Stephen O Dean

Career

In 1966, Dean co-authored the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) Policy for Controlled Thermonuclear Research. In 1976, he led the preparation of the Fusion Power by Magnetic Confinement Program Plan this provided the basis for the Magnetic Fusion Act of 1980; which was signed into law by Jimmy Carter. In 1979, he co-founded Fusion Power Associates, a non-profit scientific research and educational foundation. He has served as president of the foundation since that time. In 2013, he published the book Search for the Ultimate Energy Source – A History of the U.S. Fusion Energy Program.

Education

Dean received his BS in physics from Boston College in 1960 and an SM in nuclear engineering from MIT in 1962. He joined the Atomic Energy Commission as a staff member in the Controlled Thermonuclear Research Branch of the Research Division. In 1969, he transferred to the Naval Research Laboratory as a Research Physicist in the Plasma Physics Division. While there, he completed his doctorate in physics from the University of Maryland (1971) and performed early experiments on laser-plasma interactions. He returned to the AEC in 1972 and became Assistant Director for magnetic confinement Systems in the CTR Division. AEC evolved into the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in 1976, and then into the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) in 1978. Dr. Dean became Director of the (magnetic) Confinement Systems Division of the Office of Fusion Energy (OFE). In that capacity during the 1970s, he oversaw the construction and operation of several new, large fusion facilities at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and General Atomics. In August 1979, he left government and co-founded (with Alvin Trivelpiece and Nicholas Krall) Fusion Power Associates.

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