I am sorry to report that the authorities have finally closed down cold
fusion research at SAPWAR. After Frank Gordon left, the project was on life
support. Recent reports on Fox News and elsewhere mentioned it, bringing
about the inevitable coup de grace.
Like most cold fusion projects, this was a shoestring or "bootlegged"
operation. It was done by retired researchers such as Szpak, and others
working nights and weekends. The equipment was scavenged or bought by
private individuals. But, as we all know, people opposed to cold fusion will
not tolerate any project, even if it costs essentially nothing. Academic
freedom means nothing to them. It never occurs to them they might be wrong,
because -- Like Park and Yugo -- they have read nothing and they know
nothing. They make no distinction between cold fusion and a perpetual motion
machines or water memory. Any research they disagree with _must not be
allowed_, period.
Whenever cold fusion appears in the mass media I shudder, because I know
it will trigger a backlash. Cold fusion researchers keep a low profile for a
good reason. They know perfectly well that when some nitwit such as Krivit
reveals there may be a source of funding, or a project being organized, that
will trigger opposition. Robert Park will pull strings. Others will organize
letter-writing campaigns. Mary Yugo will publish unfounded accusations of
fraud and guilt by association. You can see the dynamic at work in this
article, where someone is trying to shut down NASA interest in cold fusion:
"Why is NASA Langley Wasting Time on Cold Fusion Research?"
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/12/why-is-nasa-lan.html
The people in charge of the Navy and the DoE know nothing about cold
fusion, and they do not care about it. When they get letters from scientists
or members of the public saying "someone in your organization is committing
fraud" they do not ask questions. They close it down, whatever it is. Their
main concern is their public image with the taxpayers. The last thing they
need is to be accused of countenancing academic fraud or crazy research.
This has been happening for 22 years. Given this environment, it is
surprising that cold fusion survived at all. Dozens of projects such as this
one and the one at MIT were crushed, mostly without ever being allowed to
publish anything, and without any knowledge by the public. I knew about the
MIT project described by Stolper because Gene Mallove was involved, and he
was reporting to me. I was helping to fund things like this. No one else
ever learned about it because it worked. Any time positive results are
achieved, the opposition will pull out the stops to have the researchers
fired or pushed into final retirement. That's how it works. That is why I
and others gave up even trying to establish projects at major institutions
years ago. We know how it will end. That is why I think there no hope of
funding Miley et al., and no point. Sure it would be important work. But it
is not worth getting some poor grad student in trouble, or ruining her
career prospects. The results will be bottled up, the grad student's
reputation torn to shreds by nitwits, and the mass media will report only
lies and distortions. Yeah, I may get another informal positive result I can
upload to LENR-CANR.org, but that is not worth destroying someone's career.
It won't change anything.
Fortunately, Rossi and Defkalion are privately funded and immune to
interference. Rossi is well aware of how academic politics work in the U.S.
That is one of the reasons he has not made much of an effort to work with
universities and national labs. Even if they get positive results, it will
be reported as a failure and fraud. That is what happened to the National
Cold Fusion Institute, and the Japanese NEDO project. When Miles
demonstrated heat at the NEDO over a few weeks, the scientifically trained
bureaucrats in charge, who were in the same building, _refused to get up,
walk down the hall, and look_. Talk about willful ignorance! Mary Yugo has
nothing on them. They were busy writing a report saying that no positive
results were achieved. They published that in Japanese soon after Miles left
and the project was shut down. Perhaps they hoped Miles would not read it.
Miles, being no fool, sent it to me, and I translated it. He was pretty
upset but not surprised. As someone remarked "the fix was in from the
start." It could not be more blatant. Their job was to lie, stick the knife
into the project, and prevent any other research. In his book, Huizenga
bragged that was his assignment, and he was proud of how well he did it. The
2004 DoE review was also a charade. It was clear beforehand it would be a
joke, or parlor trick, not a serious review. That is why Storms refused to
participate, and why I told the participants beforehand, "beware of what you
wish for."
- Jed
