THE EDGE OF SCIENCE — BROWN 407 



havior of the ionosphere. In the Physics Department courses in the 

 electrical properties of electrons and ions and the effects of magnetic 

 fields on plasmas are taught. Also there are courses in the nonlinear 

 phenomena in fluids and plasma and wave propagation in this new 

 kind of medium. There is a very strong group in cosmic physics. 

 They specialize in satellites and in making tests of the plasma nature 

 of si^ace in the interplanetary system, as well as in problems of radio 

 astronomy. 



As you would expect, the Department of Aeronautics and Astro- 

 nautics has research teams working in various areas of this plasma 

 group. They are interested in problems of astronaut propulsion and 

 in high-speed flow, since many of the very high-speed phenomena 

 occurring in plasmas are of great interest if you want to get some- 

 where in the universe away from the earth. The Mathematics De- 

 partment has a course in mathematical theory of magneto-fluid 

 mechanics, and our mathematicians are developing the basic mathe- 

 matical tools for understanding many of the plasma phenomena on 

 earth and in the astronomical regions of space. Finally the Nuclear 

 Engineering Department has four courses which have to do with the 

 thermonuclear processes which we hope will lead to a controlled 

 thermonuclear fusion reactor. This is still in the future, but we are 

 learning a great deal about this reaction as a potential source of power. 



To me, as a teacher, one of the interesting things about suddenly 

 opening up a new field is its effect on our teaching policies. What 

 kind of physics do we teach our undergraduates to give them basic 

 information for more advanced work in this field? For generations 

 we have been dropping out things like fluid flow, but this is precisely 

 what you need for an understanding of the fundamentals of plasma 

 physics. As the research areas change, the change must be reflected 

 in the more elementary educational processes. 



To make progress in this direction we convened at M.I.T. a group 

 of physicists and engineers who were basically interested in trying to 

 teach plasma physics at an elementary level. There were some M.I.T. 

 professors, professors from Pittsburgh, from Princeton, from Caltech, 

 from Swarthmore, from the University of California at Berkeley, 

 from Stanford, and some industrial physicists from Bell Labs, from 

 Avco, and from Government laboratories like those at Los Alamos and 

 Livermore. We worked together for a week, devising what we thought 

 was a reasonably good course. We published it in outline form. Many 

 of us in various places in the country are trying now to teach this 

 undergraduate course in plasma physics, including the areas having 

 to do with plasma astronomy, charged particle physics, magneto- 

 hydrodynamic flow, and so forth. This interuniversity cooperation 

 is a very real attempt to develop undergraduate courses which will 

 lay the foundations for further work in this field. 



