ADITYA: Reflections on Building India’s First Tokamak

Fusion reactions make the stars shine and give the hydrogen bomb its terrible destructive power. Fusion research started in the 1950s when scientists realized that controlled thermonuclear fusion reactions in the laboratory would open a path to unlimited and safe nuclear energy. As a result, many countries began building fusion devices, magnetic bottles to keep the hot plasma confined. A type of magnetic bottle, called the Tokamak, invented by the Russians, successfully reached the extreme temperature and other conditions necessary for fusion.