Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of television, was doing fusion in the late sixties.
Since that time, we've developed extremely powerful lasers, higher-temperature superconductors, and incredibly powerful rare-earth magnets.
Is any laboratory anywhere trying to put all of these elements together, or all they all pursuing their own pizza the pie?
Well, someone once said everything
that rises must converge. So there’s that.
... and of course Researchers who would rather chase unicorns and pet theories than actually produce a result to keep their coffers full of government tax monies...