NJ SJR83

New Jersey commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which originated in July 1951 when the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission funded construction of a magnetic plasma device at Princeton University under Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Jr.

The laboratory evolved from Project Matterhorn, a classified Cold War hydrogen bomb research project, and was renamed Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 1961 under Dr. Melvin B. Gottlieb's leadership.

The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor operated from 1982 to 1997 and achieved world-record performance, becoming the first facility in 1993 to use 50/50 deuterium-tritium mixtures and produce 10.7 million watts of fusion power.

The laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory managed by Princeton University, is developing the Princeton Plasma Innovation Center for research in artificial intelligence, microelectronics, and quantum technologies.

Copies of the resolution will be transmitted to the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the American Physical Society, and the U.S. Library of Congress.