When weapons builders detonated the first hydrogen bomb in 1952, they tapped into the biggest source of energy in our solar system a " the phenomenon that makes the sun shine. Nuclear fusion seems a virtually unlimited source of power, but it has been at the center of a tragic and comic pursuit that has left scores of scientists battered and disgraced. Like the eternal quest to build a perpetual motion machine, the dream of harnessing the energy of a miniature star is irresistible. Not only would a fusion energy device give the world endless electrical power, it would give power to its inventors a " financial power, the power of fame, even military might. Right now the worlda (TM)s richest countries are spending billions of dollars trying to build a giant fusion reactor. Yet if history is any guide, the money will not bring the dream of fusion energy within reach. Indeed, the quest for fusion energy has been a failure, generation after generation. Fusion is at the heart of some of the biggest scientific scandals of all time, and Charles Seife traces its story from its beginning into the twenty-first century. Even after fusion scientists face defeat after defeat, they continue trying to put the sun in a bottle, hoping against hope that they will succeed where others have failed. The science of wishful thinking is as strong as ever, and this book is our key to understanding why.

查爾斯·塞費，齣版瞭4本個人著作，其中包括《瓶中的太陽》和《零》，後者是首部榮獲美國馬爾塔·阿爾布朗文學奬的非小說類文學作品，也是《紐約時報》推薦圖書。他的個人作品經常見於《科學》、《紐約時報》、《新科學傢》、《科學美國人》、《經濟學傢》和《連綫》等報刊雜誌上。他生活在紐約，現任紐約大學新聞學教授。