18 Facts About Steven Cowley

1.

Sir Steven Charles Cowley was born on 1959 and is a British theoretical physicist and international authority on nuclear fusion and astrophysical plasmas.

2.

Steven Cowley has served as director of the United States Department of Energy Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory since 1 July 2018.

3.

Steven Cowley went on to study at Princeton University as a Harkness Fellow and was awarded a PhD in 1985 for research into tokamaks supervised by Russell Kulsrud.

4.

Steven Cowley returned to Princeton in 1987 and joined the faculty at University of California, Los Angeles, in 1993, becoming full professor in 2000.

5.

At Imperial College, London, Steven Cowley led the plasma physics group from 2001 to 2003, while serving as a part-time professor.

6.

Steven Cowley is the first scientist to hold the post.

7.

Steven Cowley's research has been funded by Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

8.

Steven Cowley co-chaired the National Academy of Sciences assessment of plasma science in the United States.

9.

Steven Cowley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014.

10.

Steven Cowley is a leading plasma theorist and currently chief executive officer at the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

11.

Steven Cowley is leading the UK's participation in ITER, an experimental reactor that is set to make nuclear fusion commercially viable.

12.

Steven Cowley showed that these astrophysical plasmas invariably exhibit turbulence, which amplifies and shapes their magnetic fields.

13.

Steven Cowley presented a 2009 TED talk entitled Fusion is Energy's Future and received the 2012 Glazebrook Medal from the Institute of Physics, which rewards leadership in a physics context.

14.

Professor Steven Cowley is currently chief executive officer at the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Professor at Imperial College.

15.

Steven Cowley discovered a key mechanism for the observed explosive eruptions from confined plasmas.

16.

Steven Cowley was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1998, the Institute of Physics in 2004 and the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2014.

17.

Steven Cowley was awarded and honorary fellowship of the Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2015.

18.

In July 2019, Steven Cowley was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Lancaster for his standing as the international authority on fusion energy.