There is standing joke among physicists that fusion power is the energy source of the future and always will be. Fifty years ago, the energy crises of the 1970s spurred demand for the technology, and scientists and engineers working in the field were optimistic about the scientific feasibility of generating electricity through fusion. In the 1990s, a device at Princeton University’s Plasma Physics Laboratory, and one in the United Kingdom demonstrated that fusion power could be generated for short periods of time, at least on a laboratory scale. But in the nearly 30 years since then, there has been little progress toward realizing a practical fusion power plant. Nevertheless, several dozen start-up companies in the United States and Europe are now investing more than $8 billion of private funds to try to build  a working fusion power plant. Fred Dylla, who spent 15 years working on fusion research, will recount the history of this technology and discuss the prospects for these new investments.

Fred Dylla is co-organizer and co-moderator of the Lewes Public Library’s “Science and Society” lecture series. He has three degrees in physics from MIT. He spent 15 years as a research scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, followed by 16 years as the Chief Technology Officer at the Department of Energy’s Jefferson Lab in Newport News, VA, and finished his formal (paid) career as the Executive Director of the American Institute of Physics in College Park, MD, from 2007-2015. Fred now spends his time creating and teaching the art of woodcut prints as well as writing and lecturing about the history of science and art.

The library's “Science and Society - Making Sense of the World Around Us” lecture series is co-organized and moderated by Fred Dylla, Executive Director Emeritus of the American Institute of Physics and author of Scientific Journeys, Linda Dylla, former public information officer at the Jefferson Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy, and Colin Norman, the former News Editor at Science.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email the library.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for all our sessions. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.