Miklos Porkolab
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Miklos Porkolab (born March 24, 1939) is a Hungarian-American
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
specializing 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 ...
.


Early life and career

In 1957, Porkolab emigrated from
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. He obtained his bachelor's degree at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
in 1963 and then his master's degree and Ph.D. from
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 1964 and 1967 respectively. He moved to the
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an energy source. It is know ...
, where he worked as a senior research physicist until 1975. During the following year, Porkolab worked at the
Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (, IPP) is a physics institute investigating the physical foundations of a fusion power plant. The IPP is an institute of the Max Planck Society, part of the European Atomic Energy Community, and an ...
in Garching, Germany, under the auspices of the
Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, it is funded by t ...
as a winner of the "US Senior Scientist Award". In 1977, he became professor of physics at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
, where he later led the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) for many years. Between 1991 and 2001, Porkolab served as editor of ''
Physics Letters A ''Physics Letters'' was a scientific journal published from 1962 to 1966, when it split in two series now published by Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its ...
'', in the Plasma Physics and Fluid Dynamics subsection. He also represented the U.S. Plasma Physics community for six years on the
International Union of Pure and Applied Physics The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP; ) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the ...
(IUPAP) Commission–16 (Plasma Physics) (1991-1997). Between 1992 and 1995, he served as a member of the National Research Council Subpanel on Plasma Science. In 1999, he served as chair of the Plasma Physics Division of 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 ...
.


Scientific contributions

Whilst at Princeton, Porkolab concentrated on dispersive properties of
plasma waves In plasma physics, waves in plasmas are an interconnected set of particles and fields which propagate in a periodically repeating fashion. A plasma is a quasineutral, electrically conductive fluid. In the simplest case, it is composed of electro ...
and instabilities in magnetized plasmas. Measurements corroborating the validity of the collisionless
Boltzmann equation The Boltzmann equation or Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) describes the statistical behaviour of a thermodynamic system not in a state of equilibrium; it was devised by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1872.Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd Edition), R. G ...
and demonstrating nonlinear scattering of Bernstein waves with wavelengths comparable to the electron
Larmor radius In physics, cyclotron motion, also known as gyromotion, refers to the circular motion exhibited by charged particles in a uniform magnetic field. The circular trajectory of a particle in cyclotron motion is characterized by an angular frequency r ...
were obtained. Porkolab's work provided experimental verifications of
Landau damping In physics, Landau damping, named after its discoverer,Landau, L. "On the vibration of the electronic plasma". ''JETP'' 16 (1946), 574. English translation in ''J. Phys. (USSR)'' 10 (1946), 25. Reproduced in Collected papers of L.D. Landau, edited ...
, nonlinear resonant wave-wave scattering and parametric instabilities, also predicting upper hybrid solitons. From 1977, whilst at the MIT Physics Department, Porkolab joined the newly established
MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center The Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a university research center for the study of Plasma (physics), plasmas, Nuclear fusion, fusion science and technology. It was originally founded i ...
, where he began experiments on lower hybrid current drive in
tokamak A tokamak (; ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field generated by external magnets to confine plasma (physics), plasma in the shape of an axially symmetrical torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement fusi ...
plasmas. He also carried out investigations on ion cyclotron heating and mode conversion processes in multi-ion species fusion plasmas.
Phase-contrast imaging Phase-contrast imaging is a method of image, imaging that has a range of different applications. It measures differences in the refractive index of different materials to differentiate between structures under analysis. In conventional Light micros ...
(PCI) was developed by Porkolab's group both for use at the
Alcator C-Mod Alcator C-Mod was a tokamak (a type of magnetically confined fusion device) that operated between 1991 and 2016 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). Notable for its high toroidal magnetic ...
tokamak and the
DIII-D DIII-D is a tokamak that has been operated since the late 1980s by General Atomics (GA) in San Diego, California, for the United States Department of Energy. The DIII-D National Fusion Facility is part of the ongoing effort to achieve magnetica ...
tokamak of
General Atomics General Atomics (GA) is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, that specializes in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion en ...
in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
. In recent years, PCI measurements contributed to the advanced in understanding of turbulence and
Alfvén wave In plasma physics, an Alfvén wave, named after Hannes Alfvén, is a type of plasma wave in which ions oscillate in response to a restoring force provided by an Magnetic tension force, effective tension on the magnetic field lines. Definition ...
phenomena.


Honors and awards

For his work on radio frequency heating and noninductive current drive on the Versator II, the Alcator C and C-Mod tokamaks, Professor Porkolab shared the 1984 American Physical Society Excellence in Plasma Research Award (now the John Dawson Award). In 2009, Porkolab was awarded the
James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics The James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics is an annual American Physical Society (APS) award that is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of the Plasma Physics. It was established in 1975 by Maxwell Technologies, I ...
by 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 ...
for
''"pioneering investigations of linear and nonlinear plasma waves and wave-particle interactions; fundamental contributions to the development of plasma heating, current drive and diagnostics; and leadership in promoting plasma science education and domestic and international collaborations."''
In 2013, he received the
Hannes Alfvén Prize The Hannes Alfvén Prize is a prize established by the European Physical Society (EPS) Plasma Physics Division in 2000. The Prize is awarded annually by the European Physical Society at the EPS Conference on Plasma Physics for outstanding work in ...
of the
European Physical Society The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach, supporting physicists to engage in the design and implementation of European s ...
for
''"for pioneering investigations of linear and nonlinear plasma waves and wave-particle interactions; fundamental contributions to the development of plasma heating, current drive and diagnostics; and leadership in promoting plasma science education and domestic and international collaborations."''
Porkolab was also awarded the Karoly Simony Memorial Plaque and Prize by the Hungarian Nuclear Society in 2007 and a Fusion Power Associates Distinguished Career Award in 2010. In 2016, Porkolab was elected an External Member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porkolab, Miklos 1939 births Living people 21st-century American physicists 21st-century Hungarian physicists Hungarian physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Hungarian emigrants to Canada University of British Columbia alumni People associated with IUPAP