This was one of my favorite moments in ‘Oppenheimer’ In this scene, the physicist Isidor Rabi (portrayed by David Krumholz) tells Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) why he will not be coming to Los Alamos to work on the Manhattan Project. “When you drop a bomb,” Rabi says, “It falls on the just and the unjust. I […]
300 Years of Physics Read More »
Introducing: the Excalibur Fusion Fund Now that we’ve got a tax exempt (501c3) non-profit organization it’s time to expand the scope. As I have written and discussed often, I got sucked into the Farnsworth story almost entirely because of this riddle: How do you bottle a star? Yes, I am endlessly fascinated by the origins
What’s A Measly Hundred Million? Read More »
Have you seen “Oppenheimer” yet? I saw it last week. There is an erudite discussion of the film here at the Waterstar sister site, Fusor.net, which includes my personal review of the film. Other fusor.net regulars add some interesting insight into the development of nuclear weapons and their aftermath. I also posted some thoughts about what
Oppenheimer, Einstein – and Farnsworth Read More »
Cut to the chase: Follow this link to Chapter 20: Tranquility Base at Medium.com * On Tuesday, July 16, 2019, the world will begin commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, that improbable mission that culminated four days later with Neil Armstrong’s historic “giant leap for mankind.” In recent weeks, there have already been recollections
Apollo 11 +50:
Please Remember This Man, Too Read More »
If you happen to turn on a TeeVee today… hell, if you look at a video screen (actually, you’re looking at a video screen NOW) … tip a nod toward Philo T. Farnsworth, who delivered electronic video to the planet 90 years ago today…
It Was 90 Years Ago Today… Read More »
I dunno, maybe because most of the money seems to get siphoned off for the biggest, most cumbersome, complex, and costly (the 3-Cs of most fusion research) schemes and machines money can buy (and the bloated scientific staffs that build them) to solve what is essentially a simple challenge? Why Nuclear Fusion Is Always 30 Years
Why Nuclear Fusion Is Always 30 Years Away Read More »
Here’s a great example of what one motivated individual can do to inspire the next generation of Fusioneers. Carl Greninger is an IT executive at Microsoft who became frustrated a few years ago with the limitations placed on science education in the public schools in his home town of Federal Way, WA. It started with
Fusion in the Northwest Read More »
No, not really mad… just Richard Hull turning down the lights in his lab while demonstrating his Fusor IV today at HEAS – the High Energy Amateur Science confab at his home and lab in Richmond, Virginia. More photos and stories when I get home….
Isn’t this the outfit that got a whole lot of press last year when they got some funding from one of Silicon Valley’s start-up incubators? “What Helion is trying to achieve is to shoot two plasma balls made of hydrogen atom cores at each other at one million miles per hour to collide within an
Yeah, That’s Sure To Work… Read More »
I really do need to keep better track of my daily Google Alerts. Unfortunately, I’ve become somewhat immune to them. The fusion alerts, in particular, are usually about the ITER or the NIF or some giant government funded fusion boondoggle. They show up in my inbox everyday, and I mostly ignore them. So I missed
Letterman Gets Fused Read More »
