A SCIENTIST who worked for more than 40 years in Oxfordshire on the theory necessary to produce the first nuclear fusion power station has died.

Chris Lashmore-Davies died suddenly from a heart attack, aged 72.

Dr Lashmore-Davies’s manager, Dr Jack Connor, said he spent most of his research career at the UKAEA’s Culham Laboratory, near Abingdon.

He made major contributions in several areas of plasma research, and when Culham was seeking to diversify in the early 1990s, he was able to apply his work to problems concerning microwaves and plasma-processing for industry.

Much of this proved important during the development at Culham of experimental nuclear fusion reactors such as JET, which could help to solve the world’s looming energy crisis.

The International Tokamak Experimental Reactor, being built at Cadarache in France, is largely based on information gained from the operation of JET.

It is being funded by seven international partners — the EU, US, Russia, Japan, China, South Korea and India.

Dr Lashmore-Davies was born in Sale, Cheshire, in 1937 and later moved to Evesham, where his father had been appointed town clerk.

After grammar school, he went on to study at University College, London, obtaining a PhD in 1965.

After working briefly for Standard Telecommunications, he joined Culham Laboratory as a research associate in 1966.

During his career as a theoretical plasma physicist, Dr Lashmore-Davies came to be regarded internationally as an expert in the field of plasma waves.

He was an honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and was still lecturing at Bristol University until his death.

Dr Lashmore-Davies is survived by his wife Mary and sons Adrian, Gerard, Julian and Ben.