FOREWORD*

Frank E. Gordon**

Twelve years have passed since the announcement on 23 March 1989 by Professors Fleischmann and Pons that the generation of excess enthalpy occurs in electrochemical cells when palladium electrodes, immersed in D₂O + LiOH electrolyte, are negatively polarized. The announcement, which came to be known as "Cold Fusion," caused frenzied excitement. In both the scientific and news communities, fax machines were used to pass along fragments of rumor and "facts." (Yes, this was before wide spread use of the internet. One can only imagine what would happen now.) Companies and individuals rushed to file patents on yet to be proven ideas in hopes of winning the grand prize. Unfortunately, the phenomenon described by Fleischmann and Pons was far from being understood and even factors necessary for repeatability of the experiments were unknown. Over the next few months, the scientific community became divided into the "believers" and the "skeptics." The "believers" reported the results of their work with enthusiasm that at times overstated the significance of their results. On the other hand, many "skeptics" rejected the anomalous behavior of the polarized Pd/D system as a matter of conviction, i.e., without analyzing the presented material and always asking "where are the neutrons?" Funding for research quickly dried up as anything related to "Cold Fusion" was portrayed as a hoax and not worthy of funding. The term "Cold Fusion" took oil a new definition much as the Ford Edsel had done years earlier.

By the Second International Conference on Cold Fusion, held at Villa Olmo, Como, Italy, in June/July 1991, the attitude toward Cold Fusion was beginning to take. on a more scientific basis. The number of flash‑in‑the-pan "believers" had diminished, and the "skeptics" were beginning to be faced with having to explain the anomalous phenomenon, which by this time had been observed by many credible scientists throughout the world. Shortly after this conference, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) proposed a collaborative effort involving the Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center, RDT&E Division, which subsequently has become the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego (SSC San Diego); the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake; and the Naval Research Laboratory (NR.L). The effort's basic premise was to investigate the anomalous effects associated with the prolonged charging of the Pd/D system and "to contribute in collegial fashion to a coordinated tri-laboratory experiment."

Each laboratory took a different area of research. At San Diego, our goal was to understand the conditions that initiate the excess heat generation (the Fleischmann‑Pons effect) and the search for evidence that indicates their nuclear origin. To eliminate the long incubation times (often weeks), Drs. Stall Szpak and Pam Boss decided to prepare the palladium electrodes by the co‑deposition technique. Initially, they concentrated oil tritium production and the monitoring of emanating radiation. More recently, they extended their effort to monitoring surface temperature via I1R. imaging technique and showed the existence of discrete heat sources randomly distributed in time and space. This discovery may prove to be a significant contribution to the understanding of the phenomenon.

At China Lake., Dr. Miles and his collaborators showed that a correlation exists between the rate of the excess enthalpy generation and the quantity of helium in the gas stream. Such a correlation is the direct evidence of the nuclear origin of the Fleischmann‑Pons effect.

The research at NRL was directed toward the metallurgy of palladium and its alloys and the theoretical aspects of the Fleischmann‑Pons effect. In particular, Dr. Imam prepared Pd/B alloys that Dr. Miles used in calorimetric experiments. It was shown that these alloys yielded reproducible excess enthalpy generation with minimal incubation times (approximately 1 day). The theoretical work of Dr. Chubb contributed much to our understanding of the Fleischmann‑Pons effect.

Although funding for Cold Fusion ended several years ago, progress in understanding the phenomenon continues at a much slower pace, mostly through the unpaid efforts of dedicated inquisitive scientists. In preparation of this report the authors spent countless hours outside of their normal duties to jointly review their past and current contributions, including the "hidden" agenda that Professor Fleischmann pursued for several years in the 1980s when he. was partially funded by ONR. Special thanks are extended to all scientists who have worked under these conditions, including those who contributed to this report, and especially to Professor Fleischmann.

As I write this Foreword, California is experiencing rolling blackouts due to power shortages. Conventional engineering, planned ahead, could have prevented these blackouts, but it has been politically expedient to ignore the inevitable. We do not know if Cold Fusion will be the answer to future energy needs, but we do know the existence of Cold Fusion phenomenon through repeated observations by scientists throughout the world. It is time that this phenomenon he investigated so that we can reap whatever benefits accrue from additional scientific understanding. It is time for government funding organizations to invest in this research.

**Dr. Frank E. Gordon

Head, Navigation and Applied Sciences Department

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego

(*Foreword to Technical Report No.1862 “Thermal and Nuclear Aspects of the Pd/D₂O System,” by S. Szpak and P.A. Mosier-Boss, February 2002, of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego, Navy Laboratory, USA)