Bringing the stars down to Earth: Fusion technology for the future Prof. Roddy Vann, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology
Event details
School of Physics, Engineering and Technology Winter Webinar Series
Trying to recreate the energy source of the stars, nuclear fusion, on earth presents huge challenges in physics and engineering. The benefits of nuclear fusion if successful are an almost limitless, clean energy source. There are many challenges associated with keeping matter that is ten times hotter than the centre of the Sun trapped inside a reactor without touching it! This talk is the story of how, in the absence of a lab the size of a star, we are attempting to make fusion into an energy source for the future.
About the speaker
Professor Roddy Vann began life as a mathematician at Cambridge University before pursuing a PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of Warwick. In 2003, he was awarded a three-year Fellowship in Theoretical Physics, after which he moved to York to commence a lectureship. Roddy's principal research goal is to make electricity from nuclear fusion – the process that powers the Sun but which we have not yet successfully harnessed on Earth - and he is now a leading figure in the York Plasma Institute and acts as the academic director for a cross-institutional doctoral training programme in this area.