220) Two cold fusion workshops and conferences


Ludwik Kowalski (5/13/05)
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ, 07043

It is remarkable that two cold fusion workshops are going to take place nearly simultaneously this month. One, organized by ISCMNS (International Society for Condense Matter Nuclear Science), is starting today in Siena, Italy, and another will start at MIT, Boston, next week. The Boston workshop is dedicated to Eugene Malove, “Cold Fusioneer, Investigator and MIT Graduate '69.” Two cold fusion conferences will also take place this year:

1) The 12th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (ICCF12) in Japan
2) The 13th Russian Conference on Cold Nuclear Transmutation of Chemical Elements and Ball-Lightning (RCCNT&BL-13)

Here is the agenda of the MIT workshop (May 21, 2005):

Experimental Reports of Cold Fusion Systems (A.M.):            
1) Mitchell Swartz -  Introduction
2) David Nagel - Evidence That Cold Fusion Involves Nuclear Reactions
3) John Dash -  Characterization of Titanium Cathodes after Electrolysis in Heavy Water
4) Peter Hagelstein - Cold Fusion
5) Mitchell Swartz - Parameter to Describe Optimal Operating Point Width
 
Theoretical Strides in Understanding of Cold Fusion Systems (P.M.):
6) Yeong Kim  - Mico/Nano High-Desity Plasmas and Cold Fusion/Acoustic-Induced Cold Fusion
7) Talbot Chubb -  Bloch Nuclei and Phonon De-excitation
8) Scott Chubb - Understanding Cold Fusion using Conventional Condensed matter Physics
9) Robert Bass - Do Current Concepts Resolve the Chief Challenge to Cold Fusion Theory?
10) Keith Johnson - Anomalous Superconducting Properties of the PdHx/PdDx System  and their Possible Relationship to Cold Fusion
11) Mitchell Swartz - Absence of Bremsstrahlung is Consistent with Conventional Physics
12) Group Discussion
13) Robert Rines - Patents and Science from Cold Fusion and Other Fields
14) Peter Graneau - Alternative Energy using Latent Energy of Water
15) Ken Shoulders - Charge Clusters and the Hutchinson Effect

Poster presentations, not yet listed, will also be displayed. Responding to the suggestion made by Mitchell Swartz I prepared a poster presentation shown below. I will refer to it in the group discussion; perhaps my answers will generate some interesting comments.

Short questions and answers

1) What is Cold Fusion (CF)?
It is not pseudoscience, as many think. It is protoscience claiming that nuclear activities result from some chemical (atomic) processes (for example, in electrolysis, or when hydrogen ions diffuse through some solids).

2) Why was “excess heat” not mentioned in the above answer?
Convincing others that excess heat (generated at the rate of one watt or less) has a nuclear origin is much more difficult than validating a nuclear signature, such as neutrons, protons or alpha particles. The essence of the controversy is not the excess heat; it is the nuclear origin of that heat.

3) Why hasn’t a single truly-reproducible setup been offered (in 16 years) by the CF community to demonstrate a nuclear effect caused by a chemical process?
Because CF research (at least 100 people in several countries) is not coordinated.

4) Why don’t CF researchers criticize each other?
They probably feel "we are surrounded by enemies; mutual criticism would only weaken our fortress."

5) What is experimental protoscience?
Any new claim made by a qualified experimental scientist belongs to protoscience unless it is independently validated in at least three different laboratories.

6) How long can protoscience exist before turning into pseudoscience?
In the case of CF the controversy has not been resolved in 16 years. Unless recognized by the scientific establishment, CF might be universally perceived as pseudoscince in about ten or twenty years.

7) Why twenty years?
Because nearly all CF researchers are old.

See my CF website at <http://blake.montclair.edu/~kowalskil/cf/>
Comments will be appreciated.