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mathematical abilities paired with penetrating intuition, while he was a geophysicist to begin with. (Please refer to details about him and his work in the book* that was published in his memory after his passing in 2014.) Norman had exerted his mathematical prowess to help establish the well-known solid state physics method of “density functional theory” (or so-called KKR theory, based on the three authors’ initials; Professor Walter Kohn, one of the K’s, was awarded a Nobel Prize for such achievements) before Norman turned to foundational plasma theory in late 1950’s and after the declassification of fusion. After I got to know him, I observed him coping with being sometimes very alone with his ideas yet full of courage and expousing characteristic straight talks (just as when he told me 1973). He was able to withstand this lonely battle because of his strong mental power and outstanding humor. He was able to sustain his philosophy and scientific integrity despite them differing considerably from those of his surroundings. For the longest time, federal support was not forthcoming even with his fame. Finally, in 1998, he gave up on raising federal funds, but turned to start up TAE with purely private means.
Because of the nature of private funding, one cannot get complacent or act leisurely. “After we specialize in one thing and get famously established in that one field, only then we shall start”. In fact one has to soulsearch and start a new methodology distinct from what is based on the state and pace of federally funded research. Let me epitomize these in my own words.
1. We state “fail fast”, rather than trying to specialize in a narrow expert area
in order to prolong our research. This is also the catch-phrase in the Slicon Valley for companies such as Google. That is, start from the riskiest and most uncertain subject. This is because if the present research fails in addressing the highest risk problem, we would not waste any further funds. Rather than the academic “publish or perish”, literally “time is money”. An operation based on these tenets works strenuously and innovatively as if
there is no tomorrow. If we clear the first gate with the highest risk, we go on to the
subject with the next highest risk. During Professor Rostoker’s long and illustrious career he graduated some 40-50 students, many of whom served as “guinea pigs” evaluating many such subjects (see the book*). After these trial-and-error processes, Norman arrived at the union of two concepts – accelerators and a magnetically confined plasma configuration, a magnetic “field reversed configuration (FRC)”. (For more details on FRCs, refer to Chap.1. (Asai) and Chap. 3. (Gota)). Because the FRC has a magnetic null and its magnetic fields are weak, it is weakly confined and fragile at the beginning of formation, just like a human
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