Buneman, Oscar, 1913-

Buneman, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University from 1960 until he reached emeritus status in 1984, was a prominent scientist in the fields of plasma electrodynamics, fundamental electromagnetic theory, and numerical analysis.

Biographical/Historical Sketch

Oscar Buneman, prominent scientist in the fields of plasma electrodynamics, fundamental electromagetic theory, and numerical anaylsis, was Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University from 1960 until he reached emeritus status in 1984. While at Stanford he worked on laboratory applications of plasma phys ics to cross-field microwave devices, stability analysis, and other phenomena. He also developed, with a series of collaborators, a three-dimensional electromagnetic particle simulation code (TRISTAN) for Cray supercomputers.

Buneman, born in Italy in 1913 to German parents, was imprisoned by the Nazis for political resistance in 1934. Upon his release in 1935, he went to Manchester University in England where he received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in mathematics. He continued postdoctural work there on the magnetron. In 1944 he was a member of the British mission to the Manhattan project at Berkeley, Calfornia. From 1950 to 1960 he was a member of Peterhouse College, Cambridge.

Buneman died on January 24, 1993.