Three physicists, an astrophysicist, a chemist, and a mechanical engineer were among the winners of this year’s E. O. Lawrence Award, presented by the US Department of Energy last month at a ceremony in Washington, DC. The annual prize honors contributions to the development, use, or control of nuclear energy, which the department broadly defines to include the science and technology of nuclear, atomic, molecular, and particle interactions and effects. Each award comes with a gold medal, a citation, and $50 000.
Nathaniel J. Fisch received the award in the nuclear technology category for his “discovery of ways to use plasma waves to produce currents in fusion tokamaks,” according to the citation. P“These toroidal currents,” the citation adds, “enable tokamak reactors to operate continuously, which is necessary for an economical and practical fusion reactor.” Fisch is a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University.
The award for physics went to...
