Nicholas Krall

Education

He received his Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Notre Dame in 1954 and his Doctor of Philosophy in theoretical physics from Cornell University in 1959.

Career

Doctor Krall has authored over 160 science publications and has contributed to the fields of electron scattering, plasma stability, high energy nuclear physics and magnetohydrodynamics. He has worked at General Atomics, the University of California, San Diego, the Naval Research Laboratory and University of Maryland. After graduation, Doctor Krall worked as a staff scientist and a manager at General Atomics in San Diego until 1967.

He worked closely with physicist Marshall Rosenbluth.

After general atomics he accepted a position as professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1967 and held that position for six years. While at Maryland he was appointed director joint program for plasma physics, at the Naval Research Laboratory.

He held that position until 1973. He was a visiting professor at the University of California, San Diego and became a vice president at Science Applications, Incorporated, until 1978.

He made contributions to the plasma behavior in Tokamaks and Stellarators.

He was appointed chairman of the United States Department of Energy" General’ s Office of Science committee on alternate fusion concepts in 1977. He became executive vice president and chief scientist at Jaycor Incorporated in 1978 and held that position until at least 1985. He co-founded (with Stephen O Dean and Alvin Trivelpiece) the Fusion Power Associates, a Washington non for profit organization in 1979 and served as board chairman in 1983.

In 1980 he served as chairman of division of plasma physics for the American Physical Society.

In January 1988, he formed a consulting firm, Krall Associates. He consulted with Robert West. Bussard in the late 1980s and early 1990s on Polywell research.

Doctor Krall was born in Kansas City on February 16, 1932. Even after retirement, he continues contributing to research within his field

Achievements

• He also co-wrote a textbook on plasma physics with Alvin Trivelpiece and in 1973 he won a Guggenheim Fellowship.