In addition to his position as Professor of Mathematics there, he made frequent visits to other institutions. His scientific work was devoted to the development of deep understanding of the implications of commonly used models of plasma dynamics. Many of these results have a major impact in the description of plasma behavior in both magnetic fusion and space plasmas. His studies of the spectrum of linearized ideal magnetohydrodynamics was the first complete characterization of the problem and had major implications for the understanding of flow stability problems and the role of "ballooning modes" in a plasma.

An extensive series of papers dealt with turbulence, and was primarily directed at an understanding of relaxed states consistent with a given initial turbulent state. His recent work turned to a thorough study of a two fluid plasma model, Hall magnetohydrodynamics. As many questions in magnetic fusion and space plasmas require going beyond one fluid ideal magnetohydrodynamics, this model adds multiple scale lengths in a physically sound way. He has described the constants of the motion of this system, found relevant variational formulations of the problem, and described the waves and shocks of the system.

Condolences may be sent to his daughter, Talma Gotteiner, gotteiner@gmail.com