Sherwood conferences facts for kids

The Sherwood Conferences were a series of secret meetings held in the United States between 1952 and 1958. These meetings were part of a big science project called Project Sherwood, which was about studying nuclear energy. The main goal of these conferences was to get smart scientists and engineers to join Project Sherwood.

At the time, scientists were working on three different ways to control super-hot gas called "plasma" (which is like a fiery cloud of charged particles). These projects were happening in different places:

• The stellarator project at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
• The toroidal pinch project at Los Alamos National Laboratory
• The magnetic mirror project at the Livermore National Laboratory

Because these teams worked separately, the Sherwood Conferences were super important. They helped everyone share what they learned and work together better.

First Sherwood Conference

The very first Sherwood Conference was set up by Thomas Johnson, who was a director at the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). It happened at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, on June 28, 1952. To get more people interested, scientists already working on Project Sherwood came to the conference. About eighty scientists attended this first meeting.

Where and When They Met

The Sherwood Conferences happened many times in different places across the United States. Here's a quick look at when and where they took place: