Star Power

Life on Earth depends on the Sun — our star. The book describes the past 100 years of research to understand and build a model of a star — using the most creative and advanced technologies of the 20th and 21st centuries. Starting from a breakthrough in 1938 of our understanding of the nuclear fusion reactions that power the Sun and other stars, we have created explosions using the same nuclear physics that powers stars. Now, we are developing complex machines that use the same nuclear physics to reproduce the nuclear fusion reactions that power the Sun and the billions of other stars in the galaxies — to develop electric power.Nuclear laboratories around the world have built complex machines that produce solar nuclear fusion reactions for periods of seconds. This book describes the history of the first early attempts to build fusion reactors and how man has worked for decades to build a machine based on the nuclear reactions that power the stars.It also describes laboratories carrying out the research and the building of the machines designed to start and maintain the steady solar nuclear burning of hydrogen that powers the stars. It is a fascinating read of the history and the current state of international efforts to build star power.