14 Years Later, Cold Fusion Still Gets The Cold Shoulder

segment writes "It has been 14 years since two little-known electrochemists announced what sounded like the biggest physics breakthrough since Enrico Fermi produced a nuclear chain reaction on a squash court in Chicago. Using a tabletop setup, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, of the University of Utah, said they had induced deuterium nuclei to fuse inside metal electrodes, producing measurable quantities of heat. That was the opening bell for one of the craziest periods in science. Cold fusion, if real, promised to solve the world's energy problems forever. Scientists around the world dropped what they were doing to try to replicate the astounding claim." The linked AP story (carried on SFGate.com) is about the Tenth International Conference on Cold Fusion, which took place in the last week of August.

Comments

Not so, I'm running it right now...

[Art Tatum]

Voila. Seriously, just because you guys are all perl or PHP bigots...

Re: If Real..

[planarian]

A six-pack of Colt 45?

So do your part

[jerde]

Not happy with the stories on /.? Have you submitted any yourself?

Do your part to help. Complaining doesn't fix anything...

- Peter

when cold fusion grows up

[greenguy]

I've heard many times that Zope is what Cold Fusion wants to be when it grows up. Sounds like it's growing up now.

Oh, wait, did you mean the other cold fusion?

Of course Cold Fusion is getting the cold shoulder

[BitwizeGHC]

I mean, even PHP is better than that Cold Fusion stuff. And the world's moved to Java servlets anyway. Where you been?