Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold FusionAt 1:00 P.M., on March 23, 1989, two obscure scientists at the University of Utah announced that they had discovered salvation in a test tube - cold nuclear fusion. The technology promised sale, cheap, limitless energy, and the press played it as the scientific breakthrough of the century. It would become instead a fiasco of epidemic proportions, an unforgettable morality tale in the scientific method: what happens when reason is perverted by hope and greed. Gary Taubes's Bad Science is the vivid, dramatic, and definitive story of the astonishing quest for cold fusion, from its premature birth in a Utah turf war to its lingering and surreal death in a laboratory in College Station, Texas. It is the story of good scientists and bad, of heroes and charlatans, and of a race in which thousands of researchers spent tens of millions of dollars to prove or disprove the existence of a canard. Drawing from interviews with over 260 scientists, administrators, and journalists, Taubes dissects the cold fusion episode with wit and clarity, tracing the untold inside story of scientific research gone awry and academic politics out of control: from the devout physicist and his Department of Energy funding agent who set the wheels of the fiasco in motion, to the University of Utah president whose sole dream was to turn his institution into an intellectual powerhouse. Taubes unveils the darker side of science, where politics, ambition, and misguided obsession can corrupt its ethics and its purpose. Bad Science is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how science functions and what can happen when the scientific method is jettisoned in the pursuit of wealth and glory. As a story ofmorality, philosophy, and pathology, it is destined to become a classic of science journalism. |
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Page 191
... light water controls began to generate excess heat as well . Said Martin , “ I said , ' Hoo , no , wait a minute . Light water response . This is starting to get screwy . ' 999 Martin did not call Lewis . Instead , he called Pons ...
... light water controls began to generate excess heat as well . Said Martin , “ I said , ' Hoo , no , wait a minute . Light water response . This is starting to get screwy . ' 999 Martin did not call Lewis . Instead , he called Pons ...
Page 196
... light water control . " Doesn't this cast some doubt on the results ? " Cheng asked . Marsh said he'd fill him in after the press conference and suggested that for the time being Cheng not mention it . Lawson was also anxious about the ...
... light water control . " Doesn't this cast some doubt on the results ? " Cheng asked . Marsh said he'd fill him in after the press conference and suggested that for the time being Cheng not mention it . Lawson was also anxious about the ...
Page 451
... light water and it had produced no significant heat . What significant heat meant , however , was unclear . On April 9 , Pons told Chuck Martin that they had done the experiment with ordinary water ; it had produced heat , which was ...
... light water and it had produced no significant heat . What significant heat meant , however , was unclear . On April 9 , Pons told Chuck Martin that they had done the experiment with ordinary water ; it had produced heat , which was ...
Contents
A Collective Derangement of Minds | 107 |
The Tail of the Distribution | 301 |
Epilogue | 425 |
Copyright | |
1 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
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