Dr. Robert W. Bussard has died. Star Trek tech fans will know the name, though perhaps not the man himself, from the matter scooping mechanism he proposed and which we finally named in his honor on The Next Generation's U.S.S. Enterprise. By all means check Google and Wikipedia for further information about his accomplishments and hopes for new energy and propulsion systems. I knew him for a time in the early 1980s, as I had written an article on interstellar travel for Science Digest magazine that included his concepts as well as those of Drs. Robert Forward and Robert Enzmann (the three "Bobs" of far future flight). As part of the scientific help Bob Bussard gave me for that article, he sat in my living room in Irvine, California, scribbling calculations for waste heat radiators on a new version of his ramjet ship, and it was a wonder to watch and listen. It was an honor to translate his doodles and numbers into finished art. He was generous with his time and knowledge, and while I hadn't talked to him for a few years, I will miss him.
Dr. Robert W. Bussard RIP October 2007
- Thread starter Rick Sternbach
- Start date
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
What a dreadful coincidence, as I was just now reading Equation of motion of an interstellar Bussard ramjet with radiation loss by Claude Semay & Bernard Silvestre-Brac in the current issue of Acta Astronautica. RIP, Dr. Bussard. 
TGT
TGT
RIP.
RIP, Dr. Bussard.
RIP.
hummm I had no idea...
... RIP Dr. Robert W. Bussard
... RIP Dr. Robert W. Bussard
RIP DR Bussard,and may the starwinds carry your soul.
Signed
Buck Rogers
Signed
Buck Rogers