A Big Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion

Danae Polsin '13 at the University of Rochester laser lab. (ºÚÁÏÍø/Matt Burkhartt)

Danae Polsin '13 (ºÚÁÏÍø/Matt Burkhartt)

Among physicists, there is an old joke that fusion is 50 years away — and always will be. 

That timeline may have shortened, though, thanks to a recent experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where scientists for the first time ignited a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than went into it. 

That breakthrough event ignited excitement in the world’s scientists as well. If humans can harness that power — the same power behind a universe of shining stars — then they may hold the key to clean, nearly limitless energy and arresting global climate change. 

Read the feature article in the .

Author

Robyn Rime
Senior Writer & Editor
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