Recorded at the Institute of Physics in London, this is a  discussion with Professor Dennis Whyte, the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering at MIT, a professor in the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the Director of the MIT Plasma Science & Fusion Center.

He’s the winner of numerous accolades, including in 2018 the Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award which is given annually to individuals who have shown outstanding leadership qualities in accelerating the development of fusion.

This leadership extends to heading up the fusion project SPARC, a compact, high-field, fusion energy device, in collaboration with MIT-born private fusion startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

The day before this interview I was lucky enough to listen to him speak at FUSION22, which took place at the Science Museum in London. It was incredibly exciting to learn more about the extraordinary strides that are being made towards a reality of commercial fusion energy.

It’s a really dynamic field and I hope you enjoy the conversation.

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Chapters:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:31 Reasons to be a future employee

00:04:10 'The research bug' and finding your motivation

00:07:18 What is nuclear fusion and how are we trying to harness it for energy?

00:10:47 The SPARC project and extraordinary successes

00:17:20 Remaining challenges for young people to get excited about

00:22:10 Collaboration in fusion

00:27:13 Politics and development hurdles

00:29:35 Leadership

00:31:58 Advice for an 18 year old self