The Edward Teller medal lecture: The evolution toward Indirect Drive and two decades of progress toward ICF ignition and burn

In 1972, I joined the Livermore ICF Theory and Target Design group led by John Nuckolls, shortly after publication of John's seminal Nature article on ICF. My primary role, working with others in the target design program including Mordy Rosen, Steve Haan, and Larry Suter, has been as a target designer and theorist who utilized the LASNEX code to perform numerical experiments, which along with analysis of laboratory and underground thermonuclear experiments allowed me to develop a series of models and physical insights which have been used to set the direction and priorities of the Livermore program. I have had the good fortune of working with an outstanding team of scientists who have established LLNL as the premier ICF laboratory in the world. John Emmett and the LLNL Laser Science team were responsible for developing a series of lasers from Janus to Nova which have given LLNL unequaled facilities. George Zimmerman and the LASNEX group developed the numerical models essential for projecting future performance and requirements as well as for designing and analyzing the experiments. Bill Kruer, Bruce Langdon and others in the plasma theory group developed the fundamental understanding of laser plasma interactions which have played such an important role in ICF. And a series of experiment program leaders including Mike Campbell and Joe Kilkenny and their laser experimental teams developed the experimental techniques and diagnostic capabilities which have allowed us to c increasingly complex and sophisticated experiments