Valery Godyak
Valery Antonovich Godyak (born June 8, 1941) is a Russian-American physicist who works in plasma physics. He helped explain how radio frequency (RF) waves heat plasmas and drive discharges, and he studied related nonlinear effects. He also helped develop induction lamps, such as the Icetron-Endura RF lamp, earning recognition from Osram Sylvania and Siemens.
Education and early career: He earned an Engineer-Physicist degree from Leningrad Technical University in 1964 and became an assistant professor at Ryazan Radiotechnological University that year. He earned his PhD in plasma physics from Moscow State University (Lomonosov) in 1968. He then worked at the State Institute of Electro-Physical Apparatus in Leningrad on relativistic electron beams, electron optics, and accelerator physics. In 1972 he became group leader for gas discharges with radio waves at Lomonosov University. In 1980 he was dismissed for political reasons and worked in various auxiliary jobs, including as an elevator operator in a Moscow hospital.
Move to the United States: In 1984 he moved to the United States and worked as a scientist at GTE Corporation. After 1993, with changes at Osram, he was associated with Osram Sylvania.
Honors and awards: He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and IEEE. In 2004 he shared the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics with Noah Hershkowitz for contributions to the physics of low-temperature plasmas, including RF heating, sheath physics, diagnostic probes, and industrial plasma applications.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:53 (CET).