Nuclear Fusion
30 Oct, 2014
530 Physics
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars. In the 1920s physicists predicted that it might be possible to generate huge amounts of energy by fusing atomic nuclei together, a reaction requiring enormous temperatures and pressures. Today we know that this complex reaction is what keeps the Sun shining. Scientists have achieved fusion in the laboratory and in nuclear weapons; today it is seen as a likely future source of limitless and clean energy.
Guests
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Philippa Browning No other episodes
Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester -
Steve Cowley No other episodes
Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority - Justin Wark
3 episodes
Professor of Physics and fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford
Reading list
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Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion
Jean Louis Bobin (World Scientific, 2014) Google Books → -
An Indispensable Truth: How Fusion Power Can Save The Planet
Francis F. Chen (Springer, 2011) Google Books → -
Nuclear Power: A Very Short Introduction
Maxwell Irvine (Oxford University Press, 2011) Google Books → -
Stars: A Very Short Introduction
Andrew King (Oxford University Press, 2012) Google Books → -
Fusion: The Energy of the Universe
Garry McCracken and Peter Stott (Academic Press, 2005) Google Books →
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Programme ID: b04mgtdq
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mgtdq
Auto-category: 530.4 (Nuclear physics)
Hello (First sentence from this episode)
Hello, we'll be talking about nuclear fusion.