Samuel Lazerson
Stellarator Physics Lead
Samtens, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolSamuel Lazerson is a stellarator physics lead with a decade of experience translating advanced plasma theory into engineering-ready fusion reactor designs, currently heading the physics effort at Gauss Fusion to deliver a European stellarator power plant by 2040. He combines deep computational expertise—MATLAB, Fortran, C/C++, HPC and bespoke codes like STELLOPT, BEAMS3D and ASCOT—with hands-on coil, divertor and heating system design to bridge physics and engineering toolchains. His career spans leading fusion labs (Max Planck, PPPL) where he produced first 3D equilibrium reconstructions for major devices and developed diagnostics for fast-ion losses. Samuel holds a PhD in Space Physics and a practical tinkerer’s background (automotive maintenance) plus an uncommon credential for a physicist: a commercial multi-engine light aircraft license. He is known for turning complex differential-equation–heavy simulation work into documented, production-grade code and validated design choices. Based in Samtens, Germany, he brings rare cross-disciplinary fluency between theory, high-performance simulation, and pragmatic engineering delivery.
10 years of coding experience
15 years of employment as a software developer
Ph. D., Space Physics, Ph. D., Space Physics at University of Alaska FairbanksBachelor of Science - BS, Engineering Physics, Bachelor of Science - BS, Engineering Physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
English, French, German
Github Skills (34)
code-optimization10
routines10
matlab10
orbital-mechanics10
octave10
fusion10
baduk10
optimization10
solver9
visualization9
reduction9
iterative9
pressure9
fuel8
plasma-physics8
Programming languages (4)
Github contributions (5)
PrincetonUniversity/STELLOPT
Mar 2017 - Jan 2023
This is the GitHub repository for STELLOPT, the state-of-the-art stellarator optimization code.
Contributions:2 releases, 94 reviews, 2676 commits in 5 years 11 months
artoptimizationstate-of-the-artbadukcode-optimization
lazersos/matlabVMEC
Jan 2018 - Jan 2023
Repository for matlabVMEC routines.
Contributions:1 release, 17 reviews, 340 commits in 5 years 1 month
matlabfusionreductionoctaveroutines
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