This textbook provides a modern and accessible introduction to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). It describes the two main applications of plasma physics, laboratory research on thermo-nuclear fusion energy and plasma astrophysics of the solar system, stars and accretion disks, from the single viewpoint of MHD. This approach provides effective methods and insights for the interpretation of plasma phenomena on virtually all scales, from the laboratory to the universe. It equips the reader with the necessary tools to understand the complexities of plasma dynamics in extended magnetic structures. The classical MHD model is developed in detail without omitting steps in the derivations and problems are included at the end of each chapter. This text is ideal for senior-level undergraduate and graduate courses in plasma physics and astrophysics.

‘Goedbloed and Poedt have written a unique and outstanding volume on theoretical magnetohydrodynamics … The reader is carefully and clearly guided on a mathematical journey through the essential arguments, which serves as a concise road map across the vast territory of mathematical plasma kinetics … Volume 1 - the present volume - is an outstanding contribution to the subject of MHD theory and its applications. Supplemented with the implied Volume 11, it might well become the definitive treatise on the subject.’

Gene Parker Source: Journal of Fluid Mechanics

'… an engaging text … The authors present many examples to good effect, and derive results efficiently and clearly from fundamental relationships. Units (mksA) are, blessedly, explicit. The authors' clarity inspires eagerness to dig into derivations and examples … Goedbloed and Poedts have thoughtfully asterisked those sections that are optional for a first course in MHD …'

Source: American Journal of Physics