By Lev Artsimovich, June 1, 1970
Cover of June 1970 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
In the beginning it appeared that the technology of controlled fusion should arise quite naturally and develop from very simple and transparent ideas of physics. After the sparkling, but also sad, success in the creation of atomic and hydrogen weapons no one, it seems, could doubt the technological omnipotence of physical thinking. Nonetheless, about 20 years have passed since the first experiments and, for the present, at best only half the distance to the final goal has been travelled — An essay by L.A. Artsimovich, a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Lenin Prize.
>Read more: Controlled nuclear fusion: Energy for the distant future
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