Dr. Bussard Passes Away, Polywell Fusion Continues

Vinz writes "Dr Bussard, the man behind the Bussard Collector and inventor of the Polywell fusion device, passed away last Sunday in the morning. He leaves behind him a legacy of EM fusion devices, and a team determined to continue his efforts. The news of funding extension for the construction of his WB-7 fusion devices made it to slashdot months ago (as well as his talk at google). They may be a serious candidate in the run to bring commercial fusion, and may work at lower scales than other projects. Let's hope the project continues in good shape despite his departure."

A remark captured my attention

[Anonymous Coward]

According to Bussard, "The funds were clearly needed for the more important War in Iraq." [7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell [wikipedia.org] Ouch. In terms of value for money, though, gambling our money away on a wild scientific flier would be a much better investment than starting the war in Iraq.

The other thing that caught my attention was Bussard's comment that they should go straight to full scale. He may or may not be right. Most people who have been around the block more than once would be sceptical though. When you are trying something new, there is almost always a gotcha or two.

Re:Electron losses

[illegalcortex]

Wow. Now that's a piece of technology that actually looks as cool or cooler as what the special effects teams rig up for any scifi pic.

Re:Aw, man...

[rickola]

I posted the following to the TrekBBS: "Dr. Robert W. Bussard has died. Star Trek tech fans will know the name, though perhaps not the man himself, from the matter scooping mechanism he proposed and which we finally named in his honor on The Next Generation's U.S.S. Enterprise. By all means check Google and Wikipedia for further information about his accomplishments and hopes for new energy and propulsion systems. I knew him for a time in the early 1980s, as I had written an article on interstellar travel for Science Digest magazine that included his concepts as well as those of Drs. Robert Forward and Robert Enzmann (the three "Bobs" of far future flight). As part of the scientific help Bob Bussard gave me for that article, he sat in my living room in Irvine, California, scribbling calculations for waste heat radiators on a new version of his ramjet ship, and it was a wonder to watch and listen. It was an honor to translate his doodles and numbers into finished art. He was generous with his time and knowledge, and while I hadn't talked to him for a few years, I will miss him." It seemed fairly obvious that folks like "Franz Joseph" Schnaubelt, who drew up the deck plans for the original series U.S.S. Enterprise, knew something of Bussard's ideas for the ramscoop, since the spinny red caps were labeled as "matter/energy sinks" or something very close to that (my copy of the plans is away in a box). I'm not certain that Matt Jefferies heard about the scoop at the time he sketched the ship out, but he might have. When it came time to do Star Trek: The Next Generation, we in the techy side of the art department decided to give a name to the hardware, and so it shall stick. Rick Sternbach

Re:Makes perfect sense to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Baby steps are for people who get their money from researching and will be looking for a new job once things are actually working. Big steps are for people who want to get to the finish line.

That's a lousy policy. If we gave money to everyone who claimed all they needed was 100 times as much money as they'd ever invested in a project before, we'd be spending several times the GDP of the world on perpetual motion trash.

Which is not to say I don't think the Polywell concept is worthy of further funding, but since it's public money, the group needs to demonstrate progressive successes to get progressively larger funding. He only had questionable evidence that fusion has occurred and he wanted $200 million to jump straight to build a plant big enough for net energy generation. He's where Tokamaks were in the 1960's.

And of course, that's with no data on operating a Polywell reactor at intermediate reaction rates, and therefore no data on how to deal with potential problems like heat transfer and effects on the magnets, fuel poisoning and supply, and materials suitable for sustained operation.

Regardless, it's disappointing to hear about his death. I wasn't following the project closely, but it still came as a surprise.