Don’t Tell These Students That Fusion Is “Impossible”

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The Braniac's version of "Friday Night LIghts"

I just love stories likes this:

Thanks to Carl
Greninger and a partnership with Federal Way Public Schools, a select
group of students are given the privilege of performing scientific
experiments with Greninger's fully functional IEC-9000 nuclear fusion
reactor.

Greninger works as the IT operations program manager for
Microsoft by day and moonlights as a nuclear physics and science teacher
by night. The chance to work with the students who gather at his house
every Friday night is one Greninger relishes.

"I love it. I am totally about this. These are the best of
the best, and there isn't a bozo in the bunch," he said. "They are top
flight kids."

And they realize what a unique and valuable experience they're getting:

Auburn Riverside student Kayla Schuh says working with
Greninger's reactor and the related facilities is much more fun than
what her school would have her doing in science class.

"It's nice, because in school we don't get to do anything
fun," she said. "And here, we get to. Here we get to do actual science,
and in school, it's reading a book with awful pictures."

If fusion is ever going to be "figured out" – if it's ever going to live up to its promise of clean, safe, and abundant energy – then it's kids like these who are going to figure it out. 

Thanks to the ready accessibilty of the Fusor – and gentlemen like Carl Greninger – these kids are growing up in a world where fusion is not only possible but within reach. 

You just never know when inspiration will strike in an environment like that.

 

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