Thomas H. Stix

Thomas Howard Stix (July 12, 1924 – April 16, 2001) was an American physicist. Stix performed seminal work in plasma physics and wrote the first mathematical treatment of the field in 1962's The Theory of Plasma Waves.

History Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 12, 1924, Stix grew up near Washington University. The Stix family owned Rice-Stix Inc., a dry goods firm that was among the city's largest businesses at the turn of the 20th century.

He worked for Project Matterhorn, In 1978, Stix was appointed associate director for academic affairs at PPPL. He pioneered and for many years served as director of Princeton's Program in Plasma Physics, the first graduate-level program of its kind. for his pioneering role in developing and formalizing the theory of wave propagation and wave heating in plasmas.

His obituary in The New York Times said that Stix's "elegant mastery of the literally infinite complexities of waves in electrified gases helped create a new field of science."

In 2013, the American Physical Society created the Thomas H. Stix Award, presented annually to a plasma physics researcher with outstanding contributions early in their career.