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The Cold Fusion Institute at the University of Utah has sacked Stanley
Pons and Martin Fleischmann, the two scientists who claimed to have discovered
cold fusion (see ‘Whatever happened to cold fusion?’, this issue). ‘Pons
and Fleischmann have not been accountable in reporting to the institute,
its directors, or the board,’ says Fritz Will, the institute’s director.
‘It has not been an amicable relationship.’

The two scientists, members of the institute since its inception in
May 1989, have been reluctant to share data with the 17 other scientists
at the institute. Last November, Pons failed to appear at a review of the
latest research held at the university in Salt Lake City.

The two scientists will now report their findings to James Brophy, the
university’s vice president. The state, which funds the institute, has told
them to surrender their research notebooks to Wilford Hansen, a physicist
at the university, says John Morris, the university’s vice president for
academic affairs. If they do not comply within 90 days, their funding will
be cut off. According to Will, the pair share $340,000 of the institute’s
budget.

Will says nuclear evidence – neutron emissions and tritium byproducts
– exists for something ‘that clearly does not fit into the realm of traditional
nuclear physics’. Heat from the reaction, as reported by Pons and Fleischmann,
has not been reliably produced, however. Nor has cause-and-effect between
nuclear events and heat been established, says Will.

Last week, Pons distanced himself further from the university, where
he is professor of chemistry, by asking for new status as a ‘research’ professor.
Recent developments, Pons told the university, ‘require an even greater
commitment of time on my part to explore and develop the technology’ of
cold fusion. The new status frees him from teaching and administrative duties,
says Morris.

Also last week, four scientists asked by the state of Utah to assess
the work at the institute, concluded that no firm evidence of fusion has
emerged anywhere. The panel approved the institute’s scientific standards,
however.

The four panel members reported each of their findings separately, confusing
the verdict. The panel’s physicist, Robert Adair of Yale University, complained
that Pons and Fleischmann did not share their research with the panel. Until
they do, says Adair, ‘those programmes cannot be judged scientifically’.