Dynamic methods in nonideal plasma physics: The beginning

This review is dedicated to the scientific research carried out by Academician V.E. Fortov at the Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPCP RAS) in Chernogolovka, where in $1971$ he began his work after defending his candidate's dissertation. Here, Fortov studies the generation, physical properties, and gas dynamics of nonideal low-temperature plasma. Intensive experimental and theoretical studies of the compressibility, electrical conductivity, and optical properties of such a medium are published in a number of central journals, such as Physics–Uspekhi, Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Doklady Akademii Nauk, and High Temperature. In $1977$, Fortov defended his doctoral dissertation “Investigation of Nonideal Plasma by Dynamic Methods.” After the defense, his research on nonideal plasma and processes under the effect of powerful shock waves expanded significantly. Experiments were carried out on the explosive generation of neutrons and the reflective properties of powerful shock waves, and the processes of converting explosion energy into electromagnetic energy were studied by him. Particular attention was paid to the processes of metallization of hydrogen and inert gases, and a plasma phase transition in deuterium was discovered by him. This review attempts to briefly summarize Fortov's studies on nonideal plasma generated by an explosion and demonstrate the logic of their occurrence.