Ivan Vargas-Blanco

Costa Rican physicist specializing in plasma physics and nuclear fusion. He is a Professor and Principal Investigator at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC), where he leads the Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications, which he founded in 2011. He serves on the IAEA’s International Fusion Research Council (IFRC) and served on the International Programme Committee of the IAEA Fusion Energy Conference in 2018, 2020, and 2023. Vargas-Blanco led the design, construction, and commissioning of the Stellarator of Costa Rica 1 (SCR-1) and is leading the implementation of the MEDUSA-CR spherical tokamak (Madison EDUcation Small Aspect Ratio tokamak – Costa Rica). On 30 November 2016, the Government of Costa Rica honored him with the Clodomiro Picado Twight National Technology Award.