Education
Bernstein studied chemical engineering at the City College of New York (Baccalaureate 1944) and in 1950 received his Doctor of Philosophy from New York University with his thesis entitled "Improved Calculations on Cascade Shower Theory".
Bernstein studied chemical engineering at the City College of New York (Baccalaureate 1944) and in 1950 received his Doctor of Philosophy from New York University with his thesis entitled "Improved Calculations on Cascade Shower Theory".
From 1950 to 1954 he worked at the Westinghouse research laboratories. From 1954 to 1964, he was a scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, where he was an participant as a Senior Scientist in Project Matterhorn when the project involved secret United States government research on magnetic fusion. In 1964, he became a Professor for Applied Physics at Yale University, where he was from 1994 "Carl A. Morse" Professor for Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics.
In 2004 he retired with the rank of professor emeritus.
He was a research consultant with the research laboratories of United Technologies and Radio Corporation of America, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Naval Research Laboratory. In 1958, he described the Bernstein wave in plasma physics.
National Academy of Sciences]
He was a member of the Fusiona Policy Advisory Committee and the Consulting Committee for Fusion Energy at the United States Department of Energy. In 1984, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.