Rent Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking

Synopsis

When weapon builders detonated the first hydrogen bomb in 1952, they tapped into the vastest source of energy in our solar system—the very same phenomenon that makes the sun shine. Nuclear fusion was a virtually unlimited source of power that became the center of a tragic and comic quest that has left scores of scientists battered and disgraced. For the past half century, governments and research teams have tried to bottle the sun with lasers, magnets, sound waves, particle beams, and chunks of metal and have struggled to harness the power of fusion. (The latest venture, a giant, multibillion-dollar international fusion project called ITER, is just now getting under way.) Again and again, they have failed, disgracing generations of scientists.

Throughout this fascinating journey Charles Seife introduces us to the daring geniuses, villains and victims of fusion science: the brilliant and tortured Andrei Sakharov; the monomaniacal and Strangelovean Edward Teller; Ronald Richter, the secretive physicist whose lies embarrassed an entire country; and Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, the two chemists behind one of the greatest scientific fiascoes of the past hundred years. Sun in a Bottle is the first audiobook to trace the story of fusion from its beginnings into the twenty-first century, of how scientists have gotten burned by trying to harness the power of the sun.

Praise for Seife's Zero and Alpha & Omega
"Written with clarity and infectious enthusiasm that are rare in science writing...Zero is really something." — The Washington Post
"A primer on the history and state of cosmology that is easy to read and understand…Alpha & Omega shines." — The New York Times Book Review

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