Plasma and fusion have had a lot of money put into them, and NIF is the first big success. This on top of the push for alternative energy to fossil fuels. I give it a 50% chance it will get the prize. Like it or not the Nobel prizes can also be partially political.
The bigger question is if it does win, will be good for LLNL and NNSA in general in terms of more money and more science?
"NIF" cannot get a Nobel Prize. The "science" prizes (i.e., not the Peace Prize) can only be awarded to actual people. Those people must still be alive (at least at the time they were nominated), and only three people can receive the award for the same accomplishment. NIF's "successful" shots were the result of the efforts of hundreds (if not more) people.
If the *concept* of ICF is up for receiving a Nobel, then the unclassified literature would have it going to the authors of the 1972 Nature paper with lead author John Nuckolls, who would go on to become Director of LLNL: NUCKOLLS, J., WOOD, L., THIESSEN, A. et al. Laser Compression of Matter to Super-High Densities: Thermonuclear (CTR) Applications. Nature 239, 139–142 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/239139a0
There were four authors of this unclassified paper, but Thiessen passed away last December, so potentially the remaining 3 authors could be nominated. The problem is that there was classified work with not necessarily the same authorship that really set out the necessary physics. I'm not sure how the Nobel Committee could deal with that.
3 comments:
Why on earth would NIF get a Nobel Prize? Must we endure this phony posturing another couple of decades before we move on?
Plasma and fusion have had a lot of money put into them, and NIF is the first big success. This on top of the push for alternative energy to fossil fuels. I give it a 50% chance it will get the prize. Like it or not the Nobel prizes can also be partially political.
The bigger question is if it does win, will be good for LLNL and NNSA in general in terms of more money and more science?
"NIF" cannot get a Nobel Prize. The "science" prizes (i.e., not the Peace Prize) can only be awarded to actual people. Those people must still be alive (at least at the time they were nominated), and only three people can receive the award for the same accomplishment. NIF's "successful" shots were the result of the efforts of hundreds (if not more) people.
If the *concept* of ICF is up for receiving a Nobel, then the unclassified literature would have it going to the authors of the 1972 Nature paper with lead author John Nuckolls, who would go on to become Director of LLNL: NUCKOLLS, J., WOOD, L., THIESSEN, A. et al. Laser Compression of Matter to Super-High Densities: Thermonuclear (CTR) Applications. Nature 239, 139–142 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/239139a0
There were four authors of this unclassified paper, but Thiessen passed away last December, so potentially the remaining 3 authors could be nominated. The problem is that there was classified work with not necessarily the same authorship that really set out the necessary physics. I'm not sure how the Nobel Committee could deal with that.
Post a Comment