President Tilghman is correct to use the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab as a “great example of what long-term federally sponsored research can accomplish” (President’s Page, Feb. 9).

Magnetic-fusion research has been a complete failure, supporting decades of make-work for scientists and technologists who would have been far more productive working in fields where the absence of federal funding has allowed for far more innovation and creativity — semiconductors and software, anyone?

After 60 years of such funding, I think the answer to what such long-term federally sponsored research can accomplish is pretty clear: not much.

Isaiah Cox ’94