Editing Inertial electrostatic confinement (section)

===1950s===
[[File:Illustrations of various IEC concepts.png|thumbnail|This picture shows the anode/cathode design for different IEC concepts and experiments.]]

Three researchers at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|LANL]] including [[James L. Tuck|Jim Tuck]] first explored the idea, theoretically, in a 1959 paper.<ref name="Elmore">{{cite journal |last1=Elmore |first1=William C. |last2=Tuck |first2=James L. |last3=Watson |first3=Kenneth M. |title=On the Inertial-Electrostatic Confinement of a Plasma |journal=Physics of Fluids |publisher=AIP Publishing |volume=2 |issue=3 |year=1959 |issn=0031-9171 |page=239 |bibcode=1959PhFl....2..239E |doi=10.1063/1.1705917}}</ref> The idea had been proposed by a colleague.<ref>W. H. Wells, Bendix Aviation Corporation (private communication, 1954)</ref> The concept was to capture electrons inside a positive cage. The electrons would accelerate the ions to fusion conditions.

Other concepts were being developed which would later merge into the IEC field. These include the publication of the [[Lawson criterion]] by [[John D. Lawson (scientist)|John D. Lawson]] in 1957 in England.<ref>"Some Criteria for a Power Producing Thermonuclear Reactor" J D Lawson, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Berks, 2 November 1956</ref> This puts on minimum criteria on power plant designs which do fusion using hot [[Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution|Maxwellian]] plasma clouds. Also, work exploring how electrons behave inside the [[biconic cusp]], done by [[Harold Grad]] group at the [[Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences|Courant Institute]] in 1957.<ref>Grad, H. Theory of Cusped Geometries, I. General Survey, NYO-7969, Inst. Math. Sci., N.Y.U., December 1, 1957</ref><ref>Berkowitz, J., Theory of Cusped Geometries, II. Particle Losses, NYO-2530, Inst. Math. Sci., N.Y.U., January 6, 1959.</ref> A biconic cusp is a device with two alike magnetic poles facing one another (i.e. north-north). Electrons and ions can be trapped between these.