Francesco Sciortino

Francesco Sciortino leads Proxima Fusion, which develops quasi-isodynamic stellarators as a route to fusion energy. Before co-founding the company, he researched tokamak physics at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and completed a PhD at MIT focused on particle transport and spectroscopy in tokamaks; his work later shifted toward stellarator design and commercialization.

Career

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Based in: Munich

Proxima Fusion

Apr 2023 — Present

Co-Founder & CEO

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

Oct 2021 — Feb 2023

Postdoctoral Researcher

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

Jun 2018 — Aug 2018

Research Assistant

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

Jul 2015 — Sep 2015

Graduate Research Assistant

Imperial College London

Jun 2014 — Sep 2014

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

PhD

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Imperial College London

Master's studies in physics

International Baccalaureate

Products & media

proximafusion.com

My Shift from Tokamaks to Stellarators

Sciortino explains how his research background in tokamaks shaped his move toward stellarators and outlines the differences between the two approaches to magnetic confinement.

Writing