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ITER hasn't been the "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor" for a very long time now. Why does it keep being called that? Even Wikipedia uses it cor
by bun_terminator 2y ago
ITER hasn't been the "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor" for a very long time now. Why does it keep being called that? Even Wikipedia uses it correctly. I don't understand where people keep pulling that term from. Even high-profile publications like Scientific American keep using the old term.
- Digit-Al 2y agoProbably because they don't want to confuse readers who don't know the history and would wonder how on earth ITER could possibly stand for "International nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject". Let's face it, changing the project name but still calling it ITER is a bit confusing.
- bell-cot 2y agoFrom a journalist's PoV, 100% of readers need a quick summary of what ITER is. Vs. 0% actually need to know the current official name. (As a former SciAm subscriber - '70's to '90's - I would not look to current-day SciAm for examples of anything good.)
- thaumasiotes 2y ago> ITER hasn't been the "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor" for a very long time now. Why does it keep being called that? Because that's its name? You can't choose how other people refer to you. Similarly, when Kentucky Fried Chicken officially changed its name to KFC, nobody cared, and KFC continued to mean Kentucky Fried Chicken in every context except the imagination of some executives.