Clifford Michael Surko (born October 11, 1941, in Sacramento, California) is an American physicist, whose works involve plasma physics,

atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

, nonlinear dynamics and

solid state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...

. Together with his colleagues, he developed techniques for laser scattering at small angles to study waves and turbulence in tokamak plasmas and invented a positron trap (buffer gas positron trap) that was used in experiments worldwide to study antimatter. Surko also developed other techniques for studying

positron The positron or antielectron is the antiparticle or the antimatter counterpart of the electron. It has an electric charge of +1 '' e'', a spin of 1/2 (the same as the electron), and the same mass as an electron. When a positron collides ...

plasmas and examined atomic and plasma physics with positrons.

Early life and career

Surko studied mathematics and physics at the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor's degree in 1964 and a doctorate in physics in 1968. He was a student of

Frederick Reif Frederick Reif (April 24, 1927 – August 11, 2019) was an American physicist. He was an emeritus professor in physics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. Biography Reif was born in Vienna, Austria on April 24, 1927, to Gerschon and K ...

at Berkeley. He was then at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, where he became department head for research in semiconductor and chemical physics in 1982. Since 1988, he has been a professor at the University of California, San Diego. He was a visiting researcher at MIT (Plasma Fusion Center, 1977 to 1984), at École Polytechnique (1978/79) and at University College London.

Honors and awards

Surko is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

and the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

. In 2014, he received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for "''the invention of and development of techniques to accumulate, confine, and utilize

plasmas, and for seminal experimental studies of waves and turbulence in tokamak plasmas''".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surko, Clifford Michael 1941 births Living people American plasma physicists University of California, Berkeley alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American physicists