ELECTRONICS
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY DIVISION SEMINAR
Speaker David J. Nagel
Affiliation The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
Date Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Time 130 PM
Place Bldg. 208, Room 260A
Abstract
The problems
attending cold fusion can be classified as systemic and
technical. Breakdowns in communication between those
involved in cold fusion research and both the scientific
community and the public, and also the difficulty in
getting funding for cold fusion research, are systemic
problems. The technical problems associated with cold
fusion have included inadequate instrumentation,
incomplete materials analysis, complex protocols and,
most critically, early lack of reproducibility. Despite
these problems, there has been major experimental
progress in the past fifteen years. Dozens of
"positive" experiments have been run by
competent and credentialed investigators, who used
adequate instrumentation, which was properly calibrated
before, during and after the experiments.
Reproducibility has improved significantly. The 10th
International Conference on Cold Fusion was held in
Cambridge MA in August of 2003. An overview of the
conference will be presented to illustrate the continual
progress in the field. Several prospects for cold fusion
are in the offing. A two-step plan to move toward
returning cold fusion to the status of an ordinary field
of scientific inquiry has been developed. The plan
includes, first, a comprehensive review of the
literature and, second, a national study to determine
the status of the field and to recommend what ought to
be done. It is already clear that a program on cold
fusion should include development of better
instrumentation and materials, an expanded theoretical
effort and two types of experiments, namely replications
of already reported successful experiments and the
pursuit of the many ideas for new experiments. The
bottom line: despite many problems, nuclear reactions
can occur at low energies, so cold fusion is real, and
what to do about it seems clear.
David J.
Nagel received a B.S. degree (1960) in Engineering
Science from the University of Notre Dame and graduate
degrees (M.S. in Physics, 1969 and Ph.D. in Engineering
Materials, 1977) from the University of Maryland. He
joined the civilian staff of the Naval Research
Laboratory in 1964, where he held positions as a
Research Physicist, Section Head, Branch Head and,
finally, Superintendent of the Condensed Matter and
Radiation Sciences Division. In this last position,
Nagel was a member of the Senior Executive Service, and
managed the experimental and theoretical research and
development efforts of 150 government, contractor and
other personnel. He has written or co-authored over 150
technical articles, reports, book chapters and
encyclopedia articles. Nagel spent 30 years on active
and reserve duty for the Navy and retired as a Captain
in 1990. He became a Research Professor in the School of
Engineering and Applied Science of The George Washington
University in 1998. His current interests include
applications of MEMS and nano-technologies, as well as
low energy nuclear reactions.
Host: G.M.
Borsuk 767-3525
Tina M. Chops
Code 1000A
Naval Research Laboratory
Voice: 202-767-3404
FAX: 202-404-7419
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