May 27 1973
From The Space Library
Secrecy surrounding the possible use of lasers to produce nuclear fusion for energy was criticized by Univ. of California atomic scientist Dr. Edward H. Teller in a New York Times article: "Right now, the most hopeful model for a future fusion reactor, the Tokamak, has a Russian origin and a Russian name. If the energy problem should be solved in this promising manner, we shall certainly owe a debt of gratitude to our colleagues in the Soviet Union. Why not similarly open up the possibilities with the laser?" The subject had engaged the attention of world scientists and had been discussed openly at a Montreal conference in 1972; "in considerable part, however, the work had been carried on in secrecy." (NYT, 5/27/73)
Mikhail D. Millionshchikov, Vice President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and a principal spokesman in Soviet scientific contacts with the West, died in Moscow at age 60. He had contributed significantly to the studies of the turbulent flow of liquids and gases, nuclear energy, and new techniques for direct energy conversion. On April 28, 1970, Academician Millionshchikov-as head of a 10-man Soviet delegation to a conference sponsored in Washington, D.C., by the Fund for Peace had suggested U.S.-U.S.S.R. cooperation in space exploration. This proposal had been "the first public suggestion by a Soviet spokesman of this hope," the New York Times reported later. Apollo 8 Astronaut Frank Borman, also a conference participant, had proposed the next day that the two countries agree to exchange space engineers as a first step toward joint space cooperation. (NYT, 5/29/73, 32)
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