Melvin B. Gottlieb

Melvin Burt Gottlieb (May 25, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois – December 1, 2000 in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania) was a high-energy physicist and director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1961–1980).

During World War II Gottlieb worked on radar counter-measures and with Van Allen on early cosmic ray studies.

Starting in 1952 he went on several expeditions to the Arctic on behalf of the Office of Naval Research, where balloons, attached to ion chambers, and launched from rockets were used to study the magnetosphere.

Beginning in 1954 Gottlieb started work on fusion research at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the federal government.

He subsequently obtained the funding for the follow-on Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), but didn’t stay as director to see it finally completed in 1982.

A model Deacon rocket with payload, representative of those used to test the ionosphere. Left to right, standing: Melvin B. Gottlieb, Lee Blodgett, Robert Ellis, Jr. , and James Van Allen , and in front, Leslie H. Meredith.