Cold Fusion: The Making of a Scientific Controversy - Hardcover

Peat, F. David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809242435 ISBN 13: 9780809242436

Publisher: Contemporary Books, 1989

Synopsis

The "cold fusion story" is told here in about the degree of detail characteristic of the special features pages of a good newspaper; those who followed the story as it broke will encounter here little or nothing that is new, but others may find this a handy resource. The author provides enough simple background material to permit non-scientific readers to understand the technical points at issue, and has been at pains not to take sides. The story may retain no relevance to the enduring substance of science, but it reveals tellingly some disturbing aspects of the contemporary practice of science. Nicely produced for a book rushed so quickly into print (the story "began", in a certain sense, on March 23, 1989 less than a year ago!), with a few simple figures. (NW) Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

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Reviews

YA-- A well-written, informative book that is an excellent source for a term paper on science, the politics of science, or the relationship of science to government and society. The announcement of the achievement of "cold fusion" by chemists at the University of Utah in March 1989 was the source of tremendous excitement in the scientific world and the beginning of a vast and unusual controversy surrounding the ensuing attempts to verify their claim. Cold Fusion is not only a summary of these events, but also a comprehensive summary of the science of cold and hot fusion, the history of fusion research, and the political and social impact of energy technology development. The science is ably presented without dilution or oversimplication in spite of the complexity of the topic. It is objective to a fault, as Peat makes little attempt to distinguish between the validity of sources of the observations reported. The book is thorough as a source of facts on this issue up to midsummer 1989, and it also summarizes the possible separate pathways for the future of cold fusion that further research will dicate.
- Douglas Stickle, University of Texas
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Peat ( Superstrings and the Theory of Everything ) here probes the background of the cold fusion furor that broke out early this year when chemists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann of the University of Utah announced that they had sustained a fusion reaction of hydrogen isotopes in a test tube. If verified, their discovery promises the world a limitless supply of cheap energy. Previously, fusion was thought possible only at temperatures found in the heart of the sun. However, other scientists have been unable to confirm Pons and Fleischmann's results, casting considerable doubt on cold fusion. Peat, who remains an agnostic on whether cold fusion is real, does, however, limn what an energy-rich world might look like in this competent, readable account of a highly controversial issue in contemporary science.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Contemporary Books
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0809242435
• ISBN 13: 9780809242436
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 188