William H. Matthaeus

Last updated
William Henry Matthaeus
NationalityAmerican
Education University of Pennsylvania (B.A.)
Old Dominion University (M.A.)
College of William and Mary (M.S., Ph.D.)
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Plasma physics
Thesis Nonlinear Evolution of the Magnetohydrodynamic Sheet Pinch (1979)
Doctoral advisor David Campbell Montgomery
Website web.physics.udel.edu/about/directory/faculty/william-matthaeus

William Henry Matthaeus (born 1951) is an American astrophysicist and plasma physicist. He is known for his research on turbulence in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) (e.g. numerical simulations and kinetic theory) [1] [2] [3] [4] and astrophysical plasmas (e.g. solar wind and its fluctuations), [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] for which he was awarded the 2019 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics. [11]

Contents

Early life and career

Matthaeus graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in physics and philosophy in 1973 on a scholarship from the Mayor of Philadelphia. In 1975, he received an M.A. in physics at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and then received an M.S. in physics and Ph.D in physics at the College of William and Mary in 1977 and 1979 respectively. [11] His thesis was on "Nonlinear Evolution of the Magnetohydrodynamic Sheet Pinch" and he was supervised by David Campbell Montgomery. [12] Since 1983, he has been affiliated with the Bartol Research Institute and is currently Unidel Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware. [13]

Matthaeus is involved in the Swarthmore Spheromak experiment and since 2004 has been significantly involved in the Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, [14] to study the corona of the sun. He has been director of NASA's Delaware Space Grant since 2016. [15]

In the 1990s, Matthaeus applied the Lattice Boltzmann method to magnetohydrodynamics [16] and in 1992, published a well-cited paper showing that it was possible to recover the Navier-Stokes equation by using the Lattice Boltzmann method. [17]

Honors and awards

In 1985, Matthaeus received the James B. MacElwane Award from the American Geophysical Union [18] and became its fellow. He was then elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1998. [19]

In 2019, he received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for "pioneering research into the nature of turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas, which has led to major advances in understanding particle transport, dissipation of turbulent energy, and magnetic reconnection ". [11]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfvén wave</span> Low-frequency plasma wave

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References

  1. ↑ Shebalin, John V.; Matthaeus, William H.; Montgomery, David (1983). "Anisotropy in MHD turbulence due to a mean magnetic field". Journal of Plasma Physics. 29 (3): 525–547. Bibcode:1983JPlPh..29..525S. doi:10.1017/s0022377800000933. hdl: 2060/19830004728 . ISSN   0022-3778. S2CID   122509800.
  2. ↑ Matthaeus, W. H.; Lamkin, S. L. (1986). "Turbulent magnetic reconnection". Physics of Fluids. 29 (8): 2513. Bibcode:1986PhFl...29.2513M. doi:10.1063/1.866004. ISSN   0031-9171.
  3. ↑ Bieber, John W.; Matthaeus, William H.; Smith, Charles W.; Wanner, Wolfgang; Kallenrode, May-Britt; Wibberenz, Gerd (1994). "Proton and electron mean free paths: The Palmer consensus revisited". The Astrophysical Journal. 420: 294. Bibcode:1994ApJ...420..294B. doi: 10.1086/173559 . ISSN   0004-637X.
  4. ↑ Servidio, S.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Dmitruk, P. (2008). "Depression of Nonlinearity in Decaying Isotropic MHD Turbulence". Physical Review Letters. 100 (9): 095005. Bibcode:2008PhRvL.100i5005S. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.095005. hdl: 11336/61982 . ISSN   0031-9007. PMID   18352719.
  5. ↑ Matthaeus, William H.; Goldstein, Melvyn L. (1982). "Measurement of the rugged invariants of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the solar wind". Journal of Geophysical Research. 87 (A8): 6011. Bibcode:1982JGR....87.6011M. doi:10.1029/ja087ia08p06011. hdl: 11603/30515 . ISSN   0148-0227.
  6. ↑ Goldstein, M. L.; Roberts, D. A.; Matthaeus, W. H. (1995). "Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in the Solar Wind". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 33 (1): 283–325. Bibcode:1995ARA&A..33..283G. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.33.090195.001435. hdl: 2060/19840005005 . ISSN   0066-4146.
  7. ↑ Bieber, John W.; Wanner, Wolfgang; Matthaeus, William H. (1996). "Dominant two-dimensional solar wind turbulence with implications for cosmic ray transport". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 101 (A2): 2511–2522. Bibcode:1996JGR...101.2511B. doi:10.1029/95ja02588. ISSN   0148-0227.
  8. ↑ Leamon, Robert J.; Smith, Charles W.; Ness, Norman F.; Matthaeus, William H.; Wong, Hung K. (1998). "Observational constraints on the dynamics of the interplanetary magnetic field dissipation range". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 103 (A3): 4775–4787. Bibcode:1998JGR...103.4775L. doi: 10.1029/97ja03394 . ISSN   0148-0227.
  9. ↑ Zhou, Ye; Matthaeus, W.; Dmitruk, P. (2004). "Colloquium: Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and time scales in astrophysical and space plasmas". Reviews of Modern Physics. 76 (4): 1015–1035. Bibcode:2004RvMP...76.1015Z. doi:10.1103/revmodphys.76.1015. ISSN   0034-6861.
  10. ↑ Matthaeus, W. H.; Zank, G. P.; Smith, C. W.; Oughton, S. (1999). "Turbulence, Spatial Transport, and Heating of the Solar Wind". Physical Review Letters. 82 (17): 3444–3447. Bibcode:1999PhRvL..82.3444M. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.82.3444. hdl: 10289/8611 . ISSN   0031-9007.
  11. 1 2 3 "2019 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics Recipient". American Physical Society. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  12. ↑ "William Matthaeus - The Mathematics Genealogy Project". genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  13. ↑ "William Matthaeus | University of Delaware Dept. of Physics & Astronomy". web.physics.udel.edu. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Dr. William Matthaeus, Unidel professor of physics and astronomy, University of Delaware | Newark Life". www.newarklifemagazine.com. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Delaware Space Grant Consortium - Message From The Director". www.delspace.org. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  16. ↑ Chen, Shiyi; Chen, Hudong; Martnez, Daniel; Matthaeus, William (1991). "Lattice Boltzmann model for simulation of magnetohydrodynamics". Physical Review Letters. 67 (27): 3776–3779. Bibcode:1991PhRvL..67.3776C. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.67.3776. ISSN   0031-9007. PMID   10044823.
  17. ↑ Chen, Hudong; Chen, Shiyi; Matthaeus, William H. (1992). "Recovery of the Navier-Stokes equations using a lattice-gas Boltzmann method". Physical Review A. 45 (8): R5339–R5342. Bibcode:1992PhRvA..45.5339C. doi:10.1103/physreva.45.r5339. ISSN   1050-2947. PMID   9907724.
  18. ↑ "William H. Matthaeus". Honors Program. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  19. ↑ "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved February 29, 2020.

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