Thank you, Talk-Polywell
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 3:07 pm
I've been mostly lurking here at Talk-Polywell for nearly 15 years. I'm a chemical engineer, a geek, and - until I retired a couple of months ago - an engineering software developer for over 40 years. I love this forum. It is the best place for keeping an eye on the progress toward fusion. The physics is mostly over my head but you guys "splain it" to me.
I check in periodically to see what's new. The fact that traffic here is low is actually an advantage for folks like me. The forum functions like a headline service for fusion research and commercialization. It's exciting to see how progress in tech (computers, electronics, magnets, materials) has enabled rapid fusion progress in recent years. I'm delighted to see capital investment pouring in now to supplement government research money, which has for too long been very narrowly focused on one approach.
Fusion has historically been a field that requires great patience, it seems. My brother-in-law Tom studied nuclear fusion in the 1970s at MIT. Dr. David Rose was his advisor. But Tom became so discouraged about the likelihood of success during his working career that he changed his research topic to novel coal technologies! (The Carter administration funded coal research in response to the Oil Crisis of the 1970s.)
Now I periodically ping Tom with links to articles I find referenced here about the renaissance of fusion research and the accelerating commercial push toward actual fusion power plants. It turns out he was right, though. Fusion power never did happen during his working career. He retired a couple of years ago after a long career in the conventional power industry. But it's a different world now!
Thanks to all of you for giving me a window into the world of fusion.
I check in periodically to see what's new. The fact that traffic here is low is actually an advantage for folks like me. The forum functions like a headline service for fusion research and commercialization. It's exciting to see how progress in tech (computers, electronics, magnets, materials) has enabled rapid fusion progress in recent years. I'm delighted to see capital investment pouring in now to supplement government research money, which has for too long been very narrowly focused on one approach.
Fusion has historically been a field that requires great patience, it seems. My brother-in-law Tom studied nuclear fusion in the 1970s at MIT. Dr. David Rose was his advisor. But Tom became so discouraged about the likelihood of success during his working career that he changed his research topic to novel coal technologies! (The Carter administration funded coal research in response to the Oil Crisis of the 1970s.)
Now I periodically ping Tom with links to articles I find referenced here about the renaissance of fusion research and the accelerating commercial push toward actual fusion power plants. It turns out he was right, though. Fusion power never did happen during his working career. He retired a couple of years ago after a long career in the conventional power industry. But it's a different world now!
Thanks to all of you for giving me a window into the world of fusion.
). Learned a lot from that. Unfortunately a lot of people left in the "dark years". Missing all of them.