Introduction: Plenary Talks Given at the 50th Division of Plasma Physics Meeting, Dallas, Texas, November 2008

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) of the American Physical Society (APS), eight plenary presentations by distinguished experts spanning the entire range of plasma physics were given at the Divisional Meeting held at Dallas, Texas, November 17 - 21, 2008. These plenary presentations, combined with the 2008 Maxwell Prize Address, celebrate the rich and diverse life of plasma physics and its great promise. We are grateful to the plenary speakers, all of whom made extraordinary efforts to represent their disciplines skillfully, highlighting many distinguished achievements in plasma physics. A number of attendees at these talks thought of them as a treasure trove for the community. In order to preserve these talks and make them easily accessible, the Editors of the Physics of Plasmas have placed them, upon our request, on their website commemorating the 50th Anniversary. In addition to the Special Anniversary Issue of the Physics of Plasmas available at this website, these presentations provide a partial record of the celebration of a special year in the life of the DPP.

Amitava Bhattacharjee
University of New Hampshire
2009 Chair of the Division of Plasma Physics

Links to the Plenary Presentations:

NOTE: Copyright to the individual presentations is held by the authors. Materials contained within are copyrighted as indicated in the references.

Ronald C. Davidson, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
“Collective Interaction Processes and Nonlinear Dynamics of Nonneutral Plasmas and Intense Charged Particle Beams”
(Maxwell Prize address)

R. Paul Drake, University of Michigan
“Perspectives on High Energy Density Physics (HEDP)”

Richard Fitzpatrick, University of Texas, Austin
“Magnetic Islands in Plasmas”

Donald A. Gurnett, University of Iowa
“Waves in Space Plasmas”

Mark J. Kushner, University of Michigan
“Predictability in Low Temperature Plasmas: From Laboratory to Technology”

Keith Matzen, Sandia National Laboratories
“Inertial Confinement Fusion:  Progress Through Close Coupling of Theory and Experiment”

J. D. Meiss, University of Colorado, Boulder
“Building on the Legacy of John Greene: The Transition to Chaos in Volume-Preserving Maps”

Thomas O’Neil, University of California, San Diego
“Nonneutral Plasmas And The Wider World Of Physics”
(slides) (notes)

Stewart C. Prager, University of Wisconsin
“Magnetic Confinement: Establishing the Principles Through Experiment”