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The history of nuclear fusion began early in the 20th century as an inquiry into how stars powered themselves and expanded to incorporate a broad inquiry into the nature of matter and energy, as potential applications expanded to include warfare, energy production and rocket propulsion.
- Overview
- History of fusion energy research
The fusion process has been studied in order to understand nuclear matter and forces, to learn more about the nuclear physics of stellar objects, and to develop thermonuclear weapons. During the late 1940s and early ’50s, research programs in the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union began to yield a better understanding of nuclear fusion, and investigators embarked on ways of exploiting the process for practical energy production. Fusion reactor research focused primarily on using magnetic fields and electromagnetic forces to contain the extremely hot plasmas needed for thermonuclear fusion.
Researchers soon found, however, that it is exceedingly difficult to contain plasmas at fusion reaction temperatures because the hot gases tend to expand and escape from the enclosing magnetic structure. Plasma physics theory in the 1950s was incapable of describing the behaviour of the plasmas in many of the early magnetic confinement systems.
The undeniable potential benefits of practical fusion energy led to an increasing call for international cooperation. American, British, and Soviet fusion programs were strictly classified until 1958, when most of their research programs were made public at the Second Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, sponsored by the United Nations. Since that time, fusion research has been characterized by international collaboration. In addition, scientists have also continued to study and measure fusion reactions between the lighter elements so as to arrive at a more accurate determination of reaction rates. The formulas developed by nuclear physicists for predicting the rate of fusion energy generation have been adopted by astrophysicists to derive new information about the structure and evolution of stars.
Work on the other major approach to fusion energy, inertial confinement fusion (ICF), was begun in the early 1960s. The initial idea was proposed in 1961, only a year after the reported invention of the laser, in a then-classified proposal to employ large pulses of laser energy (which no one then quite knew how to achieve) to implode and shock-heat matter to temperatures at which nuclear fusion would proceed vigorously. Aspects of inertial confinement fusion were declassified in the 1970s and, especially, in the early 1990s to reveal important aspects of the design of the targets containing fusion fuels. Very painstaking and sophisticated work to design and develop short-pulse, high-power lasers and suitable millimetre-sized targets continues, and significant progress has been made.
The fusion process has been studied in order to understand nuclear matter and forces, to learn more about the nuclear physics of stellar objects, and to develop thermonuclear weapons. During the late 1940s and early ’50s, research programs in the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union began to yield a better understanding of nuclear fusion, and investigators embarked on ways of exploiting the process for practical energy production. Fusion reactor research focused primarily on using magnetic fields and electromagnetic forces to contain the extremely hot plasmas needed for thermonuclear fusion.
Researchers soon found, however, that it is exceedingly difficult to contain plasmas at fusion reaction temperatures because the hot gases tend to expand and escape from the enclosing magnetic structure. Plasma physics theory in the 1950s was incapable of describing the behaviour of the plasmas in many of the early magnetic confinement systems.
The undeniable potential benefits of practical fusion energy led to an increasing call for international cooperation. American, British, and Soviet fusion programs were strictly classified until 1958, when most of their research programs were made public at the Second Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, sponsored by the United Nations. Since that time, fusion research has been characterized by international collaboration. In addition, scientists have also continued to study and measure fusion reactions between the lighter elements so as to arrive at a more accurate determination of reaction rates. The formulas developed by nuclear physicists for predicting the rate of fusion energy generation have been adopted by astrophysicists to derive new information about the structure and evolution of stars.
Work on the other major approach to fusion energy, inertial confinement fusion (ICF), was begun in the early 1960s. The initial idea was proposed in 1961, only a year after the reported invention of the laser, in a then-classified proposal to employ large pulses of laser energy (which no one then quite knew how to achieve) to implode and shock-heat matter to temperatures at which nuclear fusion would proceed vigorously. Aspects of inertial confinement fusion were declassified in the 1970s and, especially, in the early 1990s to reveal important aspects of the design of the targets containing fusion fuels. Very painstaking and sophisticated work to design and develop short-pulse, high-power lasers and suitable millimetre-sized targets continues, and significant progress has been made.
History of Fusion. Credit © ITER Organization. Fusion is the most dominant reaction in our observable universe and it is the reaction that powers our Sun and the stars. However, the science and physics of nuclear fusion started becoming clear only in the 1920s when British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington suggested that stars draw their energy ...
May 12, 2024 · The vast energy potential of nuclear fusion was first exploited in thermonuclear weapons, or hydrogen bombs, which were developed in the decade immediately following World War II. For a detailed history of this development, see nuclear weapon.
Self-sustaining nuclear fusion was first carried out on 1 November 1952, in the Ivy Mike hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb test. While fusion was achieved in the operation of the hydrogen bomb (H-bomb), the reaction must be controlled and sustained in order for it to be a useful energy source.
Aug 3, 2023 · Learn what nuclear fusion is, how it powers the sun and stars, and why it could be a clean and abundant energy source for the future. Find out the latest developments, challenges and role of the IAEA in fusion research and technology.
Jun 11, 2020 · At the Second United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy held in Geneva, Switzerland, more than 60 years ago in September 1958, controlled nuclear fusion research was...
