Matthew and Michael Phillis are related.
The quest to harness fusion, the energy that powers the sun and stars, has been going on for decades.
Net energy gain is how much energy was produced in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it.
The advancement of national defense and the future of clean power will be made easier by the achievement.
"This is a landmark achievement for the researchers and staff at the National Ignition Facility who have devoted their careers to seeing fusion ignition become a reality, and this milestone will undoubtedly spark even more discovery," Granholm said. She said that the fusion breakthrough would be in the history books.
The fusion ignition was called an engineering marvel by the White House science adviser.
Proponents of fusion hope that it will one day be able to produce carbon-free energy. It is decades away from being possible to produce energy from fusion. Researchers said it was a step in the right direction.
"It's almost like it's the beginning of something," said Professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security should be a priority for us.
Net energy gain is hard to achieve because fusion happens at high temperatures and pressures.
It is possible to release enormous amounts of energy and heat when hydrogen atoms are pressed into each other. It doesn't produce radioactive waste.
Billions of dollars and decades of work have gone into fusion research that has produced exciting results for a short time. The National Ignition Facility used 192 lasers and temperatures hotter than the center of the sun to make a fusion reaction.
A small metal can is being focused by the lasers. The result is a very hot environment.
An announcement that net energy had been gained in a fusion reaction would be significant according to Professor Betti. He said there is a long way to go before sustainable electricity is generated.
He said that the breakthrough was similar to when humans first learned how to make an explosion.
Betti said that you don't have the engine and the tires. You cannot say you have a car.
The total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project was not applied to the net energy gain achievement. It will need more power to be viable.
The physics of stars are hard to control. It has been difficult to get to this point because the fuel has to be hotter than the sun's center. The fuel wants to leak out and be cold. He said thatContaining it is an amazing challenge.
According to Jeremy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London, the California lab's net energy gain isn't a big deal because of the progress it has already made.
He said that the fact that this is a significant milestone does not detract from it.
It takes a lot of money and time to advance fusion research. One way to turn hydrogen into a gas is to use humongous magnets to control it. This method is being explored in France as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company.
Last year, the teams working on those projects in two continents announced significant improvements in the magnets used for their work.
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