About this item
Publishers WeeklyFor the past 60 years, the development of controlled atomic fusion has been the holy grail for physicists and alternative-energy advocates. Clery, a theoretical physicist and European news editor of Science magazine, introduces readers to the problems inherent in this quest and to the international group of scientists who doggedly pursue it. Following WWII and the advent of the atomic bomb (which was based on fission), British, American, and Soviet scientists began investigating the possibility of fusion as a means to build more powerful weapons. Amazingly enough, in 1958at the height of the Cold Warthe U.K. and the U.S. completely declassified their fusion research, thereby enabling physicists from around the world to collaborate.
About the Author
Daniel Clery has a long pedigree in science journalism, having worked as a news writer and editor for magazines such as Physics World, New Scientist and Science since 1986. The son of media parents (journalist father and TV producer mother) , Clery's childhood was split between Toronto, Canada, and rural Essex in the U.K., leading to an accent that seems to come from somewhere west of Rockall. Clery went on to study theoretical physics at the University of York. He now splits his time between being a European news editor for Science and freelance writing for magazines including Physics World, Popular Science, Cosmos, and The European. Much of his writing centres around the "big machines" of science--fusion reactors, giant telescopes, particle accelerators--and the things that scientists can do with them. Clery's first book, A Piece of the Sun, was published in June 2013.
