Dr. Robert J. Weggel

Dr. Robert J. Weggel leads magnetic-field design for Kronos, bringing MIT Magnet Lab high-field-magnet expertise to the 24.6 T REBCO magnet system.

Role at Kronos

Magnetic Field Design (Founding Partner)

Affiliation

MIT Magnet Lab

Tenure

2022–Present

Focus

High-field magnet & field design

Dr. Robert J. Weggel is a founding partner leading magnetic-field design for Kronos, with a career in high-field magnet engineering rooted in the MIT Magnet Lab. The magnet is the enabling technology of compact fusion, and his domain sits at the very heart of what makes the Kronos machine possible.

His expertise underpins the 24.6 T magnet system — the graded, demountable REBCO winding pack whose peak field, at field⁴ power density, is what lets a 5.75 m machine target gigawatt-class fusion. It shapes the toroidal-field coils, the strain margin (0.252% vs 0.40%), and the magnet & shield system that threads a very high field through the crowded center stack.

Dr. Robert "Bob" Weggel spent nearly three decades at the MIT National Magnet Laboratory, rising to Assistant Group Leader of the Magnet Design Group, where he designed magnets for the Alcator A tokamak and a continuous-field magnet once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. At Brookhaven National Laboratory he designed superconducting and hybrid solenoids of 20 tesla and above, and — with his brother Carl — worked on the magnets for Commonwealth Fusion Systems' SPARC tokamak. That record in high-field magnet design is exactly the expertise the 24.6 T Kronos system draws on.

Contributions to Kronos are made in a personal capacity and do not constitute institutional endorsement.