Press Release
June 21, 2016
Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS)
Division of Plasma Physics (AAPPS-DPP)

Subramanyan Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics- Professor Donald Blair Melrose is selected as Laureate of 2016 –The Division of Plasma Physics (Chair: Mitsuru Kikuchi) underthe Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (President:Seunghwan Kim) selected Professor Donald Blair Melrose of theUniversity of Sydney as the 2016 Laureate of S. Chandrasekhar
Prize of Plasma Physics, which is awarded to a scientist who hasmade seminal / pioneering contributions in the field of plasmaphysics.
Citation：For his sustained original contributions to the theory ofcoherent emission processes in astrophysical and space plasmas, andfor his seminal contributions to the theory of quantum plasmas.

Contact point：AAPPS-DPP Chair, Mitsuru Kikuchi(National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology,
Naka Fusion Institute)
TEL: +81-29-270-7294, +81-90-2564-0837
FAX: +81-29-270-7264

AAPPS-DPP Homepage Address：
http://aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/index.html
Haruo Nagai :TEL: 080-1096-4575

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On the achievement of Professor Donald Melrose

Professor Donald Melrose(School of Physics, The University of Sydney)
Professor Melrose has made seminal contributions in three plasma
physics fields: plasma astrophysics, quantum plasma dynamics (QPD) andplasma kinetic theory. Amongst his many contributions to plasma astrophysics,
he is most widely recognized as an expert on the theory of coherent emission
processes in astrophysical and space plasmas. In QPD he initiated anddeveloped a new field by synthesizing quantum electrodynamics (QED) andthe kinetic theory of plasmas.
Professor Melrose has a significant scientific publication record
related to these contributions to plasma physics. His publications haveattracted over 10,400 citations in Google Scholar (H-index 51) and over 6900
citations in Web of Science (H-index 45), with 11 articles having more than
100 citations. His original books on Plasma Astrophysics and Instabilities inSpace and Laboratory Plasmas are also well cited (578 and 543 citations).
Professor Melrose has served the physics community in various roles,
including Director of the Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics in The
University of Sydney (1991-1999); Chairman of the Advisory Committee ofthe Australian Journal of Physics (1979-1984, 1987-1993); Chair of theSteering Committee, Australia Telescope National Facility (1994-1997);
Council member, Australian Academy of Science (1999-2001); and Presidentof Division II, International Astronomical Union (2006-2009).

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Appendix 1: Major scientific contributions by Professor Melrose:
1. Plasma Astrophysics: Professor Melrose is a pioneer in astro-plasma
physics through his fundamental work on the theory of the emission,
absorption and scattering of radio waves in astrophysical plasmas. He
played significant roles in the early development of theories for coherent
emission processes in astrophysical and space plasmas such as plasmaemission, applied to solar radio bursts, electron cyclotron maser emission(ECME) from planets and stars, and pulsar radio emission.
He was the first to generalize the theory of plasma emission to include
the magnetic field, providing the basic theory for the interpretation of thepolarization of radio bursts. He also contributed extensively to theinterpretation of polarization data from solar radio bursts.
He developed an early version of the astrophysical theory for ECME,
and applied it to Jupiter’s decametric radio bursts (DAM) and to theEarth’s auroral kilometric radiation (AKR). He proposed the now widely
accepted interpretation of solar spike bursts and coherent emission fromflare stars in terms of ECME, in what became his most highly cited journal
paper.
He also made fundamental contributions to the theory of pulsar radio
emission mechanisms. He was the first to propose a maser
linear-acceleration mechanism for pulsar emission. He made extensive
contributions to the theory of wave dispersion in pulsar plasmas, which isessential for the interpretation of the observed circular polarization.
2. Quantum plasma dynamics: Professor Melrose created a new branch oftheoretical physics, which he has called quantum plasma dynamics (QPD),
by synthesizing the kinetic theory of plasmas and QED.
The motivation for the development of QPD is that the modern theory ofelectrodynamics is QED, and conventional classical treatments of plasma
physics should be regarded as approximations to a more general relativistic
quantum theory. The development of QPD has been made in a sequence ofsteps with original contributions such as:o rewriting the classical kinetic theory of plasmas in a
manifestly covariant and gauge-invariant form;o generalizing QED to treat wave-particle interactions inplasmas;o using QED to calculate the linear and nonlinear response
tensors of the plasma;3

Press Releaseo using exact solutions of Dirac’s equation in a magnetic field
to develop a form of QPD that provides a plasma-liketreatment of processes in the magnetized vacuum;o generalizing QED to include the linear and nonlinear responseof a plasma.
QPD has proved useful in unanticipated ways. It led to the identification of
intrinsically new phenomena including two-photon cyclotron emission.

Appendix-2: Certificate of S. Chandrasekhar prize of plasma
physics: Certificate and medal will be given at the 13th APPC in Australia onDecember 2016.

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Glossary
1. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Astrophysicist born in India. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his
theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution ofstars, including the Chandrasekhar limit on the mass of white dwarf stars. His researchcovered several broad areas, as seen from his texts, which included Principles of StellarDynamics (1942), Hydrodynamics and Hydromagnetic Stability (1981), and an influential
book based on his lecture notes in Plasma Physics (1960).

2. AAPPS: Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies（HP: http://www.aapps.org/main/index.php）
The Association of physical societies in the Asia Pacific region founded by the Nobel
Laureate in Physics C.N. Yang, and Professor Akito Arima in 1983. The AAPPS held the12th Asia Pacific Physics Conference under the president (at that time) Shoji Nagamiya inMakuhari, Japan. The current president is Professor Swan Kim, Postech, Korea.

3. AAPPS-DPP: Division of Plasma Physics, AAPPS（HP : http://aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/index.html ）The first division under the AAPPS based on the success of the plasma physics programin the APPC-12. This division was formed in January 2014 based on the recommendationof Professor Nagamiya at the AAPPS council.

4. S. Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics
Plasma physics prize was founded by the AAPPS-DPP in July 2014. This prize is given
to a plasma physicist annually for pioneering and/or seminal contribution to plasma physics.
The 2014 and 2015 prize recipients were Professor S. Ichimaru and Professor P. Kaw(http://aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/prizetable.html).
The 2016 selection committee chairman is Professor Yoshiharu Omura (KyotoUniversity, Japan) and members are Professor Kunioki Mima (Osaka University, Japan),Professor Liu Chen (Zhejiang University, China), Professor Xiaogang Wan (Harbin
Institute of Technology/CPS-DPP chair, China), Professor Taik Soo Hahm (Seoul NationalUniversity, Korea), Professor Wonhoe Choe (KAIST/KPS-DPP chair, Korea), Professor
Robert Dewar (Australian National University, Australia), Dr. Tony Murphy (CSIRO,Australia), Professor Abhijit Sen (IPR, India), Professor Ravindra Kumar (Tata Institute ofFundamental Research, India), Professor Lin I (National Central University, Taiwan),
Professor Lin-Ni Hau (National Central University, Taiwan).
2016 Prize is sponsored by Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization(ANSTO).

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