Rob Goldston
Email Rob
Web Site

Professor Robert J. Goldston
Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Rob Goldston is a Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and an international leader in the fields of plasma physics and magnetic fusion energy. Since 1997, he has served as Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a collaborative national center for plasma and fusion science.

Dr. Goldston has been a primary contributor to the physics design and experimental programs of the major fusion devices at PPPL since 1975.
He provided leadership in the development of the physics mission and design of the National Spherical Torus Experiment, now operating at the Laboratory, and played the same role in the development of the mission and design for the National Compact Stellarator Experiment, now in construction. Dr. Goldston also served as Head of Physics for the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), which was the largest magnetic fusion facility in the U.S. TFTR operated at PPPL from 1982 to 1997 and achieved world-record values of fusion power.

Dr. Goldston is author of over 220 papers on experimental and theoretical plasma physics in journals and conference proceedings, and in 1995 co-authored the textbook Introduction to Plasma Physics.

He is a contributing author to five other books. In 1988, he was awarded the American Physical Society (APS) Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics. Professor Goldston is a Fellow of the APS. In 1977, Dr. Goldston received a Ph.D. from Princeton University in Astrophysics, Program in Plasma Physics. He received a B.A. degree in physics from Harvard College in 1972.

To find out more about the Plasma Physics Labooratory, go to www.pppl.gov