Written by Lewis Larsen
You may really enjoy reading this amazing tale of a brilliant LENR-related experimental discovery back in 1951 --- followed by its descent into total obscurity. Simply lost and forgotten by mainstream physics. In the history of science, it seems that experimental results that don't somehow fit within some sort of contemporary conceptual paradigm often tend to get ignored. Sadly, in many cases such results are never reported anywhere in peer-reviewed journals for posterity. In that regard, this cover note is combined with scanned page images from Chapter 6 in Dr. Ernest Sternglass' little 1997 book, “Before the Big Bang - the Origin of the Universe.” The excerpted page scans from the above book chapter are those in which Dr. Sternglass describes some enigmatic experiments that he conducted in the Cornell University physics department back in the early 1950s.It recounts his work with an old hydrogen-filled X-ray tube, as well as a subsequent dialogue with Albert Einstein in attempting to understand the (then) utterly inexplicable experimental results. Seven years ago, Sternglass, then in his late 80s, told me over the telephone that (before he had communicated with Einstein about his strange results) the legendary Hans Bethe had looked over his experimental data and was totally baffled too. Nobody at Cornell understood what was happening in the experimental setup that could possibly produce the observed fluxes of neutrons (obviously, ultra low momentum neutrons were not produced in his experiments --- they were more akin to what happens in high-current exploding wires as opposed to what happens in typical P&F aqueous electrolytic cells). So, a baffled Bethe called Einstein on the telephone and asked him to help PhD candidate Sternglass evaluate his unexpected experimental results. The attached chapter taken from Sternglass' book relates that story. What is truly mind boggling about this tale is that Einstein simply looked at Sternglass' data and then immediately realized that the observed neutron production must involve some sort of many-body collective effects with electrons (which we utilize with great explanatory power in our theory of LENRs). Can you believe it --- what a mind Einstein had ---- even at that late stage in his life! At that point (1951), very few physicists really had any idea of what collective effects were about. Well, Einstein surely did. Unfortunately, Ernest's bizarre experimental discovery was simply not pursued any further. In the end, Sternglass didn't heed Einstein's (and Bethe's) strong advice to "be stubborn" and publish the deeply anomalous results. Sternglass' experiments were subsequently lost and largely forgotten by other physicists in the ensuing years, just like the work of chemists Wendt and Irion at the University of Chicago back in 1922 and other related transmutation work published in refereed journals circa 1900 - 1927. Einstein, the only contemporary scientist who had any real inkling of what might be happening in Sternglass' puzzling experiments, died just four years after his interaction with Sternglass on the unexplained neutron fluxes. The only surviving document wherein these intriguing experimental results were ever mentioned was Sternglass' little book published many years later in 1997. In 2006, I stumbled across a copy of it in the $2.99 discount section at Border's bookstore and, curious, just for kicks picked it up to read over the weekend. After reading an amazing chapter (see scanned pages), I immediately called my theoretical collaborators and said, "You guys won't believe what I just found." They were equally amazed. We plan to specifically discuss and explain the 1951 Sternglass/Bethe/Einstein saga in an upcoming paper; it appears that this experimental anomaly is just another aspect of LENRs. Perhaps now, after remaining in obscurity for 60 years, there can finally be some conceptual closure on Sternglass’ long-lost, unpublished experimental results. Full article http://newenergytimes.com/v2/sr/WL/slides/20111125LatticeEnergyDoc.pdf
