Clifford M. Surko

Dr. Clifford M. Surko passed away on Saturday December 7, 2024, after a brief illness.  He was 83.

Cliff was a Distinguished Professor of Physics at UCSD, where he led the positron group.  A winner of the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics in 2014, he made diverse contributions to the fields of plasma physics, atomic physics, nonlinear dynamics and solid state physics. Probably best known for his work studying waves and turbulence in tokamak plasmas, and later for a buffer gas positron trap invented to study antimatter in experiments worldwide, Cliff was still active in research at the time of his death.

Cliff is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, retired scientist Pamela Surko, son Michael and Michael's wife Elsie, daughter Leslie and Leslie's husband Philip, and granddaughters Claire and Emma, as well as extended family in California, Texas, Ohio, and Croatia. 

A memorial service will be scheduled in 2025. Friends, students, and colleagues wanting to receive an announcement of the memorial should send an email to [email protected].

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