When weapons builders detonated the first hydrogen bomb in 1952, they
tapped into the biggest source of energy in our solar system - the
phenomenon that makes the sun shine. Nuclear fusion seems a virtually
unlimited source of power, but it has been at the center of a tragic and
comic pursuit that has left scores of scientists battered and disgraced.
Like the eternal quest to build a perpetual motion machine, the dream of
harnessing the energy of a miniature star is irresistible. Not only
would a fusion energy device give the world endless electrical power, it
would give power to its inventors - financial power, the power of fame,
even military might. Right now the world's richest countries are
spending billions of dollars trying to build a giant fusion reactor. Yet
if history is any guide, the money will not bring the dream of fusion
energy within reach. Indeed, the quest for fusion energy has been a
failure, generation after generation. Fusion is at the heart of some of
the biggest scientific scandals of all time, and Charles Seife traces
its story from its beginning into the twenty-first century. Even after
fusion scientists face defeat after defeat, they continue trying to put
the sun in a bottle, hoping against hope that they will succeed where
others have failed. The science of wishful thinking is as strong as
ever, and this book is our key to understanding why.
