Lewi Tonks (13.12.1897-1971) was an American physicist. He was born in New York. He graduated from Columbia College (1917), and in 1923 he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Columbia University. From 1926 he worked at the General Electric laboratories.
His research concerned plasma physics and the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion, mathematical physics, nuclear engineering and quantum electronics. His work of 1929 with I. Langmuir on plasma oscillations and the general theory of plasma laid the foundation of modern plasma physics. Independently of W. Bennett he predicted (1938) the pinch effect.