Richard Freeman Post ( born 14.11. 1918) - American physicist, member of the National Academy of Sciences. Born in Pomona (California), where he graduated from college (1940). In 1947 — 51 he worked at Stanford University, in 1942 — 46 at the Naval Research Laboratory, in 1951 —74 head of a group, from 1974 deputy director of the Livermore Laboratory and from 1963 professor at the University of California.
His research concerned electron physics, accelerator technology and plasma physics. One of the pioneers in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion. His main work was connected with the development and construction of open-type thermonuclear systems — the so-called magnetic mirror traps, or plugs (Budker–Post traps). He proposed using neutral beams of fast particles to inject energy into a plasma, and developed the technique of high-current beams. For heating a plasma he proposed the method of adiabatic compression. In 1965 — 66, with M. Rosenbluth, he predicted the drift-cone instability of a plasma and constructed its theory.
J. Maxwell Prize (1978) and others.