J. A. Bittencourt

Jose Augusto Bittencourt (born June 08, 1947, in Araguari, Minas Gerais, Brazil) is a physicist who for more than 40 years has been actively researching Plasma Physics, Space Science, and Aeronomy. More recently, in the past 15 years, he has also done extensive research on Nutritional Biochemistry. He received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), USA, in 1975. Since then he has been a Research Scientist and graduate-level Professor at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) at Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo (state), Brazil and has served many scientific organizations. He is also graduated (B. Sc.) in Chemical Engineering (1970) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and received a Master of Sciences (M. Sc.) degree in Space Science from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in 1972. His research interests include basic and applied plasma physics, ionospheric and magnetospheric plasmas, upper atmosphere physics, aeronomy, plasma dynamic processes, and computer simulation of plasma phenomena both in the laboratory and in space. He has published more than 200 papers and scientific articles in well-known international research journals such as Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Science), Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Planetary and Space Sciences, Advances in Space Research, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Applied Physics Letters, and Geophysical Journal International Annales Geophysicae. He is also author of the book Fundamentals of Plasma Physics (704p., Third Edition, 2004, Hardcover; 2010, Paperback) published by Springer (USA). Since 1975 he has taught graduate-level courses at INPE on plasma physics, electrodynamics, propagation of electromagnetic waves, thermodynamics, kinetic theory, quantum mechanics, ionospheric physics, and dynamics of the upper atmosphere. He has been also a graduate-level Conference Professor on plasma physics at the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA) at Sao Jose dos Campos (Brazil) and, since 2004, a research collaborator at the University of Paraiba Valley (UNIVAP), also at Sao Jose dos Campos. At INPE he was Head of the graduate courses on Space Science and on Plasma Physics, and also Head of the Aeronomy Department. He has been also an official member of the Commission H (Waves in Plasmas) of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) and Associate Editor of the Brazilian Journal of Geophysics, in the field of Aeronomy. Since 1989 he is a Research Fellowship member of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil. An especial interest has been dedicated to the study of Nutritional Science and the biochemical effects of the many nutrients in the human body, and he published two books on this subject.