These conferences were a part of the United States controlled nuclear program called Project Sherwood.
These conferences were established in order to entice experienced personnel to join the newly developed Project Sherwood.
There were three different plasma confinement designs that were being researched in three different locations: the stellarator at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the toroidal pinch at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the magnetic mirror at the Livermore National Laboratory.
[1] The first Sherwood conference was organized by the AEC director of the Division of Research, Thomas Johnson.
To attract more experienced personnel, workers already participating on the projects attended the conference.