FPN16-28

Fusion Pioneer Gennady Dimov Passes, Age 89

August 21, 2016

Gennady I. Dimov, a pioneer of the world fusion effort, died August 17, 2016. G.I. Dimov was born in 1927, graduated from Tomsk Polytechnic Institute in 1951, and earned his PhD Degree from this Institute in 1954. Since 1960 and until his death he worked at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics at Novosibirsk. He was a Councilor and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a long-time Associate Editor of the Journal of Fusion Energy.

He made numerous contributions to the generation of high-power atomic beams: he developed working prototypes of both diagnostic and heating atomic beams based on charge-exchange of positive ions; he also created efficient high-current sources of negative ions employing surface conversion, suitable for high-energy neutral beam injectors.

However, his most influential results lie in the area of magnetic mirror physics, where his paper "A Thermonuclear Trap with Double Mirrors" (Fizika Plazmy, v. 3, July-August 1976) initiated research on tandem mirrors in the USSR and contributed to an international effort in this area. He, with his colleagues Eduard Kruglyakov and Dmitri Ryutov, made numerous contributions to the promise of tandem mirrors, in particular, for advanced fusion fuels. In 2005, he published a review of research on ambipolar traps and tandem mirrors in the journal Physics-Uspekhi, v. 48, No. 11, 2005.

Condolences and remembrances may be sent to inp@inp.ndk.su and/or also to his long-time friend and colleague, Dmitri Ryutov ryutov1@llnl.gov