Sunday, November 29, 2015

Start-ups Take on Challenge of Nuclear Fusion

I read with interest Dino Grandoni's article in the New York Times. Being a physicist and interested for many decades in this subject I was not surprised to find yet another article on laser-fusion energy that fails to mention  the company KMS Fusion. This was a small startup founded in 1969 by physics professor Keeve Siegel for the sole purpose of developing controlled nuclear fusion for energy production. By 1974 it had achieved with an investment of about 10 million (not billion) dollars the production of fusion neutrons using their single laser and brilliant design. Their claim to have succeeded in the first step towards successful fusion energy was verified by the American Physical Society and other credible experts. By 1975 the company was essentially on life support and eventually closed, driven to an early death by the vicious jealousies of unsuccessful scientists working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and by government bureaucrats determined to keep private companies from researching nuclear energy. Incredibly professor Siegel died of a stroke at the podium while testifying before the Joint Congressional Committee on Nuclear Energy about the harassment his company had endured at the hands of the federal government. FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO this company had achieved on a shoestring what other labs are only now managing to duplicate despite the fortunes thrown at the problem over the intervening years. I always find it strangely reminiscent of the novel 1984 how successfully the history and achievements of this company have been erased from scientific awareness or mention. I met personally with Professor Siegel and was privileged at the time (1974) to tour his laboratory. There were no smarter people on earth than those working for him. 

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