Feb
9
Now a Little Controversy Involving Cold Fusion
February 9, 2012 | 11 Comments
It’s enough to make one smile with the silliness of the thing. As noted here last week Electrical Engineering Prof. Peter Hagelstein at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) taught an Independent Activities Period course titled “Cold Fusion 101: Introduction to Excess Power in Fleischmann-Pons Experiments”.
Dr. Mitchell Swartz, of JET Energy and Prof. Hagelstein demonstrated cold fusion openly for the attending scientists and engineers. So far so good.
These kinds of things make news and much to your humble writers surprise, the information kept coming out and got – confused, by relatively competent people.
The smile is from the fact the controversy is in reading somewhat difficult graphs instead of whether the cold fusion is working. The oddest thing is after the huge MIT public relations effort to discredit Fleischmann-Pons years ago, there seems to be a working apparatus on campus. OH! Horrors. Or – its about bloody time . . . An apology seems to be in order, but that level of character and honor is likely out of such an institution’s reach.
Then, for some reason, Steve Krivit attacked the Swartz Hagelstein demo from the reporting at Cold Fusion Times. Krivit runs the site New Energy Times News Service purporting to be a news source of some sort. It seems Mr. Krivit has the traffic to generate the notice of others, so when he let loose on Feb 3, the recoil was serious.
JET Energy LANR Production Graph vs Krivit. Click image for the largest view.
The little incident has been a bit of a joy as more information has become available to see just to what point the Swartz Hagelstein duo has progressed. The Swartz Hagelstein device seems to work, too. OK, its not a huge output or anything amazingly ground breaking, yet its enough output to be net and documented well enough to provoke some important theoretical thought. Dr. Swartz is highly competent, published, and participates in the worldwide network of cold fusion research. This gentleman is nearly the ideal of skeptics’ term for credence.
On Feb. 5 Cold Fusion Times, which is tightly connected to JET Energy and Dr. Swartz, let Krivit have it and straightened the interpretation of the graphs out for the puzzled folks. That was followed by commentary lacking news that is best left between boys in the schoolyard. Until . . .
Brian Wang picked up the controversy over at NextBigFuture. Now Wang is very sharp indeed. Your humble writer checks the site every day. Wang also has the education and expertise to merit notable judgment. The NextBigFuture site is primarily a headline site with the occasional opinion statement. While agonizingly brief for yours truly, NextBigFuture has the visitor numbers – answering the need for headlines on breaking news. It’s a challenge and rare thing to get an in depth post up before the headline posts over at NexBigFuture.
Mr. Wang provided us all a service by headlining and vastly condensing the Cold Fusion Times response. The down side is Krivit is likely embarrassed and now has two non desirable notations and the good Dr. Swartz has his clearly marked “CONFIDENTIAL” graph posted across, now at least four, websites. Quite unpleasant . . .
- But the Jet Energy research is net power out. Smile one.
- MIT had a running apparatus on campus. Smile two.
- There was a class held – more research(ers) coming. Smile three.
- The graphical results are out in the open. Smile four.
- The controversy isn’t about cold fusion. Smile five.
- The controversy is on just energy specialist sites for now. Smile six.
- Maybe JET Energy will find raising money easier. Smile seven.
You’ll think of more, post them in the comments for everyone.
Cold Fusion or Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) or Lattice Assisted Nuclear Reactions (LANR) labels matter not. The technology is getting on its feet and is the opening big story for the 21st Century.
Your humble writer believes that “Cold Fusion” will do – if only to show history that a cabal of poor quality and low character scientists set back progress by over two decades.
- We can say Cold Fusion is alive and growing. Smile eight.
Comments
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There are now at least three instances where to varying degrees Krivit has misrepresented facts. Apply the same level of scrutiny to Steven Krivits opinion as he applies to established researchers. Researchers with no apparent agenda and who operate with an honest attempt at transparency.
Nice article. I enjoyed it. We are about to see a new era dawn.
Very good report and analysis. Maybe Krivit has learned something about reporting with proper analysis applied – but I somehow doubt it…
Why do I get the feeling that 20 years from now people will still be playing peek-a-boo with Cold Fusion or LENR?
Benjamin
LANR! It called “LANR” now, not LENR. That’ll make all the difference.
Jerry
You opine: “Very good report and analysis. Maybe Krivit has learned something about reporting with proper analysis applied – but I somehow doubt it…”
Well, now you have another chance to evaluate Steven “The Snake” Krivit’s reporting skills at http://newenergytimes.com/v2/news/2012/Report-4-Rossis-NASA-Test-Fails-to-Launch.shtml .
This is a great article, thank you. I also agree with you that “cold fusion” is a great title for this technology, if only for historical reasons. The Pons, Fleischmann experiment worked. They will get their due, probably this year.
Bfast
“They will get their due, probably this year.” Well contrary to expectations it didn’t happen last year; that’s for sure!
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