Editing Stellarator (section)

=== Matterhorn ===
While working at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] in 1950, [[John Archibald Wheeler|John Wheeler]] suggested setting up a secret research lab at [[Princeton University]] that would carry on theoretical work on [[H-bomb]]s after he returned to the university in 1951. Spitzer was invited to join this program, given his previous research in interstellar plasmas.{{sfn|Bromberg|1982|p=14}}

But by the time of his trip to Aspen, Spitzer had lost interest in bomb design, and upon his return, he turned his attention full-time to fusion as a power source.{{sfn|Herman|1990|p=21}} Over the next few months, Spitzer produced a series of reports outlining the conceptual basis for the stellarator, as well as potential problems. The series is notable for its depth; it not only included a detailed analysis of the mathematics of the plasma and stability but also outlined a number of additional problems like heating the plasma and dealing with impurities.{{sfn|Stix|1998}}

With this work in hand, Spitzer began to lobby the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC) for funding to develop the system.{{sfn|Stix|1998}} He outlined a plan involving three stages. The first would see the construction of a Model A, whose purpose was to demonstrate that a plasma could be created and that its confinement time was better than a [[torus]]. If the A model was successful, the B model would attempt to heat the plasma to fusion temperatures. This would be followed by a C model, which would attempt to actually create fusion reactions at a large scale.{{sfn|Bromberg|1982|p=21}} This entire series was expected to take about a decade.{{sfn|Herman|1990|p=23}}

Around the same time, [[James L. Tuck|Jim Tuck]] had been introduced to the pinch concept while working at [[Clarendon Laboratory]] at [[Oxford University]]. He was offered a job in the US and eventually ended up at Los Alamos, where he acquainted the other researchers with the concept. When he heard Spitzer was promoting the stellarator, he also travelled to Washington to propose building a pinch device. He considered Spitzer's plans "incredibly ambitious". Nevertheless, Spitzer was successful in gaining $50,000 in funding from the AEC, while Tuck received nothing.{{sfn|Bromberg|1982|p=21}}

The Princeton program was officially created on 1 July 1951. Spitzer, an avid mountain climber,{{efn|The American Alpine Club has an annual Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Climbing Award.}} proposed the name "[[Project Matterhorn]]" because he felt that "the work at hand seemed difficult, like the ascent of a mountain".<ref>{{cite book |title= Project Matterhorn: An Informal History |first=Earl |last=Tanner |publisher= Princeton University |date=1982 |page=36}}</ref> Two sections were initially set up, S Section working on the stellarator under Spitzer, and B Section working on bomb design under Wheeler. Matterhorn was set up at Princeton's new Forrestal Campus, a {{convert|825|acre}} plot of land the University purchased from the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research when Rockefeller relocated to [[Manhattan]].{{efn|Eventually becoming [[Rockefeller University]].}} The land was located about {{convert|3|miles}} from the main Princeton campus and already had sixteen laboratory buildings. Spitzer set up the top-secret S Section in a former rabbit hutch.{{sfn|Timeline}}

It was not long before the other labs began agitating for their own funding. Tuck had managed to arrange some funding for his [[Perhapsatron]] through some discretionary budgets at LANL, but other teams at LANL, [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory|Berkeley]] and [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory|Oak Ridge]] (ORNL) also presented their ideas. The AEC eventually organized a new department for all of these projects, becoming "Project Sherwood".{{sfn|Bishop|1958}}