John Bryan Taylor (born 26 December 1928)[1][2] is a British physicist known for his contributions to plasma physics and their application in the field of fusion energy. Notable among these is the development of the "Taylor state", describing a minimum-energy configuration that conserves magnetic helicity.[3][4] Another development was his work on the ballooning transformation, which describes the motion of plasma in toroidal (donut) configurations, which are used in the fusion field.[5][6] Taylor has also made contributions to the theory of the Earth's Dynamo, including the Taylor constraint.[7]
^Hay, Jennifer (26 January 2009). "Eighty years young". ITER. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
^Hart, G. W.; Janos, A.; Meyerhofer, D. D.; Yamada, M. (1986). "Verification of the Taylor (minimum energy) state in a spheromak". The Physics of Fluids. 29 (6): 1994–1997. Bibcode:1986PhFl...29.1994H. doi:10.1063/1.865627. ISSN0031-9171.