Melvin Burt Gottlieb (May 25, 1917 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

– December 1, 2000 in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania) was a high-energy physicist and director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1961–1980). With Van Allen he did the early studies of the

magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dynam ...

, and he later led US fusion research.

Personal life

Gottlieb was born on May 25, 1917, to Ezra Benjamin Gottlieb and Sara Gottlieb née Hotz in Chicago and received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and doctorate in physics from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. He was married on June 26, 1948, to Golda Gehrman and they had two daughters.

Early physics

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Gottlieb worked on

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

counter-measures and with Van Allen on early cosmic ray studies. In 1950 Gottlieb accepted an appointment as assistant professor at the State University of Iowa where he continued to work with Van Allen. Starting in 1952 he went on several expeditions to the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

on behalf of the

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

, where balloons, attached to ion chambers, and launched from rockets were used to study the

Fusion

Beginning in 1954 Gottlieb started work on fusion research at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the federal government. The work was at the time highly classified. When he arrived Lyman Spitzer’s Stellarator was in its early development. His administrative abilities were quickly recognized and as early as 1958 he was testifying before congress about the need for adequate funds for fusion research. The declassification of fusion research in 1958 brought Gottlieb’s work international attention at the Atoms-for-Peace Conference in 1958. He became director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 1961 succeeding Lyman Spitzer, Jr. Fusion research had reached an impasse with its inability to control the high-energy plasma. This impasse was not broken until the 1969 Russian development of the tokamak (doughnut-shaped) electromagnetic plasma container. Despite doubts of other American physicists, Gottlieb seized upon the tokamak concept, even visiting the Institute of Atomic Energy in Moscow in 1969. In 1971, funded by the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, he traveled throughout western Europe visiting plasma research facilities, and by 1972 had managed to get the $13 million funding to build the

Princeton Large Torus The Princeton Large Torus (or PLT), was an early tokamak built at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). It was one of the first large scale tokamak machines, and among the most powerful in terms of current and magnetic fields. Originally ...

. He subsequently obtained the funding for the follow-on

Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) was an experimental tokamak built at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) circa 1980 and entering service in 1982. TFTR was designed with the explicit goal of reaching scientific breakeven, the point wh ...

(TFTR), but didn’t stay as director to see it finally completed in 1982. He was succeeded as director in 1981 by

Harold Furth Harold Paul Furth (January 13, 1930 – February 21, 2002) was an Austrian-American physicist who was a pioneer in leading the American efforts to harness thermonuclear fusion for the generation of electricity. He died of a heart ailment on 21 Fe ...

. In the 1980s he was employed by Grumman Aerospace Corporation, as a technical advisor and "de facto" lobbyist.

References

* ''Business Week'' (Sept. 12, 1970) p. 28. * Knebel, Fletcher ''Intellectual Digest'' 3:6 (Sept. 1972). * "Magnetic Fusion Engineering Act of 1980: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development" by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development (1981) p. 75. * “Former Princeton Lab Chief Dies.” ''New Technology Week'' 15.2 (Jan 8, 2001). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gottlieb, Melvin B. 1917 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory people