{{Short description|none}} {{Dynamic list}} This is a list of physicists who have worked in or made notable contributions to the field of plasma physics. {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Name !! Known for !! Recognition |- |{{sortname|Félicie|Albert}} |development and characterization of x-ray sources from laser-wakefield accelerators |{{plainlist|1= *Weimer Award (2017) *APS Fellow (2019) }} |- |{{sortname|Hannes|Alfvén}} |magneto-hydrodynamics |Nobel Prize (1970) |- |{{sortname|Radu|Bălescu}} | |Alfvén Prize (2000) |- |{{sortname|Elena|Belova|dab=physicist}} |numerical contributions to the fundamental physics of magnetically confined plasmas |{{plainlist|1= *Weimer Award (2005) *APS Fellow (2020) }} |- |{{sortname|Emily|Belli}} |simulations of transport and turbulence in strongly rotating plasmas |APS Fellow (2024) |- |{{sortname|Willard Harrison|Bennett}} |Z-pinch is a form of "Bennett pinch". Also invented radio frequency mass spectrometry. |- |{{sortname|Ira B.|Bernstein}} |fundamental theoretical contributions plasma physics including a wave mode in his name |Maxwell Prize (1982) |- |{{sortname|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. |- |{{sortname|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 |- |{{sortname|Jana|Brotánková}} |COMPASS CASTOR tokamak, GOLEM tokamak |- |{{sortname|Oscar|Buneman}} |computational plasma physics and plasma simulation, Farley–Buneman instability |- |{{sortname|Keith H.|Burrell}} |established the links between sheared plasma flow and turbulent transport |Maxwell Prize (2018) |- |{{sortname|Franklin|Chang-Diaz}} |created the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) concept, an electromagnetic thruster for spacecraft propulsion |- |{{sortname|Nam|Chang-hee}} |relativistic laser-matter interactions using femtosecond PW lasers |APS Fellow (2008) |- |{{sortname|Sydney|Chapman|dab=mathematician}} |developed kinetic theory of gases and applied it to study the magnetosphere |- |{{sortname|Francis F.|Chen}} |electrostatic probes, textbook |Maxwell Prize (1995) |- |{{sortname|Liu|Chen|dab=physicist}} | |{{plainlist|1= *John Dawson Prize (2004) *Alfvén Prize (2008) *Maxwell Prize (2012) }} |- |{{sortname|Bruno|Coppi}} |design of high field tokamaks |Maxwell Prize (1987) |- |{{sortname|Sir Steven|Cowley}} |astrophysical and turbulent plasmas |- |{{sortname|William|Crookes}} |vacuum tubes and the Crookes tube |- |{{sortname|Ronald C.|Davidson}} |one-component non-neutral plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2008) |- |{{sortname|John M.|Dawson}} |introduced the use of computer simulation to plasma physics |Maxwell Prize (1977) |- |{{sortname|Peter|Debye}} |Debye shielding and Debye length |Nobel Prize (1936) |- |{{sortname|James F.|Drake}} |theory of the fundamental mechanism of fast reconnection of magnetic fields in plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2010) |- |{{sortname|Robert|Ellis|dab=physicist}} |co-led the Spheromak project |- |{{sortname|Harold P.|Eubank}} |magnetic fusion energy research |APS Fellow (1975) |- |{{sortname|Philo|Farnsworth}} |invention of the cathode-ray tube, television and Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor |- |{{sortname|Nathaniel|Fisch}} |theoretical development of efficient rf-driven current in plasmas |{{plainlist|1= *Maxwell Prize (2005) *Alfvén Prize (2015) }} |- |{{sortname|Edward A.|Frieman}} |theory of magnetically confined plasmas, including fundamental work on the formulation of the MHD Energy Principle |Maxwell Prize (2002) |- |{{sortname|Harold|Fürth}} |resistive instabilities |Maxwell Prize (1983) |- |{{sortname|Vitaly|Ginzburg}} |theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in plasmas |- |{{sortname|Valery|Godyak}} |fundamental contributions to the physics of low temperature plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2004) |- |{{sortname|Robert J.|Goldston}} |empirical scaling relationship for the confinement of energy in tokamak plasmas |APS Fellow (1987) |- |{{sortname|Melvin|Gottlieb}} |responsible for building Princeton Large Torus and Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at PPPL |- |{{sortname|Roy W.|Gould}} |beam-plasma interactions |Maxwell Prize (1994) |- |{{sortname|Harold|Grad}} |theoretical contributions to magnetohydrodynamics |Maxwell Prize (1986) |- |{{sortname|John M.|Greene}} |contributions to theory of magnetohydrodynamic equilibria and ideal and resistive instabilities |Maxwell Prize (1992) |- |{{sortname|Hans R.|Griem}} |contributions to plasma spectroscopy and spectral line broadening in plasmas |Maxwell Prize (1991) |- |{{sortname|Akira|Hasegawa}} |theories of nonlinear drift wave turbulence, including the Hasegawa-Mima equation |{{plainlist|1= *Maxwell Prize (2000) *Alfvén Prize (2011) }} |- |{{sortname|Noah|Hershkowitz}} |fundamental contributions to the physics of low temperature plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2004) |- |{{sortname|Laura Berzak|Hopkins}} |hohlraum design for inertial confinement fusion |APS Fellow (2025) |- |{{sortname|Ratko|Janev}} |nuclear processes in low-temperature plasmas |Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts |- |{{sortname|Allison|Jaynes}} |interaction of solar plasma with the Earth's magnetosphere and radiation belts |Weimer Award (2023) |- |{{sortname|Li|Jiangang}} |HT-7 tokomak |Chinese Academy of Engineering |- |{{sortname|Maria Gatu|Johnson}} |inertial fusion science stellar nucleosynthesis |{{plainlist|1= *Weimer Award (2019) *APS Fellow (2023) }} |- |{{sortname|Chandrashekhar J.|Joshi}} |application of plasma concepts to high energy electron and positron acceleration |{{plainlist|1= *Maxwell Prize (2006) *Alfvén Prize (2023) }} |- |{{sortname|Boris B.|Kadomtsev}} |early plasma turbulence theory, stability and nonlinear theory of MHD and kinetic instabilities |Maxwell Prize (1998) |- |{{sortname|Predhiman Krishan|Kaw}} |founding director of Institute for Plasma Research |- |{{sortname|Charles F.|Kennel}} |fundamental contributions to the basic plasma physics of collisionless shocks |Maxwell Prize (1997) |- |{{sortname|Donald W.|Kerst}} |invention of the levitated toroidal multipole |Maxwell Prize (1984) |- |{{sortname|Shaukat Hameed|Khan}} |laser isotope separation, Chief Science Officer of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (1969-2005) |- |{{sortname|Craig|Kletzing}} |studies of Alfven waves and aurorae |APS Fellow (2022) |- |{{sortname|Andrea|Kritcher}} |hohlraum design, first laboratory burning and igniting fusion plasma |APS Fellow (2022) |- |{{sortname|William L.|Kruer}} |theoretical and experimental understanding of intense electromagnetic waves with plasmas |Maxwell Prize (1990) |- |{{sortname|Russell M.|Kulsrud}} |plasma theory including magnetic reconnection |Maxwell Prize (1993) |- |{{sortname|Lev|Landau}} |Landau damping |Nobel Prize (1962) |- |{{sortname|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. |Nobel Prize (1932) |- |{{sortname|Mounir|Laroussi}} |Plasma pencil, biomedical applications of low temperature plasma, plasma medicine |APS Fellow (2023) |- |{{sortname|Eric|Lerner}} |focus fusion and plasma cosmology |- |{{sortname|John|Lindl}} |contributions in high energy density physics and inertial confinement fusion research |Maxwell Prize (2007) |- |{{sortname|Yu|Lin}} |computational research in nonlinear physics in the boundary layers of space plasmas |Weimer Award (2002) |- |{{sortname|John H.|Malmberg}} |experimental demonstration of Landau damping and development of pure electron plasmas |Maxwell Prize (1985) |- |{{sortname|A A|Mamun}} |nonlinear dynamics of dusty plasma physics |Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award (2009) |- |{{sortname|William H.|Matthaeus}} |turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2019) |- |{{sortname|Saskia|Mordijck}} |particle transport in tokamaks |APS Fellow (2025) |- |{{sortname|Gregor Eugen|Morfill}} |plasma crystals as a solid state of aggregation of dusty plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2011) |- |{{sortname|Warren Bicknell|Mori}} |theory and kinetic simulations of nonlinear processes in plasma-based acceleration |Maxwell Prize (2020) |- |{{sortname|Forrest S.|Mozer}} |electric field measurements in space plasma |APS Fellow (1977) |- |{{sortname|Ghulam|Murtaza|dab=physicist}} |theory of ionized plasmas | |- |{{sortname|John|Nuckolls}} |introduced the inertial confinement approach to fusion |Maxwell Prize (1981) |- |{{sortname|Thomas M.|O'Neil}} |plasma theory, including extension of Landau damping to the nonlinear regime |Maxwell Prize (1996) |- |{{sortname|Tihiro|Ohkawa}} |developed the doublet approach for toroidal confinement fusion |Maxwell Prize (1979) |- |{{sortname|Eugene N.|Parker}} |plasma astrophysics, including predicting the solar wind, explaining the solar dynamo, and formulating the theory of magnetic reconnection |{{plainlist|1= *Maxwell Prize (2003) *Alfvén Prize (2012) }} |- |{{sortname|Friedrich|Paschen}} |Paschen's law, an equation relating the breakdown voltage to the gas pressure and electrode gap length | |- |{{sortname|Anthony|Peratt}} |influential advocate of plasma cosmology |
|{{sortname|Yuan|Ping|dab=physicist}} |inertial confinement fusion, Raman amplification of lasers in plasma |{{plainlist|1= *Weimer Award (2011) *APS Fellow (2015) }} |- |- | Maxim G. Ponomarev [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maxim-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) [https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.54.5591 ] |-
|{{sortname|Miklos|Porkolab}} |linear and nonlinear plasma waves and wave-particle interactions |{{plainlist|1= *Maxwell Prize (2009) *Alfvén Prize (2013) }} |- |{{sortname|Richard F.|Post}} |developed the magnetic mirror concept for magnetic confinement fusion |Maxwell Prize (1978) |- |{{sortname|Annick|Pouquet}} |energy transfer in magneto-fluid turbulence |Alfvén Prize (2020) |- |{{sortname|Ksenia Aleksandrovna|Razumova}} |stable plasmas in tokamaks, experimental measurement of plasma energy |Alfvén Prize (2017) |- |{{sortname|Caterina|Riconda}} |laser-plasma interactions |APS Fellow (2023) |- |{{sortname|Marshall|Rosenbluth}} |fundamental theoretical contributions plasma physics, and in particular, plasma instabilities |{{plainlist|1= *Maxwell Prize (1976) *Alfvén Prize (2002) }} |- |{{sortname|Norman|Rostoker}} |statistical mechanics of particles with Coulomb interactions |Maxwell Prize (1988) |- |{{sortname|Subrata|Roy|dab=scientist}} |Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle and serpentine geometry plasma actuator |- |{{sortname|Dmitri|Ryutov}} |theory of low and high energy density plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2017) |- |{{sortname|Roald|Sagdeev}} |theory of collisionless shocks and stochastic magnetic fields |Maxwell Prize (2001) |- |{{sortname|Meghnad|Saha}} |Saha ionization equation | |- |{{sortname|Andrey Dmitriyevich|Sakharov}} |proposed development of tokamaks | |- |{{sortname|Rudolf|Seeliger}} |electric discharges in gases and plasma physics | |- |{{sortname|Vitaly|Shafranov}} |Grad–Shafranov equation, Kruskal–Shafranov instability) |Alfvén Prize (2001) |- |{{sortname|Lyman|Spitzer}} |Spitzer resistivity, Project Matterhorn |Maxwell Prize (1975) |- |{{sortname|Phillip A.|Sprangle}} |high intensity laser interactions with plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2013) |- |{{sortname|Thomas H.|Stix}} |doublet approach for toroidal confinement fusion |Maxwell Prize (1980) |- |{{sortname|Ravindra|Sudan}} |generation and propagation of intense ion beams |Maxwell Prize (1989) |- |{{sortname|Linda|Sugiyama}} |developer of numerical simulations for plasma physics |APS Fellow (2004) |- |{{sortname|Clifford|Surko}} |invention of and development of techniques to accumulate, confine, and utilize positron plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2014) |- |{{sortname|John Bryan|Taylor}} |helicity conservation, bootstrap current, ballooning transformation, plasma theory |{{plainlist|1= *Maxwell Prize (1999) *Alfvén Prize (2004) }} |- |{{sortname|Weichao|Tu}} |dynamics of charged particles and plasma in the Van Allen radiation belt |Weimer Award (2021) |- |{{sortname|Anatoly|Vlasov}} |Vlasov equation models plasma with long-range interaction between particles |- |{{sortname|Friedrich|Wagner}} |discovery of H-mode in ASDEX in 1984 |Alfvén Prize (2007) |- |{{sortname|Katherine|Weimer}} |plasma magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability theory |- |{{sortname|Anne E.|White}} |turbulent transport in tokamaks |Weimer Award (2014) |- |{{sortname|Masaaki|Yamada}} |experimental studies of magnetic reconnection relevant to space, astrophysical and fusion plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2015) |- |{{sortname|Lin|Yin}} |laser-plasma interactions |Weimer Award (2008) |- |{{sortname|Ellen G.|Zweibel}} |energetics, stability, and dynamics of astrophysical plasmas |Maxwell Prize (2016) |}
Category:Plasma physicists Plasma physicists Plasma physicists