Editing Tokamak (section)

=== Richter and the birth of fusion research ===
[[File:Ronald Richter y Perón.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Ronald Richter (left) with [[Juan Domingo Perón]] (right). Richter's claims sparked off fusion research around the world.]]

On 25 March 1951, Argentine President [[Juan Perón]] announced that a former German scientist, [[Ronald Richter]], had succeeded in producing fusion at a laboratory scale as part of what is now known as the [[Huemul Project]]. Scientists around the world were excited by the announcement, but soon concluded it was not true; simple calculations showed that his experimental setup could not produce enough energy to heat the fusion fuel to the needed temperatures.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Arnoux |title='Proyecto Huemul': the prank that started it all |url=https://www.iter.org/newsline/196/930 |website=iter |date=26 October 2011}}</ref>

Although dismissed by nuclear researchers, the widespread news coverage meant politicians were suddenly aware of, and receptive to, fusion research. In the UK, Thomson was suddenly granted considerable funding. Over the next months, two projects based on the pinch system were up and running.{{sfn|Bromberg|1982|p=75}} In the US, [[Lyman Spitzer]] read the Huemul story, realized it was false, and set about designing a machine that would work.{{sfn|Bromberg|1982|p=14}} In May he was awarded $50,000 to begin research on his [[stellarator]] concept.{{sfn|Bromberg|1982|p=21}} Jim Tuck had returned to the UK briefly and saw Thomson's pinch machines. When he returned to Los Alamos he also received $50,000 directly from the Los Alamos budget.{{sfn|Bromberg|1982|p=25}}

Similar events occurred in the [[Soviet Union|USSR]]. In mid-April, Dmitri Efremov of the Scientific Research Institute of Electrophysical Apparatus stormed into Kurchatov's study with a magazine containing a story about Richter's work, demanding to know why they were beaten by the Argentines. [[Igor Kurchatov|Kurchatov]] immediately contacted Beria with a proposal to set up a separate fusion research laboratory with [[Lev Artsimovich]] as director. Only days later, on 5 May, the proposal had been signed by [[Joseph Stalin]].{{sfn|Shafranov|2001|p=839}}