Robert W. Bussard

Born August 11, 1928 in Washington DC and died on October 6, 2007 in Santa Fe, NM; Robert W. Bussard was a well known physicist, particularly to science fiction fans. In his memory, here are some of the articles that he wrote or was interviewed.

• "Physicist Known for Pursuits into Fusion Energy," by Anne Constable, The Santa Fe New Mexican, November 4, 2007
• "Robert Bussard Interview," by K.C. Cole, Omni Magazine, January 1981
• "A Starship is Born," by Robert W. Bussard, Science Digest, May 1983
• "A Novel Approach to Nuclear Fusion," by Niles Howard, Duns Business Month, November 1983
• Chapter 7 (The Entrepreneurs) from "The Man-Made Sun — The Quest for Fusion Power," by Thomas A. Heppenheimer, 1984
• Excerpt from "Fusion: The Search for Endless Energy," by Robin Herman, 1990, Cambridge University Press, pg. 193-196
• "Life in the Galaxy," by Robert W. Bussard, Far Frontiers, Volume II, April 1985
• "The Nuclear Energy Solution (Light Element Fusion)," by Robert W. Bussard, Financial World, June 24, 1986
• "Letter to Congress," by Robert Bussard, June 6, 1995
• "Robert W. Bussard's Last Interview," by Tim Ventura, transcript by Mark Duncan, December 8, 2007

In his last interview, Robert Bussard made reference to the following article as to why non-tokamak fusion research finds it difficult to attract funding.

• "The Trouble with Fusion," by Lawrence M. Lidsky, MIT Technology Review, October 1983, pp 32-44.
• "Fusion Research With a Future," by Robert Hirsch, Gerald Kulcinski, and Ramy Shanny, Issues in Science and Technology, Summery 1997 (Robert Bussard has a letter to the editor at the end of the article)
• "Fusion Energy: the Agony, the Ecstasy and Alternatives," by John Perkins, Physics World, November 1997

Reference is made in the Science Digest article, "A Starship is Born." to the following article. In it, the Bussard Interstellar ramjet is discussed in more detail.

• "A Program for Interstellar Exploration," by Robert L. Forward, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Volume 29, pp. 611-632, 1976. (Reformatted and updated with color illustrations, December 2007)
• "Galactic Matter and Interstellar Flight," By Robert W. Bussard, Astronautica Acta, Volume 6, Fasc. 4.

A retrospective of nuclear fusion progress from 1950 to 1982 with emphasis on work at Princeton University.

• “Recreating the Power of the Sun,” by Jeremy Bernstein, New York Times, January 3, 1982