Norman Rostoker
Norman Rostoker was a physicist considered among the first generation of fusion energy pioneers. He held the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method — a theory in solid-state physics — named after him, reflecting his breadth in theoretical physics. He worked at the Armour Research Foundation at the Illinois Institute of Technology, General Atomics, UC San Diego, and Cornell University before joining UC Irvine in 1972, where he chaired the physics department. Rostoker co-founded TAE Technologies (then Tri Alpha Energy) in 1998 to pursue a colliding beam fusion reactor using proton-boron fuel in a field-reversed configuration, holding 27 U.S. patents on plasma-based fusion accelerators. TAE's C-2W device was renamed "Norman" in his honor after his death in January 2014.