Fusion Fiasco: Explorations in Nuclear Research, Vol. 2

Steven B. Krivit's Explorations in Nuclear Research three-book series (Hacking the Atom, Fusion Fiasco, Lost History) describes the emergence of a new field of science, one that bridges chemistry and physics. The books give readers an understanding of low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) research and its history and provide a rare behind-the-scenes look at the players and personalities involved. The books present the results of in-depth historical research and draw on formerly inaccessible archives to describe what occurred in the research that has been mistakenly called cold fusion. Fusion Fiasco, written for scientists and non-scientists alike, covers the period from 1989 to 1990, and tells the most accurate and complete story of the 1989 to 1990 cold fusion conflict. Relying heavily on archival records, the book documents one of the most divisive scientific controversies in recent history. The book explains why credible experimental LENR research emerged from the erroneous idea of room-temperature fusion, as claimed by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons at the University of Utah. Fusion Fiasco: • Presents the first look behind the scenes at what actually occurred in the 1989 Department of Energy Cold Fusion review. • Reveals details of a little-known but crucial scientific workshop that took place at the National Science Foundation headquarters in 1989. • Describes, for the first time, Edward Teller's prescient insight about these reactions, based on what he learned at that NSF workshop. • Shows evidence of numerous confirmations of neutrons, tritium, and excess heat from around the world within months of the Fleischmann-Pons announcement. • Reveals that Nathan Lewis, credited with debunking Fleischmann and Pons' excess-heat measurements, never published a scientific paper with that critique. • Provides evidence, courtesy of Frank Close at Oxford University, that shed new light on the accusations that Fleischmann and Pons had manipulated a gamma-ray graph. • Clarifies facts regarding the accusations that Steven Jones, at Brigham Young University, had pirated Fleischmann and Pons' ideas. • Clarifies facts regarding the accusations that Pons' graduate student, Marvin Hawkins, had stolen Fleischmann and Pons' lab books. • Reveals the origin of the erroneous idea that room-temperature fusion produces helium-4 as its dominant product. • Reveals how scientists with vested interests in prevailing scientific ideas used their influence to deny and hold back the new science. • Reveals the key behind-the-scenes roles that physicist Richard Garwin played in the cold fusion conflict.