Boris Borisovich Kadomtsev

Born Nov. 9, 1928, in Penza. Soviet physicist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1970; corresponding member, 1962).

Upon graduating from Moscow University (1951), Kadomtsev worked at the Institute of Physics and Energetics in Obninsk. In 1956, he began working at the Institute of Atomic Energy. His principal works are devoted to plasma physics and to the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion. He has predicted some types of transient plasma and laid the foundations for the theory of transport phenomena (diffusion and thermal conduction) in turbulent plasma. He has provided a quantitative explanation of the phenomenon of anomalous behavior of plasma in a magnetic field. A number of his studies have been devoted to the problem of the thermal insulation of plasma in toroidal chambers. In 1966 he discovered the instability of plasma involving the so-called trapped particles. Kadomtsev received the State Prize of the USSR in 1970.