Ronald C. Davidson *66

Ronald Davidson, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory from 1991 to 1996, died May 19, 2016. He was 74.

Born in Canada, Davidson graduated in 1963 from McMaster University. In 1966, he earned a Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton. After professorships at Maryland and MIT, Davidson returned to Princeton in 1991 as a professor and director of the PPPL at the Forrestal Campus.

He oversaw one of the greatest advances in fusion energy-research, attempting to duplicate the power of the sun. Princeton’s huge Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor set a then-world record for generating fusion in 1994. It was shut down in 1997, after experiments that laid the groundwork for future advances, including a much larger reactor in France.

After stepping down as director in 1996, Davidson continued as a professor in Princeton’s astrophysical sciences department until retiring in 2011. He wrote four graduate-level plasma-physics textbooks, and was a fellow of the American Physical Society and the AAAS. In 2008, he received the James Clark Maxwell Prize, the highest national honor in plasma physics.

Davidson is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jean; two children; and four grandchildren. The University flag over East Pyne was raised at half-staff in his memory.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.