Scientific Journal Suggests Fraud Possible In Texas A&M Cold Fusion 
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 Scientific Journal Suggests Fraud Possible In Texas A&M Cold Fusion
[From Associated Press]
By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - Experiments at Texas A&M University may have been
manipulated to give results that supported the concept of cold
fusion, a prominent science journal says in a report to be published
Friday.
    Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement
of Science and one of the mostly widely read learned journals in the
world, said the Texas institution has conducted no formal
investigation though fraud is widely suspected.
    ''The result is that after a year of experiments that most
scientists view with a great deal of skepticism anyway, the A&M
researchers are still haunted by this specter of possible fraud,''
the journal said.
    John Fackler, dean of the College of Science at A&M, said in an
interview Thursday he had no reason to believe that fraud has
occurred and that there were no plans to investigate the cold fusion
experiments.
    ''I have no concrete evidence of anything other than possibly fairly
sloppy chemistry,'' he said.
    Cold fusion experiments in the A&M laboratory of John Bockris last
year were among the first in the world to report finding tritium, a
form of hydrogen that can be key evidence of a fusion reaction.
    Fusion is the merger of hydrogen atoms into helium with the release
of substantial energy. It is the principal reaction of the sun and of
thermonuclear weapons, and is believed by most scientists to take
place on a substantial scale only when the hydrogen has been heated
to millions of degrees.
    ''Cold'' fusion, in which the reaction would take place and liberate
energy in the form of heat at ordinary temperatures, would be a
stunning scientific breakthrough - and mystery - if it really
happens.
    Bockris reported the tritium within weeks after Stanley Pons at the
University of Utah, and his collegue Martin Fleischmann, announced to
a stunned scientific community that they had achieved fusion in a
laboratory jar.
    The Utah announcement set off a worldwide scramble to confirm the
possibility of cold fusion, but most experimenters could not
duplicate the Pons-Fleischmann results and the concept now has few
supporters among scientists.
    Science said that A&M's quick findings of tritrium gave early
support of the Pons-Fleischmann findings, and were instrumental in a
decision by the state of Utah to invest $5 million in cold fusion
research. A&M, the magazine said, received an additional $150,000
from the Electric Power Research Institute.
    Yet, Science said, ''suspicions were raised almost from the first
that the tritium in the A&M cells (experiments) was put there by
human hands.''
    The magazine said that some scientists had suggested that the
tritium detected in the A&M experiments was a result of someone
deliberately ''spiking'' the chemical analysis. This could be done,
Science said, by injecting tritiated water, which contains some
tritium atoms in place of hydrogen in the water molecules, into the
flasks of heavy water, or deuterium oxide, that are used in the cold
fusion experiments. Deuterium is another form of hydrogen.
    Tritium detectors in place to detect any fusion reaction would then
give readings of increased tritium.
    Science said that Bockris and members of his team reported finding
tritium on numerious occasions - including six different experiments
in one week - while scores of other laboratories around the country
could find nothing, or reported tritium at levels of only a fraction
of that reported by A&M.
    The magazine said that although suspicions of fraud became the
subject of conversations and even memos, Bockris did not act on
suggestions by collegues that efforts be made to secure the
experimental apparatus and protect it from tampering.
    ''Although the origin of Bockris's tritium may not be resolved for
years, the tritium episode has become a case study in the damage done
when questions of fraud, legitimately raised, are not seriously
addressed by either the lab chief or his institution,'' Science said.
    The journal article also said that the A&M case ''raises crucial
questions about how rumors and allegations of fraud should be
investigated while ensuring academic freedom and protecting the
reputations of scientists.''
    Bockris declined to comment and other members of his staff referred
questions to university officials. One member of his research group,
doct{*filter*}candidate Nigel Packham, told Science he and Bockris were
not ready to abandon their results.

AP-NY-06-14-90 2309EDT
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Tue, 01 Dec 1992 13:17:00 GMT
 
 [ 1 post ] 

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