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Stanley Pons
A BRIEF HISTORY OF COLD FUSION
August 1988: Stanley Pons, chairman of the University of Utah chemistry department, and British colleague Martin Fleischmann submit a grant proposal to the U.
S. Department of Energy to research a new form of nuclear energy generated in a simple benchtop apparatus. DOE officials send the proposal to Brigham Young University physicist Steven E. Jones, who had been working on his own ``cold fusion'' experiments. Mr. Pons and Mr. Fleischmann will later suspect that Mr. Jones pirated their idea, but Mr. Jones maintains he was working on something similar since 1986.
March 6, 1989: Arrangements are made between the U. and BYU to submit joint papers to a scientific journal on March 24. The U. later will decide to hold a press conference the day before submission, but does not tell BYU.
March 23: The press conference. In a packed foyer in the U. Chemistry Building, Mr. Pons and Mr. Fleischmann announce their breakthrough. The scientists try to issue caveats about how they suspect nuclear fusion but are not sure, but that is lost in the giddiness of the event. A press release on the work ``means the world may someday rely on fusion for a clean, virtually inexhaustible source of energy.''
April 7: The Utah Legislature OKs $5 million for cold-fusion research after U. officials assure legislators the money will not be spent until the claims can be verified.
April 10: : Scientists at Texas A&M University and Georgia Tech University become the first to say they have verified parts of the U. experiments. Both schools will later withdraw their results because of experimental error.
April 24: The Department of Energy organizes a panel of experts to investigate cold fusion claims and tells its 10 national laboratories to step up efforts to produce cold fusion. The labs by and large have no luck, and the panel eventually concludes there is no evidence cold fusion exists.
April 25: Mr. Pons, Mr. Fleischmann and U. President Chase Peterson appear before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology in Washington, D.C. When asked what he wants, Dr. Peterson suggests $25 million in federal money to start a fusion research center. The White House arranges a meeting with Mr. Pons, Mr. Fleischmann and White House chief of staff John Sununu but Mr. Sununu cancels, citing a ``last-minute schedule change.''
July 21: The State Fusion/Energy Advisory Council says cold fusion has been sufficiently verified after hearing from two scientists reporting success. The council never spoke to any of the scientists who did not think the experiment worked.
August 7: The National Cold Fusion Institute opens in Research Park after the U. signs a five-year, $1.1 million lease on the building.
Sept. 25: Hugo Rossi, interim director of the fusion institute, acknowledges that no institute scientist has seen signs of cold fusion, and the institute may close its doors if no one has any results by February. He later clarifies to say that there is no deadline. Mr. Rossi resigns a month later.
March 29-31: The first annual conference on cold fusion is held at the University Park Hotel. More than 200 scientists attend.
June 1: A $500,000 contribution to the cold-fusion institute that had been called anonymous is found to have come from an internal fund at the U. That prompts 22 faculty members to call for a complete scientific and financial audit of the institute. U. President Peterson says there was no intent to deceive.
October: Mr. Pons puts his Salt Lake City home up for sale, prompting speculation that he had left the U. He later requests a sabbatical to work in France. That is turned down, but the U. does agree to give him a research professorship that allows him to work elsewhere. In exchange, Mr. Pons gives up his U. tenure.
November: The State Fusion/Energy Advisory Council appoints an independent panel to see if good science is being carried out at the institute. Mr. Pons, citing the Atomic Energy Act and advice from patent attorneys, refuses to detail his research. Panel members later conclude that the science they saw seems solid, but they saw no evidence of nuclear fusion at the institute.
June 21-25, 1991: The second annual conference on cold fusion is held in Como, Italy.
June 28: The National Cold Fusion Institute, with its state funds dwindling and no sign of outside money, closes its doors.
July 1, 1992: Mr. Pons offers a deal to take over the patent applications the U. filed on his work, saying he has Japanese investors who will pay up to $10 million for licensing rights if any patents are secured. The U. counteroffers, but Mr. Pons withdraws, saying his offer was nonnegotiable.
Oct. 21-25: Third Annual Conference on Cold Fusion.