Ravindra Nath Sudan (also called Ravi Sudan; June 8, 1931 – January 22, 2009) was an Indian-American electrical engineer and physicist who specialized in plasma physics.[1][2] He was known for independently discovering the whistler instability in 1963, an instability which causes audible low-frequency radio waves to be emitted in the magnetosphere in the form of whistler waves.[3][4] He also pioneered the study of the generation and propagation of intense ion beams,[5][6] and contributed to theories of plasma instabilities[7] and plasma turbulence.[8]
From 1958, he was a scientist at Cornell University (in Simpson Linke's electrical engineering laboratory). His studies of power cut-off devices there led him to plasma physics. In 1959, he became assistant professor there and 1968 professor of electrical engineering and applied physics. He was IBM Professor of Engineering there from 1975 and from 1975 to 1985, the director of the Laboratory for Plasma Studies. He retired as Professor Emeritus in 2001.[9]
^Neri, J. M.; Hammer, D. A.; Ginet, G.; Sudan, R. N. (1980). "Intense lithium, boron, and carbon beams from a magnetically insulated diode". Applied Physics Letters. 37 (1): 101–103. Bibcode:1980ApPhL..37..101N. doi:10.1063/1.91677. ISSN0003-6951.
^University, Cornell; Faculty, Office of the Dean of the University (2009). "Sudan, Ravindra Nath". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)