FPN09-47

APS, UCLA to Celebrate Frank Chen's 80th Birthday

September 18, 2009

The American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will each hold celebrations honoring fusion pioneer Francis F. Chen on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

The APS-DPP will host a reception on Tuesday, November 3, 5-7 PM, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of its annual meeting.

UCLA will host a symposium and dinner in Frank's honor on Monday, November 16, at UCLA. For details and reservations please go to the website http://www.Chenat80.com. There you will find not only information on the symposium but also a history of Frank's life and career.

Frank received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1954. He then joined Lyman Spitzer and company at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory where a fusion effort (then classified) was underway. He spent 15 years there before going to UCLA. He has made many and varied contributions to fusion research and to plasma research and applications generally. His published two books: Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion (Plenum Press, 1984) and Principles of Plasma Processing (Kluwer/Plenum, 2002). He received the APS Maxwell Prize for his many contributions to plasma physics in 1995.

He can be reached at ffchen@ee.ucla.edu