A Princeton Plasma Physicist Goes To Trenton

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey physicist who teaches undergraduates and high-schoolers about re-creating the conditions at the center of the sun at a Princeton laboratory will be taking a seat in the state Legislature in 2016.

Plasma physicist Andrew Zwicker heads the science education department at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He will be heading to the Assembly as a Democratic member when the Legislature begins a new session in January.

He's the first physicist in the legislature in New Jersey history dating back to 1920.

Zwicker won a tight election against an incumbent Republican rival in a seat that includes Princeton and parts of Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset counties.

His victory is part of an expanding Assembly Democratic majority, which is growing by four seats to 52.