Noah Hershkowitz

Noah Hershkowitz (August 16, 1941 – November 13, 2020) was an American experimental plasma physicist. He was known for his pioneering research on the understanding of plasma sheaths, solitons and double layers in plasmas, as well as the development of the emissive probe which measures the plasma potential (i.e. the electric potential within a plasma sheath).

In 2004, Hershkowitz was co-awarded the 2004 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for his contributions to the field of low-temperature plasmas. He was also awarded the 2015 IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award for his research and education of basic and applied plasma science.

In 1992, Hershkowitz founded the journal Plasma Sources Science and Technology as the editor-in-chief. sheath physics, potential profiles, diagnostic probes and the industrial applications of plasmas.

His work also has applications in magnetic confinement fusion (e.g. tokamaks, magnetic mirrors).

Honors and awards Hershkowitz has been a fellow of the American Physical Society and the IEEE since 1981.

In 2004, Hershkowitz was jointly awarded the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics with Valery Godyak for his research on low-temperature plasmas. In 2015, he received the IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award for "innovative research and inspiring education in basic and applied plasma science".