Advances and applications in plasma physics — The first Nature conference in Russia

An international scientific conference entitled “Advances and Applications in Plasma Physics” guided by the world’s famous publisher Nature Research for the first time in Russia will take place during September 18-20, 2019. The main organizer is Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) in collaboration with editors of Nature Physics, Nature Communications and Nature Reviews Physics.

The meeting will bring together experts and young scientists from various plasma subfields, including nuclear fusion; low-temperature plasmas; astrophysical plasmas; laser-plasma interactions. In spite of tremendous progress over the past decades in understanding plasmas, there are many challenges that still confront plasma physicists, especially when it comes to the design and development of potential applications.

“The general consensus is that controlled thermonuclear fusion is one of the greatest technological challenges ever faced by humankind,” says Professor Vladimir Rozhansky, representative of the ITER Science and Technology Advisory Committee and Head of Laboratory of Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. Russia’s pioneering role in plasma research is indisputable: it was Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov who laid down the theoretical foundations for the tokamak, a device with magnetic plasma confinement. As member of ITER, Russia is currently participating in the construction of the tokamak-type International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in France.”

It is no wonder, according to Professor Rozhansky, that Nature has chosen the Polytechnic University as the venue for this conference. Polytechnic University’s researchers are renowned for their simulation studies on the tokamak reactor and for the diagnostics methods developed for ITER. Moreover, the university annually hosts a joint summer school on Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion in collaboration with the School of Physical Sciences of SOKENDAI (the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama, Japan) and the National Institute for Fusion Science (Tokyo, Japan).

“We’re delighted to have SPbPU as our partner for our very first Nature Conference in Russia”, says Bart Verberck, Regional Executive Editor for Nature Research. “We’ve seen many initiatives being launched to boost the already impressive scientific research activities in the country even more, some with involvement of Springer Nature, the publisher of the Nature Research portfolio. I’m particularly pleased that the topic of our first joint conference is plasma physics, given Russia’s rich history and expertise on the topic. Judging by how the collaboration with SPbPU has been going so far, I’m convinced the conference will be a great success.”

The conference aims to provide a platform for the exchange of recent results between plasma scientists working on different plasma-related research topics, to stimulate further breakthroughs in fundamental understanding and advances towards new applications in this fascinating field of research. The meeting will bring together experts and young scientists from various plasma subfields, including nuclear fusion, astrophysical plasmas, industrial plasmas, dusty plasmas and laser-plasma interactions. The conference will provide opportunities for discussions on key problems of controlled nuclear fusion and Russian thermonuclear program. The representatives of ITER, Rosatom, IAEA will provide their public lectures.

Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, New Academic Building, Polytechnicheskaya str., 29

Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University

Nature Physics

Nature Reviews Physics

Nature Communications

Ioffe Institute

Website: https://www.nature.com/natureconferences/AP19

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