Anybody have any info. on that cold fusion scam?

Sybren

Senior member
Oct 17, 1999
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I'm hoping to write a research paper on the cold fusion scam involving scientists Fleishmann and Pons, but before I decide for certain on it I need some more info. Anybody have any sources, internet or otherwise, for where I could find info.? Specifically, I need to know the timeframe that this was going on, because if it's before 1970 I certainly cannot do it.

Thanks for the help,
Chris Kennedy
 

Sybren

Senior member
Oct 17, 1999
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wilding... been there, done that. It had 2 pages, neither of which had much information... and more importantly, neither of which had dates.
 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
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Link

Ugly page, but it's got some info. That was on the first page of a Google search, surely you can come up with better.

Viper GTS
 

Sybren

Senior member
Oct 17, 1999
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Yep, I've seen that page. Thanks though, Viper. BTW, I found out it happened in '89. Links to info. still wanted though.

Thanks.
 

WordSmith2000

Banned
May 4, 2001
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You should try to get a few back issues of Analog. The science columnist in there reported that Japan is spending billions of dollars developing this "scam." Prepared to be suprised...
 

RossGr

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Jan 11, 2000
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I think it is a bit harsh to call it a scam. During the period when this was breaking news I was working for the OSU Physics department. Coffee breaks can be very interesting when several physics professors are involved. It was pretty well agreed that the energy levels being found were all wrong for a fusion reaction, It was not clear what the reaction was that was being seen but whatever, it was electronic in nature (involving electon interactions) and NOT nuclear (sp?). Therefore not fusion. There was no surprise when other physicists were unable to dublicate the results. Within a year or so, it was pretty well agreed that there was no real effects being seen and it became a dead issue in the physics community. At no point did the Physicist I worked with feel that it was an intentional effort at scamming anyone but felt it was an honest effort to interpet the results of an experiment which may have had some instrumentation problems.

This was in the early '80s '81-'83
 

Sybren

Senior member
Oct 17, 1999
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Yes, perhaps scan is a bit harsh... but tell that to the companies or persons that invested money in it... only to see one of the scientists leave the country (with some of the money, I think) when they couldn't reproduce it.