Saturday, June 19, 2004
When I was 6 or so, my parents' largesse was such that they bought me a complete set of an illustrated science encyclopedia for children. My Korean back then was about as good as my current degenerate command of the language, but it was written for children, so I hungrily read through the dozen or so volumes on biology, chemistry, physics. Over the years, I've forgotten rather completely what was contained in those thick (to my littleboi hands, anyway) dull-yellow books. The one article that I do remember, however, was concerned with a particular type of nuclear power... and I remember it contained a tantalizing phrase that went something like this: "if controlled nuclear fusion is accomplished, it will eliminate all of our energy problems".
So I find it ironic that after all this time, I am actually working this summer as an intern at the largest plasma physics laboratory in the US. Not that working on fusion research has been the foremost thing on my mind since I was 6... in fact, over the past few years at college, I had become too caught up with everyday concerns to think much about things like alternate energy sources. And of course, there are much more significant experiments in plasma and fusion physics going on at even bigger labs in Japan and Europe. But still, it's very exiting to be here at PPPL and learn about projects such as TFTR and NSTX, from the scientists that are heading the experiments. It's refreshing for me to be back in an academic sort of environment after a semester off from college. But more significantly, I think, I have a chance this summer to study something interesting, and to think about something other than myself for a while.
So I find it ironic that after all this time, I am actually working this summer as an intern at the largest plasma physics laboratory in the US. Not that working on fusion research has been the foremost thing on my mind since I was 6... in fact, over the past few years at college, I had become too caught up with everyday concerns to think much about things like alternate energy sources. And of course, there are much more significant experiments in plasma and fusion physics going on at even bigger labs in Japan and Europe. But still, it's very exiting to be here at PPPL and learn about projects such as TFTR and NSTX, from the scientists that are heading the experiments. It's refreshing for me to be back in an academic sort of environment after a semester off from college. But more significantly, I think, I have a chance this summer to study something interesting, and to think about something other than myself for a while.
