Talk:Robert W. Bussard

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More information

Two semi-articles worth using as information for further article development: http://www.randi.org/forumlive/showpost.php?s=e665007961e36e93001813d66ec9a4ea&p=1722023

http://www.fusor.net/board/view.php?site=fusor&bn=fusor_announce&key=1143684406

Note to self:

Toroid 3 	5,174,945 	Full-Text 	Controlled thermonuclear fusion power apparatus and method
Fusor  4 	5,160,695 	Full-Text 	Method and apparatus for creating and controlling nuclear fusion reactions
Toroid 5 	5,049,350 	Full-Text 	Controlled thermonuclear fusion power apparatus and method
Toroid 6 	5,019,321 	Full-Text 	Modular fusion power apparatus using disposable core
Toroid 7 	4,859,399 	Full-Text 	Modular fusion power apparatus using disposable core
Toroid 8 	4,836,972 	Full-Text 	Controlled thermonuclear fusion device and method

- Omegatron 03:04, May 12, 2005 (UTC)

Broken Link

The link to "The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor: How To Make It Work" does not appear to work anymore. Does anyone have a new source for this document? James A. Stewart 00:15, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

fixed. an alternative is: http://www.tu-bs.de:8080/~y0001095/Fusion.0a Kevin Baas^talk 20:28, 19 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The only one I have officially approved is the updated version posted in "the newbie center" of fusor.net. I bear no grudge against the others, considering the importance of that article in getting the amateur fusor movement started, but it is copyrighted material. Tom Ligon Tomligon 21:00, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

http://fusor.net/newbie/files/Ligon-QED-IE.pdf

new-ish video

2006-11-09 video of Bussard discussing the design of the reactor in detail and going into some history

Interstellar gas

"most interstellar hydrogen exists in an ionized state"

Doesn't that mean "protons"? If so, shouldn't it be called "interstellar plasma"? — Omegatron 22:22, 21 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, ionized means positively or negatively charged MOLECUlES. An ion is a molecule that does not containt equal numbers of electrons and protons. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 134.10.121.63 (talk) 22:18, 4 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

More information

This article could be expanded a lot.

PhD thesis: Energy principle for the stability of hydromagnetic plasmas in equilibrium motion, 125 pp 1961 http://w3.pppl.gov/gradprogram/Misc/Thesis-59.html — Omegatron 18:00, 25 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

From personal conversations with him, I believe R. W. Bussard did the original proposal (at about age 24!) for and initiated Project Rover, and was the primary designer on Kiwi-A. The Rover program led to the NERVA program. There is a Wiki on these already. A reference to Bussard, R. W., and R. D. DeLauer. Nuclear Rocket Propulsion, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1958 would be in order, and I believe they also wrote a second book on the topic.

He also had a hand in developing the cargo plane gunships used in Vietnam, often called "Puff the Magic Dragon." He told me that he was involved in the preliminary design, realized the guns produced too much thrust to fire forward, and changed the design to fire out the side, which is still done on the AC-130.

I believe he also had a hand in surveillance satellites and night vision development.

He evidently started very young with his interest in rockets and space, and this has been a driving motivation all of his life.

Sorry, I can't provide firm citations. Tom Ligon Tomligon 03:25, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We have some information about these projects, but not a lot:

References would be good. — Omegatron 04:19, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Outstanding Technology of the Year Award - 2006

Apparently Dr. Bussard's Inertial-Electrodynamic Fusion (IEF) Device has won the International Academy of Science's 2006 Outstanding Technology of the Year award. I think this should be mentioned somewhere... The question is, where? In this article or another? / Hiddekel 15:54, 4 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Polywell? — Omegatron 15:55, 4 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I did a bit of homework on this award. It turns out the award was from the Missouri organization claiming to be the International Academy of Science, not the real distinguished international organization. As such, I don't think it is appropriate to give the fly-by-night group more publicity by linking to them. Nor is the award particularly an honor for Dr. Bussard, unfortunately. - trey@cmu.edu.

Removed ref

User:JzG removed the following

http://www.rexresearch.com/farnsworth/fusor.htm#ligon

inrelation to:

In an article entitled "The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor: How To Make It Work" in the December 12, 1998

J. D. Redding 23:05, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Link for donations

Link is a little strange and doesn't provide much information. Site is apparently registered to Bussard, though.

If this really works, why can't he convince something real to fund it? — Omegatron 17:16, 22 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since when does every feasible, realistic idea receive funding? There are many ways to spend money, donating it is generally not high on people's list.

False Alarm

The report that the Navy had resumed funding was a false alarm[1] . —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jabowery (talk • contribs) 16:46, 23 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]