Bruno Coppi

Biography

"Professor Coppi was named full Professor at MIT in 1968 after carrying out research in theoretical plasma physics, fusion, and space physics at Princeton University, Stanford University, UC-San Diego and the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University. In addition to his theoretical contributions to these fields, he developed the Alcator (experimental) Program at MIT, which is one of the three main experimental efforts on magnetically confined plasmas in the U.S. He also started the Frascati Torus Program, presently the major experimental undertaking on plasma physics in Italy, and developed and leads the Ignitor Program, based in the U.S. and Europe. Ignitor arose directly out of the Alcator program and has been the first experiment proposed and designed to reach ignition by nuclear fusion reactions in the laboratory. He was a member of the Voyager II science team for encounters with Uranus (1986) and Neptune (1989)."

Research Interest

Professor Bruno Coppi has given basic contributions to the fields of plasma physics, nuclear fusion research, space physics and plasma astrophysics. He is the leader of the international undertaking, "Physics of High Energy Plasmas," based at MIT, and of the Ignitor Project in Europe. Professor Coppi has developed novel experimental programs on thermonuclear plasmas, both in the US and overseas, the results of which have led to the proposal and design, for the first time, of experiments capable of demonstrating ignition by nuclear fusion reactions.