Friedrich E. Wagner (born November 16, 1943, sometimes abbreviated as Fritz Wagner) is a German physicist and

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

who specializes in

plasma physics Plasma () is a state of matter characterized by the presence of a significant portion of charged particles in any combination of ions or electrons. It is the most abundant form of ordinary matter in the universe, mostly in stars (including th ...

. He was known to have discovered the high-confinement mode (i.e. H-mode) of

magnetic confinement Magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) is an approach to generate thermonuclear fusion power that uses magnetic fields to confine fusion fuel in the form of a plasma. Magnetic confinement is one of two major branches of controlled fusion research, alo ...

in fusion plasmas while working at the ASDEX tokamak in 1982. For this discovery and his subsequent contributions to fusion research, was awarded the John Dawson Award in 1987, the Hannes Alfvén Prize in 2007 and the Stern–Gerlach Medal in 2009.

Life and career

Wagner was born in Pfaffenhofen an der Roth in Bavaria, Germany. He studied at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

and completed his doctorate in 1972. He then worked at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

from 1973 to 1974. At first, he worked on low-temperature physics, but switched to plasma fusion research during the energy crisis of the time. In 1975, he started working for the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, and in 1986 he led the tokamak experiment ASDEX. In 1988, Wagner habilitated at

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

and was given a teaching position there. He was then appointed honorary professor at the

. From 1989 to 1993, Wagner was project manager of the

Wendelstein 7-AS Wendelstein 7-AS (abbreviated W7-AS, for "Advanced Stellarator") was an experimental stellarator which was in operation from 1988 to 2002 by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching bei München, Garching. It was the first of ...

stellarator experiment. In 1993, he became the director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and was Chairman of the Plasma Physics Department of the European Physical Society between 1996 and 2004. In 1999, he became full professor at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University in Greifswald. From 2003 to 2005, he was head of the

Wendelstein 7-X The Wendelstein 7-X (abbreviated W7-X) reactor is an experimental stellarator built in Greifswald, Germany, by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), and completed in October 2015.European Physical Society between 2007 and 2009.

Honors and awards

Wagner is an honorary member of the Ioffe Institute at St. Petersburg and a fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

and the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

. In 1987, Wagner was awarded the John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research from the

. In 2007, he received the Hannes Alfvén Prize from the European Physical Society for his contributions to fusion research by

. In 2009, he received the Stern–Gerlach Medal, the highest honour for

experimental physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...

awarded by the

German Physical Society The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. As of 2022, the DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 52,220, making it one of the largest national physics societies in the world. The DPG's membership peaked ...

. He was awarded in honor of his work in high-temperature plasma physics and fusion research, especially for the discovery of self-organizing transport barriers (i.e. H-mode), which was groundbreaking for the mastery of fusion plasmas.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Friedrich Living people 1943 births German plasma physicists Technical University of Munich alumni Fellows of the Institute of Physics Fellows of the American Physical Society Presidents of the European Physical Society