Furth remembered for physics, poetry

The University and the scientific community lost a powerful mind and brilliant wit Thursday with the passing of professor emeritus Harold Furth, former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab and renowned researcher on the physics of fusion.

While Furth's genius as a physicist made him one of the most well known researchers in his field, it was often his creativity with words that endeared him most to colleagues.

In 1956, The New Yorker published a poem by Furth about "Dr. Edward anti-Teller," the anti-matter version of the famous physicist who encounters his real-matter counterpart, "and the rest was gamma rays."

"He was extremely clever," PPPL director Rob Goldston said. "He had marvelous, witty ways to express things."

Furth served as director from 1981 to 1990. He provided the critical innovations behind the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at PPPL, one of the most successful fusion reactors ever built.

Furth came up with a "trick" to accelerate the process of fusion, Goldston said. When a beam of high-energy particles is injected into ionized gas, protons are more likely to fuse into helium atoms, releasing large amounts of energy that could be harnessed in the form of electricity.

"He will be sorely missed by colleagues here at Princeton and at fusion research centers around the world," astrophysics professor Ron Davidson said. "We've lost a giant of fusion research," he said.

Goldston, whom Furth advised during Goldston's graduate work, concurred. "Harold Furth was a powerhouse. He was among the giants who walk the earth. I'm glad to be standing on his shoulders, because it's a heck of a view," he said.

Nathan Fisch, professor of astrophysics and researcher at PPPL, praised not only Furth's intellectual prowess but also his ability to inspire others. "I always felt like I was writing for him," he said.

Fisch, as a post-doctoral student, audited a course taught by Furth. "It was inspirational," he said. "Under him we thought very big."

Among Furth's many endeavors that Fisch could recall were poems written for colleagues on birthdays, crossword puzzles that appeared in The New York Times and a feature on the prospects of fusion energy in Scientific American.

Furth was born in Vienna and came to the United States in 1941. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1946. Before coming to PPPL, he worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

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Furth's wife Christiane A. Ludescher of Princeton Borough is a researcher at PPPL. His son, John Furth, of New York City, said yesterday, "However difficult it may be for the world to replace this man it is impossible for me. The same dedication he showed towards his field he lavished on me. He will be sorely missed."

A private service is planned for family members.