FPN02-06

Harold Furth Dies at 72

February 21, 2002

US fusion pioneer Harold P. Furth has died at age 72 in Princeton, NJ. Furth was an early fusion researcher at the Lawrence Livermore laboratory and later became director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1981-1990). He was active in research there until his death.

Furth was the originator, in the early 1970s, of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) project, the most advanced and highest performance fusion device ever constructed in the United States. He published over 200 scientific papers and holds some 20 patents. He made countless contributions to the science of fusion plasmas and the fundamentals of plasma physics. He provided technical and managerial leadership to the world fusion program almost from its inception and throughout his career. He has received numerous awards, including Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award in 1982 and its Distinguished Career Award in 1995. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He was greatly admired and will be sorely missed.