Bill Dorland (1965-2024) Photo credit: Anjor Kanekar 2010
Professor Bill Dorland of the University of Maryland, who was co-Editor of the Journal of Plasma Physics from the autumn of 2013 until April 2024, passed away on 22 September 2024. An official announcement by the University of Maryland can be read here; an autobiographic piece that Bill penned not long ago, detailing his professional life journey, and his 21-year-long struggle with cancer, is here. Bill was one of the most important computational plasma physicists in the history of our subject, having for well over 30 years played a pivotal role in the development of the numerical methodology that has enabled gyrokinetic modelling of magnetised plasmas, both fusion and astrophysical, to become a thriving industry it is today – and in the formulation of the key theoretical paradigms that emerged in the process. For these foundational contributions, he was awarded the 2024 James Clerk Maxwell Prize by the American Physical Society (jointly with Greg Hammett) – the highest honour that the APS can bestow in the area of plasma physics. The Prize was publicly announced only a week before Bill’s death, which came as a shock to his friends, his colleagues, and to numerous students and early-career researchers whom he had nurtured and inspired. His unfailing generosity with his time and “bandwidth” to so many young scientists, as much as his outstanding scientific contributions, marked him out as one of the greats of the field. He will be remembered as a man of great integrity, bold vision, and profound empathy – and one who brought joy and laughter, as well as vibrant energy, to every group he was part of, and every endeavour he joined, or started. JPP was no exception: since taking over as Editor in 2013, he infused the enterprise with his enthusiasm for both upholding and re-inventing the Journal’s mission, lending JPP some of the gold dust of his ebullient personality and his passion for physics: many of the authors who flocked to publish in JPP, of the speakers who delivered JPP colloquia (which he chaired all through the two years of the pandemic), the researchers who made room in their busy lives to join the JPP Editorial Board did so, in no small measure, because he was there to help make it feel worthwhile.
Alex Schekochihin, JPP Editor
Below are some selected excerpts from the spontaneous tributes to Bill sent by members of the JPP Editorial Board when the news of his death was announced.
We could not have wished for a more inspirational leader and a true fighter.
Ed Thomas, JPP Associate Editor
We all loved Bill deeply and dreaded this news. He will be sorely missed. It was a great pleasure and an honour having him as a friend and colleague for so many years. We are all indebted to him for his joyful outlook on life in spite of all he had to endure. He will always be remembered as an incredible person with unbelievable courage, as well as an amazing and inspirational scientist.
Peter Catto, JPP Associate Editor
I [...] felt privileged to have met such a wonderful man.
Roger Blandford, JPP Associate Editor
He was an example to us all.
Per Helander, JPP Associate Editor
He was a great inspiration for all of us. We will miss him dearly.
Dmitri Uzdensky, JPP Associate Editor
Bill had such a profound impact on all of us and will be dearly missed. [...] I recall that soon after he was diagnosed, Bill told me that life was too short and from then on he would only work with people he enjoyed being around. I was honoured to be included in that group...
Troy Carter, JPP Associate Editor
Bill was a great friend from our graduate student days with many jokes and smiles. Everyone called him BIG Bill. I really miss him.
Wonho Choe, JPP Associate Editor
This is hard to take. Calling Bill and asking him to take the reins of JPP was the best professional decision I ever made and one that led to a friendship I treasure deeply. A unique, inspirational, compassionate and infectiously funny man. The world is so much poorer for his departure. He was for me the yardstick of humanity.
Neil Hammond, JPP’s Publisher on behalf of CUP in 2013-16
We shall all miss him a lot. He was such a great colleague and scientist.
Thierry Passot, JPP Associate Editor
I will never forget [his] smile, [his] way of welcoming me the first time we met to start the JPP adventure. [His] humanity and empathy, [his] enthusiasm and simplicity were unique to me, even more amazing than the interest and pleasure of the scientific discussions, of the depth of [his] thinking.
Francesco Califano, JPP Associate Editor
I am sorry that I was only able to work with Bill for such a brief period, even in that time it was an enormous pleasure and I feel privileged.
Anna Simpson, JPP’s Publisher on behalf of CUP since 2023
Bill was a science leader, a role model across our community, and an amazing human being and a continuous source of inspiration. I feel privileged to have met Bill and to work on the JPP board with [him].
Luis Silva, JPP Associate Editor
I consider it a privilege to have known him.
Antoine Bret, JPP Associate Editor
I always admired how Bill lived his life in so positive spirits despite the serious threat of his disease. He was such a great example for all of us, and he will live on in our memories, not only for that, but also for his great physics contributions.
Hartmut Zohm, JPP Associate Editor