As regular readers of these pages know, the subject of controlled nuclear fusion runs parallel to all this discussion of “antigravity” and free-energy research and non-conventional physics. In fact the pursuit of fusion formed the unifying arc of the my first book, The Boy Who Invented Television
And so it is with some sadness that we note the passing on December 15 of Gene Meeks, one of the true pioneers of fusion research, at the age of 76. Gene was Philo Farnsworth’s first assistant in fusion research, in Ft. Wayne Indiana in the late 1950s, and went on to conduct some very important experiments in the field in the 1960s. In fact, Gene shares patent rights (though long since expired) with Robert L. Hirsch to the Fusor variation that amateur experimenters around the world have been using to produce fusion in their basements and garages for the past decade.