Cold fusion saga: Lesson in science
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
A news conference at the University of Utah on March 23, 1989, ignited an explosion of scientific tempers almost as intense as the topic up for discussion - nuclear fusion. Two electrochemists, B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, announced they had discovered a method for creating nuclear fusion at room temperature, using simple equipment available in any high school laboratory. This could mean unlimited supplies of cheap electricity in the future. The announcement set off a chain reaction involving the news media and scientists worldwide, notes Bruce V. Lewenstein of Cornell University. For the first six weeks of the saga, Lewenstein recalls, competing claims, counterclaims, and interpretations led to what many headline writers referred to as fusion confusion. Media attention faded gradually, but scientific attention didn't. Over the next two years, laboratory experiments, scientific reports, meetings, and panels kept the issue boiling. The cold-fusion saga, while more intense than some scientific research, followed familiar paths, Lewenstein believes. News coverage, political maneuvering, competition among scientists, parent rights, arguments about the interpretation of experiments - all points of contention - are normal, indeed, one might almost say integral, to modern science, he says. This is the stuff science is made of, he adds. And for those disturbed by the implications, Lewenstein cautions that cold-fusion may be the harbinger for other high-profile science, such as high-temperature superconductors.
- OSTI ID:
- 6651977
- Journal Information:
- Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy; (United States), Journal Name: Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy; (United States) Vol. 7:4; ISSN FARPEL; ISSN 0887-8218
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Hesitant birth of cold fusion
Cold fusion labeled fiasco of century