Robert W. Bussard

Robert W. Bussard [ bʊsɑɹd ] (* August 11, 1928; † October 6, 2007 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) was an American physicist who worked on the research into nuclear fusion.

Use the buzzard - drive (English Bussard ramjet, ramjet = ramjet ) he designed in 1960 a hypothetical rocket propulsion for interstellar space flight, the interstellar hydrogen is to use for the operation of a fusion reactor, which in turn drives the spaceship.

Buzzard and his colleague Bruno Coppi founded the company International Nuclear Energy Systems Corporation ( Inesco ), whose goal is the development of small Tokamak fusion reactors was, who used a system based on research of the MIT method to ignite the reaction. Bob Guccione, founder and editor of men's magazine Penthouse, has invested several million dollars into the company. The attempt to bring the company in 1984 at the stock exchange, failed. The research program was taken over by the Department of Energy of the United States and continued by Princeton University under the name of TNX ( The Next Step).

Founded together with his wife Dolly H. Gray Buzzard 1987, the company Energy / Matter Conversation Corporation ( EMC ² ) with the aim of the use of electrostatic inertial confinement systems (English inertial electrostatic confinement IEC) to explore for achieving fusion reactions. The company is financed substantially by the U.S. Navy and received funds from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ).

In the science fiction series Star Trek starships have about Bussard collectors to collect hydrogen for the warp drive. These are named after Robert W. Bussard.