Editing Timeline of nuclear fusion (section)

==1930s==
* '''1932'''
** [[Ernest Rutherford]]'s [[Cavendish Laboratory]] at [[Cambridge University]] begins nuclear experiments with a [[particle accelerator]] built by [[John Cockcroft]] and [[Ernest Walton]].<ref name=invent>{{cite web |website=Iter |url=https://www.iter.org/mag/3/29 |title=Who "invented" fusion? |first=Robert |last=Arnoux |date=May 2014}}</ref>
** In April, Walton produces the first man-made [[nuclear disintegration]] by using [[proton]]s from the accelerator to split [[lithium]] into [[alpha particle]]s. They discover the intermediary creation of the extremely short-lived [[beryllium-8]] isotope. '''This could be considered the first artificial fusion'''.<ref name=invent/>
* '''1934'''
** Using an updated version of the equipment firing deuterium rather than hydrogen, [[Mark Oliphant]] discovered [[helium-3]] and [[tritium]], and that heavy [[hydrogen]] nuclei could be made to react with each other. '''This is considered the first artificial fusion'''.<ref>{{cite web |date=4 February 2016 |title=Mark Oliphant |url=http://ethw.org/Mark_Oliphant |access-date=11 March 2016 |website=Mark Oliphant |publisher=ETHW}}</ref>
*'''1937'''
**[[George Gamow]] and [[Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker]] suggest [[Diproton|proton combination into deuterium]] may be the source of stellar energy.<ref>C.F. von Weizsäcker (1937) "Über Elementumwandlungen im Innern der Sterne. I" (On transformations of elements in the interiors of stars. I), ''Physikalische Zeitschrift'' (Physics Journal), vol. 38, pages 176–191.</ref>
* '''1938'''
** In March, [[Hans Bethe]] attends the [[Carnegie Institution for Science|Carnegie Institute]] and [[George Washington University]]'s fourth annual [[Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics]] on [[Edward Teller]]'s insistence. He works with [[Charles Critchfield]] to derive stellar nuclear reactions beyond the proton combination into deuterium. They publish two reactions based on the incorrect assumption tritium is more stable, and four reactions based on the correct assumption helium-3 is more stable, thereby discovering the [[proton–proton chain]].<ref name="y843">{{cite journal |last=Bethe |first=H. A. |last2=Critchfield |first2=C. L. |date=1938-08-15 |title=The Formation of Deuterons by Proton Combination |journal=Physical Review |publisher=American Physical Society (APS) |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=248–254 |doi=10.1103/physrev.54.248 |issn=0031-899X}}</ref>
** Kantrowitz and Jacobs of the [[NACA]] [[Langley Research Center]] built a toroidal [[magnetic bottle]] and heat the plasma with a 150&nbsp;W radio source. Hoping to heat the plasma to millions of degrees, the system fails and they are forced to abandon their [[Diffusion Inhibitor]].{{sfn|Dean|2013|p=3}} '''This is the first attempt to make a working fusion reactor'''.
* '''1939'''
** [[Peter Thonemann (physicist)|Peter Thonemann]] develops a detailed plan for a [[pinch (plasma physics)|pinch]] device, but is told to do other work for his thesis.{{sfn|Dean|2013|p=3}}
** [[Hans Bethe]] publishes the discovery of the [[CNO cycle|carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle]] in higher mass stars.<ref name="w895">{{cite journal |last=Bethe |first=H. A. |date=1939-03-01 |title=Energy Production in Stars |journal=Physical Review |volume=55 |issue=5 |pages=434–456 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.55.434 |issn=0031-899X |doi-access=free}}</ref> Along with the proton-proton chain, this work results in the 1967 [[Nobel Prize for Physics]].<ref>{{cite web |website=Nobel Prize |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1967/bethe/facts/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1967 Hans Bethe}}</ref>