Journal of Plasma Physics, 56 (3), 385-386, (1997)
This issue of the Journal of Plasma Physics is dedicated to
David C. Montgomery, a pioneer in the subject of plasma physics, on
the occasion of his 60th birthday.
Professor Montgomery's contributions to the field of plasma physics
have served to define and shape the subject for almost 40 years. The
overwhelming response by researchers in many diverse subfields of
plasma physics who contributed articles to this special issue and the
breadth of topics submitted to the journal on this occasion stands as
a clear indication of the impact David Montgomery has had on the
subject of plasma physics.
The author of 2 books and over 150 articles, David Montgomery has
always sought to find new and better ways to characterize the plasma
state. For many researchers David's book Plasma Kinetic Theory
published with Derek Tidman in 1964 was the defining treatment of
plasma physics from which whole careers have been derived. That one
book, as much as any other, provided the plasma physics community
with the ideas that now form the foundation of much of plasma theory.
Later, his book Theory of the Unmagnetized Plasma published in
1971 provided a treatment of electrostatic theory that today supports
a major component of the field.
While these books may represent the direction of David Montgomery's
early efforts in plasma physics, his work since the mid-70's has
focussed on turbulence theory as practiced by the fluids community
and its application to nonlinear plasma physics. Specifically, he has
concentrated on the general theory of turbulent magnetohydrodynamic
flow. His work on MHD turbulence has found numerous applications
within the space physics and astrophysics communities as well as the
controlled fusion community. The theory of magnetofluid turbulence
has evolved into a legitimate and active subdiscipline of plasma
physics and David Montgomery's work along with the considerable body
of work inspired by him has played a notable role in this development.
Throughout his career David has been a teacher, an educator and an
inspiration to young physicists at many institutions. He has held
faculty positions at the University of Maryland, University of Iowa,
University of William and Mary, and is now the Eleanor and A. Kelvin
Smith Professor of Physics at Dartmouth College. His visiting positions
are too numerous to list here. Wherever he has been he has challenged
the profession to look at plasma physics in new ways that reach beyond
the linear and weakly nonlinear techniques that are so widely used in
plasma physics today. This challenge has been so widely recognized by
young physicists around the world that it is likely that the full
impact of David's work will not be felt until another generation of
physicists has risen to senior positions.
This special issue came about as a result of a proposal to the
Journal of Plasma Physics put forward by Prof. Montgomery's
former students: myself, Jill Dahlburg, Russell Dahlburg, Murshed Hossain,
William Matthaeus and John Shebalin. The Senior Editor for the journal,
Alan Cairns, enthusiastically endorsed the idea and asked Associate
Editor Gary Zank to serve as editor for this occasion. A call for papers
was published in the October 1995. All submitted papers were subjected
to the usual standards for publication and reviewed by external referees
according to the normal practices of this journal.
It seems only reasonable that on this occasion the honoree should be
permitted to speak his views on the subject of plasma physics, the
state of the field, and his hopes for the future. This journal begins
with those remarks which are followed by the papers contributed by
various members of the community on this occasion.
On behalf of the above individuals, this journal and all who contributed
to this special issue, let me say "Happy birthday, David" and we look
forward to many more years of productive and stimulating activity.
Charles W. Smith
Bartol Research Institute
June 1996