Dr. George J. Marklin

Dr. George J. Marklin

George John Marklin, born January 19th, 1955 in West Mildford, NJ, passed away in Lake Forest Park, WA on August 2nd, 2022. He is survived by his siblings Mitch Marklin and Patricia Freeman, as well as his daughter Elizabeth Marklin.

George was born and raised in West Milford, NJ, the eldest child of George and Ella Marklin. He attended West Milford High school before receiving early acceptance to Stevens Institute of Technology where he earned his Bachelor’s in physics in 1977. He later earned his Doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1983 in plasma physics. Science and knowledge were always his first love. His earliest childhood hero, and the inspiration for his career in physics was Dr Elefun from the Astroboy cartoon. George dreamed of discovering a nearly limitless source of energy for humanity and thus devoted his career to plasma fusion.

In the words of one of his graduate students and colleagues from the University of Washington, “Dr. George Marklin contributed immensely to the field of plasma physics and fusion energy during his career while working at a multitude of prestigious research institutions including: Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Princeton University and the University of Washington in Seattle. As a distinguished theoretical and computational plasma physicist, George expanded humanity’s understanding of nature and continues to help accelerate the development of fusion energy with his pioneering work on magnetic confinement fusion. George’s many scientific publications and computer simulation codes will be used for decades to come as others build upon the foundations he created as a renowned member of the scientific community.”

As a monument to his legacy in the field of plasma physics, Derek Sutherland, the aforementioned grad student and colleague, is creating an archive of George’s papers, presentations, and notes at his company CTFusion Inc. Their work at this company is a continuation of the research George devoted his career to.

More than just a brilliant theoretical plasma physicist, George was also a devoted father and long time Objectivist. He discovered the works of Ayn Rand in college and embraced the philosophy of Objectivism. He read extensively on philosophy, science, and current events. He not only owned and read a vast quantity of Objectivist literature he also attended various Objectivist conferences, and founded, among others, the New Mexico Objectivist Club in the 1980’s.. He met his wife of 13 years at one such conference, and later in life enjoyed attending those conferences together with his daughter. He was a man of reason and morals. He held that, “Man’s life is the standard of morality, but your own life is its purpose. If existence on Earth is your goal, you must choose your actions and values by the standard of that which is proper to man – for the purpose of preserving, fulfilling, and enjoying the irreplaceable value which is your life.” He valued reason, science, liberty, and family.

During his retirement years, George stayed in the Seattle area to be close to his only child, Elizabeth, and enjoyed daddy-daughter dates shooting together at the gun range, followed by cleaning guns together over Thai food and science fiction tv. George loved to read and loved science fiction. From the day his daughter was born, George sought to imbue his daughter with his love of books, and of science by reading her classic science fiction novels every night until she was 13 and considered herself too old for such attention.

George was the quintessential quirky, eclectic scientist. When his daughter was born he attempted to find sheets for her crib with Maxwell’s equations (the physics version) on them and was dismayed and confused that such a thing did not exist. He purchased a flame thrower to use for clearing snow off his driveway.  When his Doctor told him he needed to drink more water, George wrote a formula for diluting his diet peach Snapple. George always had a unique approach to every situation and reveled in coming up with innovative solutions to problems. The memories and stories of his unique take on life will bring smiles to his friends and family for decades to come.