MIT and Cold Fusion: A Special Report - Infinite Energy Magazine

cold fusion era joke among MIT students about the need for a
Department of Alchemy, but MIT was apparently not quite
ready for the real thing!)
Conventional understanding was that nothing at ordinary
conditions could bring the nuclei of deuterium close enough
together such that the nuclear forces, at very close approach,
would take over and facilitate fusion to helium—or to anything
else. That two “miracles” were implicit in cold fusion was just
too much to bear for the mainstream physics community.
Nonetheless, the establishment held its skepticism in check—at
least publicly—for several weeks. Some scientists told the news
media that the claims were “very interesting,” but they thought
they were unlikely to be true. By implication, they suggested
there might be a mistake, which they would likely find after
doing their experiments to check up on Fleischmann and Pons.
Immediately, the cold fusion story became very big news all
around the world. Thousands of scientists and basement inventors
tried to verify—or disprove—the claims from Utah. The
May 8, 1989 editions of Time, Newsweek, and Business Week ran
prominent cover stories on cold fusion—a first for science coverage
apart from events in space exploration. The question of
the hour was—as Business Week editorialized on its cover: Is
cold fusion a “miracle or a mistake”? Of course that was the
possibility that had to be excluded—a major mistake in either
excess heat measurement or nuclear measurements.
When cold fusion was announced, I had the good fortune to
be the chief science writer at the MIT News Office, the main
public relations arm of MIT. My tenure was from September
1987 through June 1991. Previously, I had written major scientific
articles for MIT Technology Review, the magazine of my
alma mater’s Alumni/ae Association. After leaving my job as
an aerospace engineer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1985, I
shifted careers and had worked as a science writer and broadcaster
for the Voice of America in Washington, DC. I would also
eventually teach science journalism both at Boston University
and at MIT in the Department of Humanities (both when I was
in the MIT News Office, and for a time afterward).
My position at the News Office required me to interact daily
with members of the national and international press. Thus,
when the Pons and Fleischmann announcement occurred, it
was my job to report to the media what certain key scientists at
MIT were thinking about the amazing claims out of Utah.
I had already been instrumental, some weeks before March 23,
1989, in exposing the entire science writing staff and senior editors
of The Wall Street Journal to the hot fusion program at MIT, where
the Alcator line of tokamaks were being developed. I did that
proudly. In fact, I remember introducing Plasma Fusion Center
(PFC) Director Ronald R. Parker to the Wall Street Journal’s Jerry
Bishop, the senior reporter who would later write an award-winning
series of articles on cold fusion. As an engineer turned writerengineer,
I had been since age sixteen an advocate for hot fusion.
While a student in engineering at MIT in 1967, I remember
being impressed by the Russian hot fusion exhibit at the world
Expo in Montreal. I thought that hot fusion offered a real though
difficult-to-develop solution to the world’s energy needs.
Because I had been trained as an aerospace engineer with a particular
interest in interstellar propulsion methods, I was fond of
hot fusion, because it might offer a very high performance
propulsion system for limited travel to
the “local” stars. I would write of this in my 1989
book, co-authored with colleague Dr. Gregory
Matloff, The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer’s Guide
to Interstellar Travel (John Wiley & Sons). In 1969 I
had written a lengthy term paper for MIT course
16.53 on the Bussard Interstellar Ramjet concept, which used the
hydrogen of the interstellar medium as fusion fuel. In the 1970s
and 1980s, I collaborated with physicist Robert L. Forward of
Hughes Research Laboratories on lengthy bibliographical studies
of the related subjects of advanced interstellar propulsion
concepts and the search for extra-terrestrial civilizations (SETI).
The cold fusion story quickly drew very heavy media attention,
and I was rapidly drawn into the frenzy that resulted at the
MIT News Office. There were many requests for interviews with
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
TECH TALK
September 16, 1987
Volume 32, Number 7
Dr. Eugene Mallove '69
named News Office
science writer
Dr. Eugene F. Mallove '69, an engineer and scientist who has
written widely on science for the Voice of America, The Washington
Post and Technology Review, has been appointed chief
science writer for the MIT News Office. The appointment, as
assistant director, was announced by Kenneth D. Campbell,
director of the News Office. “Gene Mallove brings three great
strengths to the News Office: his background in science and
engineering; his MIT experience; and, most importantly, his
ability to communicate his fascination for science, both in the
written word and on the air-waves. I am delighted to welcome
Dr. Mallove back to MIT,” said Mr. Campbell.
A science writer for the past five years, Dr. Mallove’s most
recent position was as international science writer and broadcaster
at the Voice of America, which he joined in 1985. He was
responsible for a weekly 15-minute “New Horizons” program on
science, technology, and medicine, and for a daily five-minute
program of science teaching to the world, “Science Notebook.”
He has written free-lance articles for the Washington Post and
other newspapers, and for Technology Review and a new magazine,
“Computers in Science.” He is the author of The Quickening
Universe, to be published by St. Martin's Press this fall.
Dr. Mallove received his SB in aeronautical and astronautical
engineering from MIT in 1969, and his SM in the same field in
1970. In 1975, he received from Harvard University his ScD
degree in environmental health sciences, specializing in
aerosol physics and air pollution control.
His career in science and engineering includes work as a consulting
astronautical engineer on space propulsion systems with
Hughes Research Laboratories, 1970-77; engineer with The
Analytical Science Corporation, 1977-79, and with Northrop Co.
(Precision Products Division), 1980-81; systems engineering
manager with Jaycor, Systems Engineering Division, 1981-82;
and engineer with MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 1983-85.
He founded a firm, Astronomy New England, Inc., which
developed and marketed astronomy-related products for six
years, ending in 1985.
(Reprinted from MIT Tech Talk)
8 Infinite Energy • ISSUE 24, 1999 • MIT Special Report