Direct Conversion of Energy

In the 1950s and 60s, a generation of scientists believed they stood at the threshold of an energy revolution. This book captures that extraordinary moment when nuclear power seemed poised to transform not just how we generated electricity, but how we reached for the stars. William R. Corliss surveys the frontier of direct energy conversion technologies as they existed in mid-century: thermoelectric generators, thermionic converters, magnetohydrodynamic systems, and the ambitious nuclear-based designs being developed for both terrestrial and extraterrestrial applications. The book explains the underlying physics with clarity, examining how heat could be transformed directly into electricity without the intermediate mechanical steps of traditional power plants. Particular attention falls on the aerospace applications that drove so much of this research, as scientists and engineers envisioned nuclear-powered satellites, lunar bases, and probes to the outer planets. What gives this volume its peculiar power today is its historical position. We can see which predictions proved prescient and which remained science fiction. It is essential reading for anyone curious about the technological dreams of the space age and the scientific foundations that still underlie modern energy research.