Jeremy Bernstein

Hans Bethe

Prophet of Energy

Stefano Zorzi

U NTIL he advent of nuclear fission a few decades ago, all the energy sources that the human race made use of could ultimately be traced back to the sun. Coal, oil, gas, wood-the things we burn--are things that once grew or still grow, and the fuel of growth is sunlight. Today, we make a small amount of our electricity by directly converting the radiant energy of the sun, and in the next century a sizable fraction of it may be made that way. Most of the rest of our electricity production can be traced back indirectly to the effects of solar energy. In view of this fact, it is remarkable that few of us know what solar energy is and how it is produced. The lack of specific knowledge about this and all sorts of other matters is part- and a very important part-of what vexes our present col- lective thinking about energy. What makes the sun shine?

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