Francis Thio

The U.S. AEC's classified controlled-fusion program begins at LANL and partner labs.

Greek engineer starts E-layer field reversal concept. Earliest compact torus conception. Presented at 1958 Geneva.

The Air Force and NASA engage in Project ORION, a classified effort to develop external nuclear pulse propulsion using fission-driven pulse units. The program involved prominent physicists and enginee

The Astron experiment established the field-reversed configuration geometry that prefigured modern FRC research.

H.A.B. Bodin publishes a paper in Nuclear Fusion describing 'reversed field loops' within a theta-pinch, providing physical evidence of the FRC state.

Project ORION is terminated primarily for political reasons, ending early research into external pulsed plasma propulsion despite promising technical results.

T.S. Green and A.A. Newton propose that magnetic flux is lost via rapid convection at the radial Alfvén speed, a foundational theory for FRC formation.

Early declassified work on magnetized plasma shields for aerospace vehicles.

Experiments at LANL discover that Field-Reversed Configurations (FRCs) are significantly more stable than predicted by MHD theory.

16-year project ends without achieving field reversal. Compact torus concept disperses to spheromak and FRC research.