Between 104and 1069Be+ions are trapped in a Penning trap. The ions are laser‐cooled to ∼millikelvin temperatures, where they form ion crystals. This system is an example of a strongly coupled one‐component plasma. By means of Doppler laser spectroscopy we have measured the temperature and heating rate of the plasma. Initially the heating rate is low, 60 ± 40 mK/s, but after about 100 ms the plasma heats up rapidly to a few kelvin. The onset of the rapid heating coincides with the solid‐liquid phase transition. © 2003 American Institute of Physics