Sun in a Bottle:
The Strange History of Fusion
and the Science of Wishful Thinking
by Charles Seife
That book, “Sun In A Bottle”, does not seem to cover this technology called electrostatic confinement fusion.
That’s surprising, considering that polywells are based on the electronic tube engineering of Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of electronic television. Mister Farnsworth, a prolific inventor, and a genius of the first rank, was achieving fusion in a bottle in the late 1950s.
The Farnsworth Fusor was limited by its standard vacuum tube electronic grid. Fusion works better when no physical objects intrude into the fusion space.
Dr. Robert Bussard’s leap consisted of replacing the physical electronic grid with a magnetic one, a Magrid.
Had this research been funded and supported at the levels used for Tokamac style magnetic confinement, we might possible have been enjoying the fruits of fusion energy already.
Fortunately, this particular cat is no longer in confinement, and it seems ready to show that it is more than only half alive!
Been there, done that, read the book!
Guy “really” doubts traditional big-physics fusion will work.
