Ronald Crosby Davidson | |
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| Born | (1941-07-03)July 3, 1941 Norwich, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | May 19, 2016(2016-05-19) (aged 74) |
| Education | McMaster University (B.S.) Princeton University (Ph.D.) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Plasma physics |
| Thesis | Weak turbulence in a homogeneous plasma (1966) |
| Doctoral advisor | Edward A. Frieman[1] |
Ronald Crosby Davidson (3 July 1941 – 19 May 2016) was a Canadianphysicist, professor, and scientific administrator who worked in the United States. He served as the first director of theMIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center from 1978 to 1988, and as director of thePrinceton Plasma Physics Laboratory from 1991 to 1996.[2][3] He had been Professor of Astrophysical Sciences atPrinceton University since 1991.
Davidson was born inNorwich,Ontario,Canada, and received hisbachelor's degree fromMcMaster University in 1963, and hisdoctorate in physics fromPrinceton University in 1966. As apostdoctoral researcher, he was at theUniversity of California, Berkeley from 1966 to 1968. In 1968, he went to work teaching at theUniversity of Maryland where he became a full professor in 1972. In 1978, he moved to theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught until 1991.
Davidson was a fellow of theAmerican Physical Society and theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the Leadership Award from Fusion Power Associates in 1986 and the 2005 IEEE Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Award.[4] In 2008, Davidson received theJames Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for "pioneering contributions to the physics of one-componentnon-neutral plasmas, intense chargeparticle beams, and collective nonlinear interaction processes in high-temperature plasmas."[5]
A resident ofCranbury, New Jersey, Davidson died on May 19, 2016, at his home.[6]
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