Team

Florian Metzler is a research scientist at MIT, where he spent the last fourteen years of his career. His time at MIT involved three graduate degrees (nuclear science and engineering, engineering systems and technology policy) and appointments at six different department (the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department NSE, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering DMSE, the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department EECS, the Institute of Data, Systems, and Society IDSS, the Engineering Systems Division ESD, and the Political Science Department PS). 

Florian writes and publishes on a wide range of topics, ranging from physics and engineering to technology strategy and science policy and the history and sociology of science. He has advised corporations, investors, funding bodies, and national governments on fission and fusion strategies. 

Nicola Galvanetto is an Ernst Hadorn Fellow at the University of Zurich and Research Affiliate at MIT. As an expert in molecular spectroscopy, he strives to find common ground between atomic and nuclear physics. He has been involved in research related to solid-state nuclear science since 2017.

Matt Lilley is a physicist, technologist and educator. He’s been involved in the pursuit of nuclear fusion energy since 2005 as: a full-time academic at Imperial College London and the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, a self-funded independent researcher, a Project-Ida team member, and most recently as an Anthropocene Institute grant holder. Matt’s research has spanned both experimental and theoretical domains and is currently focussed on the acceleration of nuclear reactions via quantum coherent processes.

Matt’s research career has been interspersed with technology since 2013. Inspired by the idea of becoming a self-funded researcher, Matt founded Level 8 Limited, taught himself how to code and started building web-apps like Squidler. He’s continued to build all kinds of things since then: including productivity tools, automation bots and interactive physics simulations. Matt leverages his tech skills to advance his research, including exploring the potential of computational notebooks such as Observable and Jupyter to help disseminate ideas to wide audiences.

Matt’s got a drive to build but also a desire to share. He’s delivered 150+ workshops to business leaders on topics like blockchain, machine learning, quantum computing and GenAI and you can also find Matt sharing his knowledge about physics on YouTube @CasualPhysics.

Jonah Messinger is an interdisciplinary physicist, clean energy enthusiast, and ecomodernist. He is a Winton Scholar and doctoral candidate at the Cavendish Laboratory of Physics at the University of Cambridge and a researcher at MIT in the Quantum Energy Science group working on quantum coherent nuclear science and in the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E low-energy nuclear reaction research program. He is also a non-resident Senior Energy Analyst at the Breakthrough Institute, a consultant with the Anthropocene Institute, and a Fellow at the Roots of Progress Institute. Jonah has advised Starlight Ventures and he writes a blog on Substack called Seeking Scientific Revolutions.

Jonah’s research seeks to modify nuclear reaction rates and products in table-top configurations for a fundamentally novel approach to fusion. His research interests extend to the history and sociology of science, metascience and technology policy, clean energy innovation, energy for development, and progress studies. His experience spans the National Labs and other scientific laboratories, policy research institutions, clean energy firms, and private advisory.

Before beginning his doctoral studies, Jonah was an Energy Analyst and Generation Fellow at the Breakthrough Institute. Previously, he was a Visiting Scientist and ThinkSwiss Scholar at ETH Zürich, a Research Associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and a Research Assistant at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. A Udall Scholar, Jonah earned his Master’s in Energy and Bachelor’s in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was named to its Senior 100 Honorary. Jonah has debated the former President of the California Public Utilities Commission. His work has appeared in research journals, Congressional letters to the Secretary of Energy, Matthew Yglesias’s blog, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and more.

Peter Hagelstein is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. He has contributed to the development of X-ray lasers and quantum electronics. Hagelstein is also widely recognized for his research in low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR), where he explores unconventional phenomena in condensed matter systems.  At MIT, he continues to push the boundaries of understanding in both energy science and quantum theory.