Skip to main content

A pandemic story, or, what I learned working with nuclear fusion

As promised, here's a post on the story of my time at IPPLM - the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, where I worked for the last almost-three-years. Past tense, because since September I've successfully found remote work as a Python software developer at a large pharmaceutical company. Speaking of... I don't think I can say as much as I'd hoped about the projects we're working on, but, suffice to say, I think they have some real potential for helping people with neurodegenerative diseases. So I'm still trying to tackle one of the Large Problems, just... another one, and more so from a backend/support angle.

While writing this, I realized that this story was also deeply intertwined with the story of the global COVID-19 pandemic, because that turned the whole situation on its head. I thought about separating the two, but decided instead to embrace it and tell it whole rather than in pieces. So, beware, this is going to get long. To alleviate that, I've broken it up more than usual and have placed the major takeaways in specifically formatted sections throughout.

With that disclaimer in place... onto the story!

Read more…

Fusion 1/4: Nuclear power as of 2021

Hi! In the new year, as promised, you'll see more actual science discussions on this page. I have - I think, for the first time since I started writing here - a plan for the next four posts. The first will discuss nuclear power and its place in the world. The second will tell you a little about its most interesting future alternative - fusion power. Next up, we'll discuss its history a little and where I predict it'll head in the near future; and in the fourth, I'll try to discuss a little about what we're actually doing with it in terms of research work. I can't wait to get to the fourth part, so that should be at least motivating. Let's get to it!

Read more…