Long time followers of the forums on this website will recognize the name of Tom Ligon as one of the prime instigators of the whole, world-wide basement/garage (I hate the word "amateur") fusor project. It all began, really, when Tom -- who has worked with Dr. Robert Bussard -- wrote an article about the fusor for Analog magazine and then took up the topic with our own Richard Hull.
Tom has recently updated that seminal Analog article, "The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor" with a detailed recount of some of Dr. Bussard's contributions to the art as well as a round up of the work that is being done by the contributors to this website.
The article is now available online and can be downloaded as a .pdf file (from Mark Duncan's "askmar.com" website).
"Consider this a beta posting," Tom cautions, "as I have spotted a minor bug in one of the figures, which I will shortly point out to him."
Even with an outstanding correction, this paper is possibly the best single primer on the grassroots fusion movement that you'll find today.
Thanks, Tom.
Why hate the word "amateur"? Literally translated, it means "lover", and signifies one who works for the love of his subject, rather than for grubby commercial reasons.
Posted by: Anthony Webb | May 02, 2008 at 04:45 PM