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Four scientists met with University of Utah researchers, including Stanley Pons, Wednesday in a review that will likely decide the fate of the university's National Cold Fusion Institute.
The scientists, three Americans and one Canadian,
met briefly with reporters before spending an all-day, closed-door session at the Research Park institute. They are expected to issue their report by mid-December.
"I think we'll do the best we possibly can," said Dale F. Stein, a materials scientist and president of Michigan Technological University. He described the review as a "technical evaluation" that would not attempt to address the stigma of shabby science that has dogged cold fusion. "It really has nothing to do with integrity; we assume integrity in people," he said.
Dr. Pons, back in Utah from what was reportedly a trip overseas, declined to talk to reporters before the review began. He did say he would be at the Capitol Thursday for a meeting of the state Fusion/Energy Advisory Council.
"Now that I've been notified, I'll be there," he said.
Council members two weeks ago criticized Dr. Pons and his British colleague Martin Fleischmann for failing to show at their meeting.
The scientists maintain they were never told to be there, but institute director Fritz Will has disputed that. Dr. Fleischmann is at his home in Tisbury, England, undergoing treatment for an undisclosed medical condition.
Karen Morse, Utah State University Provost and fusion council member who said the council had "coddled" the two chemists, was among the scientists sitting in on Wednesday's review.
The review is considered by Dr. Will and others to be crucial to the future credibility of the institute. After the initial $5 million investment by the Utah State Legislature, the institute has raised less than $100,000 in outside funding, and the remaining $1.3 million in state funds will be spent by next June.
The review was prompted by U. College of Science faculty members who were concerned about the scientific integrity of the cold fusion work, particularly that of Drs. Pons and Fleischmann. They have published no papers on their work from the past year despite more than $1 million in funding from the state.
Hugo Rossi, dean of the College of Science, said he met with his physics and chemistry chairs and they were pleased with the review panel. "We feel it's a good group of people with high national standing. We think it will be a careful review."
In addition to Dr. Stein, reviewers are electrochemist Stanley Bruckenstein, A. Conger Goodyear Professor of Chemistry at State University of New York at Buffalo; calorimetrist Loren G. Hepler, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Alberta; Dale F. Stein, and Robert Kemp Adair, Sterling Professor of Physics at Yale University.
John Huizenga, professor of nuclear chemistry at the University of Rochester and co-chairman of the Department of Energy's committee on cold fusion, praised the inclusion of Dr. Adair, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and former editor of the prestigious journal, Physical Review Letters.
"He is a high-energy particle physicist, and I think a very competent person," Dr. Huizenga said in a telephone interview. "From his scientific stature I would certainly say that Bob would do a good job."
Dr. Adair said he has followed the cold fusion saga casually in the past. "Since I've been invited to be on the panel, I've paid a little more attention."
Compliments for bringing in Dr. Adair also came from one of his colleagues at Yale, associate professor of physics Moishe Gai, who has been a vocal skeptic of cold fusion.
"I couldn't think of anybody better than Bob Adair to be on that committee," Dr. Gai said in a telephone interview. "From his judgment, his openness to new ideas, he is a true scientist and I think he would do a perfect job."
Dr. Adair is also the author of "The Physics of Baseball". He was appointed "physicist to the National League" by A. Bartlett Giamatti, former Yale president and baseball commissioner who died in 1989.
The visiting scientists were reluctant to discuss specifics of the review with reporters, but Dr. Stein minimized the effects that news coverage would have on their effort. "The pressure from the media is not nearly as intense as the pressure we feel from our colleagues who will pass on the merit of what we do."
Dr. Stein was a member of Dr. Huizenga's DOE panel, which recommended against major funding a year ago because, the panel's report said, the data "do not present convincing evidence that useful sources of energy will result."