Editing Timeline of nuclear fusion (section)

==1960s==
* '''1960'''
** After considering the concept for some time, [[John Nuckolls]] publishes the concept of [[inertial confinement fusion]]. The [[laser]], introduced the same year, appears to be a suitable "driver".
* '''1961'''
** The [[Soviet Union]] test the [[Tsar Bomba]] (50&nbsp;megatons), the most powerful [[thermonuclear weapon]] ever.
* '''1964'''
** Plasma temperatures of approximately 40 million degrees Celsius and a few billion deuteron-deuteron fusion reactions per discharge were achieved at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|LANL]] with the [[Scylla IV]] device.<ref>[https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/00285870.pdf In 1964 plasma temperatures of approximately 40 million degrees...were achieved with the Scylla IV], Winter/Spring 1983 LOS ALAMOS SCIENCE.</ref>
* '''1965'''
** At an international meeting at the UK's new fusion research centre in Culham, the Soviets release early results showing greatly improved performance in toroidal pinch machines. The announcement is met by scepticism, especially by the UK team who's ZETA was largely identical. Spitzer, chairing the meeting, essentially dismisses it out of hand.
** At the same meeting, odd results from the ZETA machine are published. It will be years before the significance of these results are realized.
** By the end of the meeting, it is clear that most fusion efforts have stalled. All of the major designs, including the [[stellarator]], pinch machines and [[magnetic mirror]]s are all losing plasma at rates that are simply too high to be useful in a reactor setting. Less-known designs like the [[levitron (fusion reactor)|levitron]] and [[Astron (fusion reactor)|astron]] are faring no better.
** The 12-beam "4 pi laser" using ruby as the lasing medium is developed at [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] (LLNL) includes a gas-filled target chamber of about 20 centimeters in diameter.
* '''1967'''
** Demonstration of [[Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor]] appeared to generate neutrons in a nuclear reaction.
** [[Hans Bethe]] wins the 1967 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for his publication on how fusion powers the stars in work of 1939.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hans Bethe|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1967/bethe-bio.html|website=Hans Bethe - Biographical|publisher=Nobel Prize.org|access-date=11 March 2016}}</ref>
* '''1968'''
** [[Robert L. Hirsch]] is hired by [[Amasa Bishop]] of the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] as staff physicist. Hirsch would eventually end up running the fusion program during the 1970s.
** Further results from the T-3 [[tokamak]], similar to the toroidal pinch machine mentioned in 1965, claims temperatures to be over an order of magnitude higher than any other device. The Western scientists remain highly sceptical.
** The Soviets invite a UK team from ZETA to perform independent measurements on T-3.
* '''1969'''
** The UK team, nicknamed "The Culham Five", confirm the Soviet results early in the year. They publish their results in October's edition of ''Nature''. This leads to a "veritable stampede" of tokamak construction around the world.
** After learning of the Culham Five's results in August, a furious debate breaks out in the US establishment over whether or not to build a tokamak. After initially pooh-poohing the concept, the Princeton group eventually decides to convert their stellarator to a tokamak.
** The [[Kurchatov Institute]] detects neutrons from deuterium plasma in their T-3A tokamak, marking '''the first fusion in a tokamak device'''.<ref name="d569">{{cite journal |last=Artsimovich |first=L. A. |last2=Anashin |first2=A. M. |last3=Gorbunov |first3=E. P. |last4=Ivanov |first4=D. P. |last5=Petrov |first5=M. P. |last6=Strelkov |first6=V. S. |date=1972 |title=Investigation of Plasma Neutron Radiation from the Tokamak T-3A Installation |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1972JETP...34..306A/abstract |journal=Soviet Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics |volume=34 |page= |issn=1063-7761 |access-date=2024-11-06}}</ref>