Harold P. Furth made a career of research on controlled fusion, making countless contributions to the science of fusion plasmas (a hot, ionized gas) and the fundamentals of plasma physics. Dr. Furth was giant and a pioneer in the U.S. fusion program, and the originator of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) project, which was the most advanced and highest performance fusion device ever constructed in the United States. Before closing down in 1997, the TFTR produced world-record setting and major scientific results.
Dr. Furth was born in Vienna, and came to the U.S. in 1941. He received a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 1960, and joined the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in 1967, with an appointment as Professor of Astrophysical Sciences. Dr. Furth remained at PPPL throughout the rest of his career, co-heading the Experimental Division from 1967 to 1978, and becoming Program Director in 1980 and Director of the Laboratory in 1981. Dr. Furth remained in this post until 1990. In 1999, Furth became Professor Emeritus of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton, and was active in research at PPPL until shortly before his death in 2002.
Information as of 2002