnetically confined plasmas, Katherine Weimer Award (2005).
Lin Yin	research on instabilities and magnetic reconnection in space plasmas and of the physics of relativistic laser-plasma interactions through complex modeling, Katherine Weimer Award (2008).
Yuan Ping	pioneering experiments to explore the interaction of high-intensity laser light with matter, Katherine Weimer Award (2011).
Anne White	fundamental contributions to the understanding of turbulent transport in tokamaks, Katherine Weimer Award (2014).
Félicie Albert	pioneering development and characterization of x-ray sources from laser-wakefield accelerators, Katherine Weimer Award (2017).
Maria Gatu Johnson	significant contributions to Inertial fusion sciences and pioneering work in Stellar Nucleosynthesis through nuclear measurements, Katherine Weimer Award (2019).
Kristian Birkeland	First suggested that polar electric currents (or auroral electrojets) are connected to a system of filaments (now called "Birkeland currents") that flow along geomagnetic field lines into and away from the polar region.
Lev Landau	Landau damping
Meghnad Saha	Saha ionization equation
Sydney Chapman	development of the kinetic theory of gases
Vitaly Ginzburg	theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in plasmas
Vitaly Shafranov	theoretical contributions to plasma physics (e.g. Grad–Shafranov equation, Kruskal–Shafranov instability)
Willard Harrison Bennett	Z-pinch is a form of "Bennett pinch". Also invented radio frequency mass spectrometry.
Lyman Spitzer	theoretical contributions to plasma physics, Spitzer resistivity, director of Project Matterhorn (1951-1961), James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1975)
Marshall Rosenbluth	fundamental theoretical contributions plasma physics, and in particular, plasma instabilities, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1976)
John M. Dawson	introduced the use of computer simulation to plasma physics, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1977)
Richard F. Post	developed the magnetic mirror concept for magnetic confinement fusion, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1978)
Tihiro Ohkawa	developed the doublet approach for toroidal confinement fusion, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1979)
Thomas H. Stix	developed the doublet approach for toroidal confinement fusion, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1980)
John H. Nuckolls	introduced the inertial confinement approach to fusion, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1981)
Ira B. Bernstein	fundamental theoretical contributions plasma physics including a wave mode in his name, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1982)
Harold Fürth	fundamental contributions to plasma physics including resistive instabilities, Director of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1981-1990), James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1983)
Donald W. Kerst	invention of the levitated toroidal multipole, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1984)
John H. Malmberg	experimental demonstration of Landau damping and development of pure electron plasmas, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1985)
Harold Grad	theoretical contributions to magnetohydrodynamics, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1986)
Bruno Coppi	pioneering work in the conceptual and engineering design of high field tokamaks, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1987)
Norman Rostoker	pioneering theoretical contributions to the statistical mechanics of particles with Coulomb interactions, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1988)
Ravindra Sudan	pioneered the study of the generation and propagation of intense ion beams, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1989)
William L. Kruer	seminal contributions to the theoretical and experimental understanding of the intense electromagnetic waves with plasmas, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1990)
Hans R. Griem	contributions to plasma spectroscopy and spectral line broadening in plasmas, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1991)
John M. Greene	contributions to theory of magnetohydrodynamic equilibria and ideal and resistive instabilities, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1992)
Russell M. Kulsrud	pioneering contributions to basic plasma theory, including magnetic reconnection, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1993)
Roy W. Gould	pioneering research in beam-plasma interactions, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1994)
Francis F. Chen	pioneering works on electrostatic probes, the plasma physics textbook "Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion" James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1995)
Thomas M. O'Neil	seminal contributions to plasma theory, including extension of Landau damping to the nonlinear regime James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1996)
Charles F. Kennel	fundamental contributions to the basic plasma physics of collisionless shocks James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1997)
John Bryan Taylor	helicity conservation, bootstrap current, ballooning transformation, plasma theory James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1999)
Akira Hasegawa	theories of nonlinear drift wave turbulence, including the Hasegawa-Mima equation James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2000)
Roald Sagdeev	contributions to modern plasma theory including collisionless shocks and stochastic magnetic fields James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2001)
Edward A. Frieman	theory of magnetically confined plasmas, including fundamental work on the formulation of the MHD Energy Principle James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2002)
Eugene N. Parker	seminal contributions in plasma astrophysics, including predicting the solar wind, explaining the solar dynamo, and formulating the theory of magnetic reconnection James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2003)
Noah Hershkowitz	fundamental contributions to the physics of low temperature plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2004)
Valery Godyak	fundamental contributions to the physics of low temperature plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2004)
Nathaniel Fisch	theoretical development of efficient rf-driven current in plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2005)
Chandrashekhar J. Joshi	application of plasma concepts to high energy electron and positron acceleration James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2006)
John Lindl	contributions in high energy density physics and inertial confinement fusion research James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2007)
Ronald C. Davidson	pioneering contributions to the physics of one-component non-neutral plasmas, first director of MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (1991-1996), director of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1991-1996), James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2008)
Maxim G. Ponomarev	pioneering investigations of disturbances of all plasma species by modeling charged particle emissions from imaginary and additional sources:. Imaginary-emission method for modeling disturbances of all magnetoplasma species: Reflecting and absorbing objects in motion through a rarefied plasma at different angles to the ambient magnetic field (Phys. Rev. E 54, 5591 – Published 1 November 1996) and First suggested the Resonant Moments method for Enhanced acceleration of electrons populations by crossing electron cyclotron waves in an ambient magnetic field
Miklos Porkolab	pioneering investigations of linear and nonlinear plasma waves and wave-particle interactions James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2009)
James Drake	theory of the fundamental mechanism of fast reconnection of magnetic fields in plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2010)
Gregor Eugen Morfill	discovery of plasma crystals as a solid state of aggregation of dusty plasmas (1994). Former Director of Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2011)
Liu Chen	recipient of numerous awards for research on plasma physics (e.g. John Dawson Prize (2004), Hannes Alfvén Prize (2008) and James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2012))
Phillip A. Sprangle	pioneering contributions to the physics of high intensity laser interactions with plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2013)
Clifford Surko	invention of and development of techniques to accumulate, confine, and utilize positron plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2014)
Masaaki Yamada	fundamental experimental studies of magnetic reconnection relevant to space, astrophysical and fusion plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2015)
Ellen G. Zweibel	seminal research on the energetics, stability, and dynamics of astrophysical plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2016)
Dmitri Ryutov	contributions to the theoretical plasma physics of low and high energy density plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2017)
Keith H. Burrell	established the links between sheared plasma flow and turbulent transport James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2018)
William H. Matthaeus	pioneering research into the nature of turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2019)
Warren Bicknell Mori	pioneering contributions to the theory and kinetic simulations of nonlinear processes in plasma-based acceleration James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (2020)
Melvin Gottlieb	responsible for building Princeton Large Torus and Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at PPPL, director of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1961-1980)
Robert J. Goldston	empirical scaling relationship for the confinement of energy in tokamak plasmas, director of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1997-2008)
Stewart C. Prager	director of the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) experiment, director of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2008-2016)
Sir Steven Cowley	pioneering research in astrophysical and turbulent plasmas, director of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2018–present)
Friedrich Wagner	discovery of H-mode in ASDEX in 1984
Anthony Peratt	influential advocate of plasma cosmology
David Bohm	derived the Bohm sheath criterion, which states that a plasma must flow with at least the speed of sound toward a solid surface
Eric Lerner	pioneer of focus fusion and advocate of plasma cosmology
Forrest S. Mozer	electric field measurements in space plasma
Fran Bošnjaković
Jana Brotankova	COMPASS CASTOR tokamak,GOLEM tokamak
Franklin Chang-Diaz	created the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) concept, an electromagnetic thruster for spacecraft propulsion
Friedrich Paschen	Paschen's law, an equation relating the breakdown voltage to the gas pressure and electrode gap length
Ghulam Murtaza
Mounir Laroussi	Plasma pencil, seminal contributions to the biomedical applications of low temperature plasma, plasma medicine
Nam Chang-hee
Li Jiangang
Harold P. Eubank
Oscar Buneman	computational plasma physics and plasma simulation, Farley–Buneman instability
Peter Debye	Nobel Prize–winning physicist and chemist, after whom Debye shielding and Debye length are named
Philo Farnsworth	invention of the cathode ray tube, television and Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor
Predhiman Krishnan Kaw	founding director of the Institute for Plasma Research (1986-2012)
Radu Bălescu	recipient of the Hannes Alfvén Prize in 2000
Ratko Janev
Rudolf Seeliger	specialized in electric discharges in gases and plasma physics
Subrata Roy	invention of the Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle and serpentine geometry plasma actuator
Shaukat Hameed Khan	laser isotope separation, Chief Science Officer of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (1969-2005)
William Crookes	pioneer of vacuum tubes and the Crookes tube
A A Mamun	pioneer of nonlinear dynamics of dusty plasma physics, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award in 2009 from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Linda Sugiyama	developer of numerical simulations for plasma physics, Fellow of the American Physical Society

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List of plasma physicists

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