That would have helped a lot! Using a high-conductance device to transport heat away from the hot side before switching to lower-conductance devices for heat r

That would have helped a lot! Using a high-conductance device to transport heat away from the hot side before switching to lower-conductance devices for heat rejection. All I can say is that my thermal philosophy wasn't as robust back then, and I also had an irrational fear of heatpipes :)