Energy research for physicists

DEC 01, 1976

Problems in fluid dynamics alone illustrate the challenge for physics in the development of such resources as solar and geothermal.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3024636

George T. Reynolds

The shortage of energy resources is both an urgent national problem and a challenging research field for physicists. The challenge lies not only in the technical problems to be solved but also in the need to interrelate the technical solutions with economic, political and environmental factors. The physicist may have to adapt in several ways to this new interdisciplinary atmosphere. However, many have already made the transition successfully, either in short‐term advisory roles or as permanent members of energy‐studies teams. The extensive shopping list of energy problems to which a physicist can contribute include conservation, coal technology, fission and fusion. Suffice it here to discuss interesting aspects of wind, solar and geothermal energy as only three examples and to illustrate ways in which just one branch of physics—fluid dynamics—can contribute.

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More about the authors

George T. Reynolds, Professor of Physics, Princeton and a member of the University's Center for Environmental Studies.