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Thesis ID: CBB001562421

Containing Plasma Physics: A Disciplinary History, 1950--1980 (2001)

Weisel, Gary James (Author)

University of Florida
Gregory, Frederick

Publication Date: 2001
Edition Details: Advisor: Gregory, Frederick
Physical Details: 386 pp.
Language: English

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This dissertation investigates the development of plasma physics as a scientific discipline, concentrating on the American community. Themes include the role of patronage in modifying disciplinary research interests, the interrelation of the specialties that compose a discipline, and disciplinary identity. The study begins by reviewing work on ionized gases accomplished during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in specialties concerning the Earth's ionosphere, the Aurora, and the discharge of electricity through gases. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new plasma specialty, research on controlled thermonuclear fusion energy, dominated the foundation of plasma physics. The political context of the Cold War shaped the discipline, both in terms of its social makeup and its scientific style. Fusion research continued to exert a preponderant influence; during the late 1960s and early 1970s, plasma physics was transformed by research with new fusion machines (the tokamak and inertial-confinement fusion) and by political pressures born of the anti-war movement and the energy crisis. The dissertation highlights the troubled relationship between the fusion community and the other plasma specialties. At the same time, it gives attention to scientists who attempted to link different plasma specialties in their work, especially fusion research, space physics, and astrophysics. There also is discussion of the military applications of plasma physics, such as plasma dynamics and the simulation of nuclear explosions. Throughout its history, the plasma community nurtured visions of plasma physics that not only recognized the radical diversity of plasma behavior but also affirmed the unity of the study of "the fourth state of matter." However, neither the American funding agencies nor the general scientific community accepted such broad visions of the discipline. The plasma community argued for funding more and more on the basis of fusion as a potential source of abundant and clean energy. The outcome was disappointing both for fusion research and for plasma physics. The American funding process proved incapable of the long-term planning needed either to follow through on its fusion commitments, or to maintain a modest program of basic plasma research.

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Description Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 62 (2002): 3543. UMI order no. 3027615.

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