| 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 [1] |
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) [2] and First suggested the Resonant Moments method for Enhanced acceleration of electrons populations by crossing electron cyclotron waves in an ambient magnetic field [3] [4]
|
| 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
|
