The Significance of the Fleischmann - Pons Effect, Twenty Years Later

http://research.missouri.edu/division/duncan.htm

In a CBS 60-Minutes segment that aired in April, 2009, Dr. Fleischmann stated that he had two regrets regarding his fateful press conference through the University of Utah in March, 1989: First, he regretted referring to this fascinating excess heat effect as 'fusion', and secondly he regretted holding such a high-profile press conference to convey his discovery with Dr. Pons as an immediate solution to the world's energy needs. These comments by Dr. Fleischmann provide a retrospective on why this field has not emerged more rapidly to date, and his comments contain guidance on how to advance this field of study in the future. There is now ample experimental evidence that the excess heat effect is real, but the underlying cause of this excess heat remains unknown, as I expect it will be for many years to come. There are a few very interesting reports of particle emissions and 4He gas generation from deuterium-loaded palladium, but much more work is necessary to determine how this is related to the physical origin of the excess heat. Experiments are needed now to determine if these excess heat levels may be scaled up and obtained at higher heat rejection temperatures, since that will determine if this excess heat effect will ever be of engineering significance. Another class of experiments are needed to test new theories of the microscopic origin of this excess heat effect. Science is fundamentally empirical, so scientists must always be prepared for experimental results that challenge our generally accepted physical models. The Scientific Method, which centers on an effort to disprove the hypothesis under experimental inquiry, must be followed always, with no exceptions.