Nicholas Christofilos (1917-24.09.1972) was an American physicist. He was born in Boston. He studied at the National Technical University in Athens (Greece). In 1953 — 56 he worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory and from 1956 at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Livermore.
His research concerned the physics and technology of accelerators, the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion and applied questions. He invented (1946) an accelerator of the synchrotron type. In 1950 he put forward the principle of strong focusing. He contributed to the development of proton linear accelerators and of collective-effect accelerators. In particular, he put forward the idea of using a compressor with a static magnetic field to compress electron rings in collective-effect accelerators. He invented the Astron device for confining hot plasma.