- Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov
- Radu Bălescu
- Hannes Alfvén - received the only Nobel Prize specifically for contributions to plasma physics.
- Willard Harrison Bennett - Z-pinch is a form of "Bennett pinch". Also invented radio frequency mass spectrometry.
- Kristian Birkeland - first suggested that polar electric currents (or auroral electrojets) are connected to a system of filaments (now called "Birkeland currents") that flow along geomagnetic field lines into and away from the polar region.
- David Bohm - derived the Bohm sheath criterion, which states that a plasma must flow with at least the speed of sound toward a solid surface
- Fran Bosnjakovic
- Oscar Buneman - pioneer of computational plasma physics and plasma simulation.
- F. F. Chen
- Liu Chen
- William Crookes
- Ronald C. Davidson, first director MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center
- Peter Debye - Nobel Prize–winning physicist and chemist, after whom Debye shielding and Debye length are named
- Philo Farnsworth - credited with the invention of the cathode ray tube, television and Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor
- Harold Furth
- Vitaly Ginzburg
- Russell Alan Hulse
- Ratko Janev
- Predhiman Kaw
- Shaukat Hameed Khan
- Lev Davidovich Landau
- Irving Langmuir - developed electron temperature concepts and an electrostatic probe, the Langmuir probe. Coined the term "plasma" to hint at the lifelike behavior of this state of matter.
- Eric Lerner - pioneer of focus fusion and advocate of plasma cosmology
- Mounir Laroussi
- Ernst Messerschmid
- Forrest S. Mozer - electric field measurements in space plasma
- Ghulam Murtaza
- Chang Hee Nam
- Friedrich Paschen - known for his law on breakdown voltage
- Anthony Peratt - electrical engineer and plasma physicist and advocate of plasma cosmology
- Marshall Rosenbluth
- Megh Nad Saha - Saha equation
- Andrey Dmitriyevich Sakharov - proposed the development of the tokamak device for use in controlled thermonuclear fusion.
- Rudolf Seeliger
- Lyman Spitzer
- Johannes Stark
- Igor Tamm
- Nikola Tesla - inventor, physicist, mechanical and electrical engineer
- Lewi Tonks
- Anatoly Vlasov - first suggested the Vlasov equation for a correct description of plasma with long-range interaction between particles
- Franklin Chang-Diaz - created the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket(VASIMR) concept, an electromagnetic thruster for spacecraft propulsion.
See also
Relevant Spacecraft
- Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), launched 1997, still operational.
- Helios (spacecraft)
- MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging), launched 2004, still operational.
- Radiation Belt Storm Probes
- Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), launched 2010, still operational.
- Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), launched 1995, still operational.
- Solar Maximum Mission (SMM), launched 1980, decommissioned 1989.
- Solar Orbiter (SOLO), set to launch in 2015.
- Parker Solar Probe, set to launch in 2018.
- STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory), launched 2006, still operational.
- Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), launched 1998, decommissioned 2010.
- Ulysses (spacecraft), launched 1990, decommissioned 2009.
- WIND (spacecraft), launched 1994, still operational.