Paul-Henri Rebut is a French

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 ...

, working in

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction, reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nuclei, nuclei/neutrons, neutron by-products. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the rele ...

.C.M.Braams, P.E.Stott(2002), ''Nuclear Fusion: half a century of magnetic confinement fusion research'', Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol, UK,

Biography

Paul-Henri Rebut started his research on nuclear fusion with the

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and sec ...

(CEA) in 1958 after having studied physics at the

École polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and the Ecole des Poudres. From 1970 to 1973, he contributed to the creation of TFR. In 1973, he was appointed as head of the design team for JET, at the

Culham Culham is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in a bend of the River Thames, south of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The parish includes Culham Science Centre and Europa School UK (formerly the European Sch ...

laboratory, near to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. In 1979, he was appointed deputy director at JET, in charge of its construction, operation and development. He was made director of JET in September 1985. Under his direction, JET made a major contribution to research into nuclear fusion, including the first demonstration in November 1991 of a significant quantity of fusion energy originating from a thermonuclear magnetically confined plasma. From 1992 to 1994 he became the director of

ITER ITER (initially the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ''iter'' meaning "the way" or "the path" in Latin) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy through a fusion process s ...

Design Activities, based 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 ...

, United States.

Honours

*1978 Chevalier de l'

Ordre national du Mérite The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...

*1984 Chevalier de la

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

*2006 Hannes Alfvén Prize

References

External links

Biography of Paul Henri Rebut
at www.naka.jaea.go.jp/ITER {{DEFAULTSORT:Rebut, Paul-Henri Living people French nuclear physicists French physicists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Knights of the Legion of Honour Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Year of birth missing (living people)