{{Short description|American physicist (1928–2025)}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Russell M. Kulsrud | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = <!--(filename only, i.e. without "File:" prefix)--> | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = <!-- if different from "name" --> | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|04|10}} | birth_place = Lindsborg, Kansas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|09|23|1928|04|10}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}--> | home_town = | other_names = | pronounce = | residence = | citizenship = | fields = Plasma physics | workplaces = | patrons = | education = University of Maryland (B.A.) <br> University of Chicago (M.S., Ph.D.) | alma_mater = | thesis_title = Effect of Magnetic Fields on Generation of Noise by Isotropic Turbulence | thesis_url = <!--(or | thesis1_url = and | thesis2_url = )--> | thesis_year = 1954 | doctoral_advisor = Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = Troy Carter | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{plainlist| * James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics (1993) }} | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = | partner = <!--(or | partners = )--> | children = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | signature_alt = | website = {{url|1=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124191726/theory.pppl.gov/people/profile.php?pid=3&n=Russell-KulsrudBiography}} | footnotes = }}
'''Russell M. Kulsrud''' (April 10, 1928 – September 23, 2025) was an American physicist who specialized in plasma physics and astrophysics.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kulsrud, R. M.|title=Plasma physics for astrophysics|date=2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-10267-8|oclc=54529014}}</ref>
==Life and career== Kulsrud studied at the University of Maryland where he received his bachelor's degree in 1949, and then at the University of Chicago, where he completed his master's degree in 1952 and received his doctorate from Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in 1954 (''Effect of Magnetic Fields on Generation of Noise by Isotropic Turbulence''). From 1954, he was in the Matterhorn Nuclear Fusion Project at Princeton University and subsequently at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In 1964, he became head of the theoretical department. In 1966, he and his wife Helene Kulsrud moved to Yale University where he became a professor.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1966-04-06 |title=Yale adding husband, wife team to staff |pages=21 |work=Hartford Courant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98831954/yale-adding-husband-wife-team-to-staff/ |access-date=2022-04-01}}</ref> He returned to Princeton University as Professor of Astrophysical Sciences in 1967, where he remained until he retired in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.aip.org/phn/11604008.html|title=Kulsrud, R. M.|website=history.aip.org|access-date=2020-02-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pppl.gov/people/russell-kulsrud|title=Russell Kulsrud {{!}} Princeton Plasma Physics Lab|website=www.pppl.gov|access-date=2020-02-23}}</ref>
In 1993, he received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for "his pioneering contributions to basic plasma theory, to the physics of magnetically confined plasmas, and to plasma astrophysics. His important work en-compasses plasma equilibria and stability, adiabatic invariance, ballooning modes, runaway electrons, colliding beams, spin-polarized plasmas, and cosmic-ray instabilities".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Kulsrud&first_nm=Russell&year=1993|title=1993 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics Recipient|last=|first=|date=|website=www.aps.org|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-02-23}}</ref>
Kulsrud died on September 23, 2025, at the age of 97.<ref>[https://www.aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/news/letter20250926.pdf Letter of Kulsrud passing]</ref>
== Books == * ''Plasma Physics for Astrophysics''. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-691-12073-7}}.
== References == {{reflist}}
{{James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics recipients}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulsrud, Russell}} Category:1928 births Category:2025 deaths Category:20th-century American physicists Category:People from Lindsborg, Kansas Category:American plasma physicists Category:University System of Maryland alumni Category:University of Chicago alumni