Richard Geller (25 April 1927 – 1 July 2007) was an experimental nuclear and plasma physicist. He was born on Monday, 25 April 1927, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and died on Sunday, 1 July 2007, at the age of 80, in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. Geller received his undergraduate degree from the

Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

, Paris and his Doctorat en Sciences, under Prof. F. Perrin from the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

(1954). He was hired in 1948 by F. Joliot Curie to work at Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA; Atomic Energy Commission) and remained there until leaving in 1992, with the exception of a sabbatical at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

(1961–1962), where, as a research associate, he developed the first

bumpy torus The bumpy torus is a class of magnetic fusion energy devices that consist of a series of magnetic mirrors connected end-to-end to form a closed torus. It is based on a discovery made by a team headed by Dr. Ray Dandl at Oak Ridge National Laborato ...

plasma. In the 1960s he developed electron cyclotron resonance heating of plasma physics as part of controlled fusion. In the 1970s and 1980s his group developed the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source, ECRIS, for use in accelerators on for particle physics, nuclear physics, and medical applications. In 1992 he went to the Institut des Sciences Nucléaires de Grenoble, where he developed a new

electron cyclotron resonance Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) is a phenomenon observed in plasma physics, condensed matter physics, and accelerator physics. It happens when the frequency of incident radiation coincides with the natural frequency of rotation of electrons in ...

(ECR) method that was used to generate radioactive ion beams in nuclear physics. In 1983 he received the "Prix Gegner of the Académie des Sciences, Paris," in 1987 the "Prix du CEA," and in 2001 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 ...

Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics The Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics is an annual prize awarded by the American Physical Society's Division of Nuclear Physics. Established in 1964, and currently consisting of $10,000 and a certificate, the Bonner Prize was founded in memor ...

, shared with Claude Lyneis. A prize awarded by Pantechnik (a manufacturer of ECR sources) is named after him and is delivered every 2 year at the ECRIS international conference. He authored a book ''Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources and ECR Plasmas.''

References

1927 births 2007 deaths French physicists University of Paris alumni Austrian emigrants to France {{France-physicist-stub