Professor Park Hyungeo of UNIST Awarded One of the World's Top Three Plasma Physics Prizes

Professor Park Hyungeo, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Professor Hyun-Gyeol Park of the Department of Physics at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has been selected as the recipient of the Chandrasekhar Award, known as one of the world's top three academic awards in plasma physics. He is the first Korean to receive this award.

The Plasma Division of the Asia-Pacific Physical Society selected Professor Park as the 7th recipient of the Chandrasekhar Award on the 10th. The society awarded him in recognition of his development of an innovative observational method to solve the challenging problems in nuclear fusion plasma physics.

Professor Park is a world-renowned scholar who has pioneered nuclear fusion plasma physics research for the past 40 years. While working at the Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University in the United States, he developed an ultra-high-speed microwave imaging camera capable of real-time two-dimensional observation of the complex electron motion in nuclear fusion plasma. This technology is based on observations and solutions related to magnetohydrodynamics and turbulence phenomena in nuclear fusion plasma. Currently, this microwave imaging camera is applied to most nuclear fusion devices operating worldwide.

Since 2007, while serving at the Department of Physics at POSTECH, he has devoted efforts to enhancing the research capabilities and nurturing future talents for Korea's nuclear fusion research project, 'KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research).' Professor Park served as the director of the KSTAR Research Center from 2015 to 2017 and currently holds an advisory position.

To date, Professor Park has published a total of 36 papers in the most prestigious physics journal, Physical Review Letters. The number of SCI-level publications reaches approximately 300.

Professor Park stated, "I am honored to be selected as the recipient of the Chandrasekhar Award," adding, "This award will serve as an opportunity for the KSTAR Research Center and Korea's nuclear fusion plasma physics field, based on KSTAR plasma research, to gain global recognition."

Meanwhile, the Chandrasekhar Award was established in 1983, named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics. It was created to encourage plasma physics research in the Asia-Pacific region. Alongside the Maxwell Award from the Plasma Division of the American Physical Society and the Alfv?n Award from the Plasma Division of the European Physical Society, it is regarded as one of the three major academic awards in the field of plasma physics.

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