Stanley Pons

Stanley Pons
Born (1943-08-23) August 23, 1943 (age 81)
Valdese, North Carolina, U.S.
CitizenshipFrench[1]
(formerly American)[2]
Known forFleischmann–Pons cold fusion experiment
Scientific career
FieldsElectrochemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of Utah
Doctoral advisorAlan Bewick

Bobby Stanley Pons (born August 23, 1943) is an American electrochemist known for his work with Martin Fleischmann on cold fusion in the 1980s and 1990s.[3]

Early life

Pons was born in Valdese, North Carolina. He attended Valdese High School, then Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he studied chemistry. He began his PhD studies in chemistry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but left before completing his PhD. His thesis resulted in a paper, co-authored in 1967 with Harry B. Mark, his adviser. The New York Times wrote that it pioneered a way to measure the spectra of chemical reactions on the surface of an electrode.[4]

He decided to finish his PhD in England at the University of Southampton, where in 1975 he met Martin Fleischmann. Pons was a student in Alan Bewick's group; he earned his PhD in 1978.[4]

Career

On March 23, 1989, while Pons was the chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Utah,[4] he and Martin Fleischmann announced the experimental production of "N-Fusion", which was quickly labeled by the press cold fusion.[5] After a short period of public acclaim, hundreds of scientists attempted to reproduce the effects but generally failed.[6] After the claims were found to be unreproducible, the scientific community determined the claims were incomplete and inaccurate.[7][6][8][9][10][11]

Pons moved to France in 1992, along with Fleischmann, to work at a Toyota-sponsored laboratory. The laboratory closed in 1998 after a £12 million research investment without conclusive results.[12] He gave up his US citizenship[2] and became a French citizen.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Platt, Charles (1998). "What if Cold Fusion is Real?". Wired Magazine. Vol. 6, no. 11. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
  2. ^ a b Weinberger, Sharon (2004-11-21). "Warming Up to Cold Fusion". Washington Post. p. W22. Archived from the original on 2007-08-10. (page 2 of online version)
  3. ^ "Nuclear fusion", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011, accessed May 6, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c William J. Broad (1989-05-09). "Brilliance and Recklessness Seen in Fusion Collaboration". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Fleischmann, M; Pons S; Hawkins M (1989). "Electrochemically induced nuclear fusion of deuterium". J. Electroanal. Chem. 261 (2): 301. doi:10.1016/0022-0728(89)80006-3.
  6. ^ a b Adil E. Shamoo; David B. Resnik (2003). Oxford University Press US (ed.). Responsible Conduct of Research (2, illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 76, 97. ISBN 0-19-514846-0.
  7. ^ Taubes, Gary (1993). Bad science: the short life and weird times of cold fusion. New York: Random House. pp. 6. ISBN 0-394-58456-2.
  8. ^ Bart Simon (2002). Rutgers University Press (ed.). Undead Science: Science Studies and the Afterlife of Cold Fusion (illustrated ed.). Rutgers University Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-8135-3154-3.
  9. ^ Henry Krips; J. E. McGuire; Trevor Melia (1995). University of Pittsburgh Press (ed.). Science, Reason, and Rhetoric (illustrated ed.). University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. xvi. ISBN 0-8229-3912-6.
  10. ^ Michael B. Schiffer; Kacy L. Hollenback; Carrie L. Bell (2003). University of California Press (ed.). Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment (illustrated ed.). University of California Press. pp. 207. ISBN 0-520-23802-8.
  11. ^ Thomas F. Gieryn (1999). University of Chicago Press (ed.). Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line (illustrated ed.). University of Chicago Press. pp. https://books.google.com/books?id=GljD3CHbDx0C&pg=PA204 204. ISBN 0-226-29262-2.
  12. ^ Voss, D (1999-03-01). "What Ever Happened to Cold Fusion". Physics World. 12 (3): 12–14. doi:10.1088/2058-7058/12/3/14.