nuclear fusion
[f. nuclear a. + fusion.]
1. Biol. The fusion of cell nuclei.
| 1900 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. 73 The generation in which the nuclear fusion occurs is probably in all cases degenerate. 1970 Protoplasma LXX. 292 Once the outer cell surfaces have joined and two nuclei are in a common cytoplasm, nuclear fusion nearly always seems to follow. |
2. Nuclear Sci. = fusion 3 d.
| 1952 [see fusion 3 d]. 1959 Ann. Reg. 1958 137 The Secretary-General expressed the hope that progress would be made on..the potentiality of nuclear fusion to solve the world's energy problems. 1969 New Scientist 25 Sept. 640/1 The Tokamak machines..have formed the basis of the main Soviet research effort into achieving controlled nuclear fusion during the past few years. 1971 [see nuclear fission 2]. |