Fission, Fusion, Confusion?

I wish I had paid more attention to Physics when it was being forced down our throat," he now said with a touch of sadness. "I should have taken good old Mr Swaminathan a little more seriously," he said recalling our old Physics master from the school. Same here, I nodded.
I looked around. His desk was littered as always with tomes, monographs, papers, clippings...