[1][2] In 2005, he was awarded the Hannes Alfvén Prize with Malcolm Haines and Valentin Smirnov for his contributions to the field.
[3] Sanford studied mathematics and physics at the University of Washington and obtained a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in 1965.
Sanford further developed the Z-pinch with wire arrangements, which had previously been successfully tested in Russia by Valentin Smirnov, via the Saturn experiment to the Z-machine.
[6][7] It was the strongest X-ray source in the mid-2000s (2 megajoules in 6 nanoseconds with 200 terawatts of power),[8] which also generated record temperatures of 2 to 3 billion Kelvin for a short time.
[9] Two cylindrical shells of wire assemblies, through which a high current (20 megaamps) is sent, implode onto a central target, where high-intensity X-rays are generated for inertial fusion experiments or other studies.