Supervisor: Hans Otto Uldall Fynbo

No discussion of fusion reactors and fusion research can avoid mentioning the ITER. However, the ITER is not yet finished, while a 12-year old from Tennessee manages to achieve fusion in his playroom.

In this colloquium, I will present the device (a fusor) and its operating mechanisms, offering some calculations to estimate its viability and cross-section of fusion. From here, I will discuss the growing hobby of “fusioneers”; creating and optimizing fusors to produce fusion, with special focus on Jackson Oswalt, Bernhard Lind Schistad and Richard Hull and the website fusor.net. From here, fusor.net’s process for verifying fusion from data will be shown and demonstrated. This will lead into a broader discourse about citizen science. If there is time, there will also be a consideration of alternative fusor designs that may be markedly more efficient.