COLD FUSION FOUNDER MARTIN FLEISCHMANN
HONORED AT ROME CONFERENCE

Marianne Macy
Rome, Italy — October 5, 2009

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, friends, associates…you know each other very well, and if you don’t, you should see to it this time that you form a close association so that you are able to pursue this topic to its conclusion. If not conclusion, then to the beginning of the end. I think that when we started this work we had no real expectation that we would succeed in proving anything. That is why our measurements in the early days were incomplete. However, as metals developed, we became convinced we were on to a new phenomenon. Whether it is entirely new or not remains to be seen. I think it is a new phenomenon and as we develop the subject it will become clear what the boundary conditions of this new phenomenon are. It’s highly appropriate this metal should be presented in Italy because of the outstanding work which has been contributed by the Italians to the understanding of the phenomenon...”

—Martin Fleischmann

The scene was the Castel Sant’ Angelo, a romantic cylindrical building in Rome overlooking the Tiber River with the city sweeping below under a silvery near full moon. The occasion was a celebration dinner, twenty years after electrochemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced to the world their discovery of a phenomenon that would come to be known as the Fleischmann-Pons effect. Despite opposition, researchers from around the world continued work in the multidisciplinary science. ICCF15, the International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, is currently running in Rome, October 5-9, in the Angelicum Conference Center. After a day of seminars, a feast of Italian food and wines now lead to the presentation of the Toyoda award by Bill Collis of the International Society of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (ISCMNS) and physicist Akito Takahashi, former President of ISCMNS and the Japanese Cold Fusion Society.

It was a triumphant homecoming for Martin Fleischmann, who was warmly welcomed back by scientists and researchers in the field he had started. Unable to attend the last several conferences due to health concerns, Fleischmann had gone to the United States in June to work with cold fusion researcher and 2008 Preparata Medal winner Irv Dardik, whose Lifewaves health program is both the basis for a health regime and the foundation of the ideas of Superwaves, a protocol used by Energetics Laboratory in Omer, Israel that has resulted in successful experiments.

“It wasn’t always certain that Martin would be able to come, but it’s just fantastic he is here,” said SRI’s Michael McKubre. “We minted a medal specially for him, and he deserves it.”

Charlotte Fleischmann, Martin’s daughter, addressed the crowd to express her own thanks: “I just would not have believed that it would be possible for him to be here tonight. Until last Friday, I had not seen my father since mid-June when he and my mother left to go to America at the very, very kind invitation of Irv and Alison and their team. The transformation in him, when I saw him on Friday, was absolutely amazing. It was so brilliant. It was like getting my Dad back. I’m almost at loss for words, but not quite,” she said, getting a hearty laugh. “When they arranged for Mom and Dad to go over to America, as a family we didn’t really have any expectations at all. We hoped it would help. We didn’t know it necessarily would. But what actually happened is that I believe it has given Dad a whole new lease on life. I am sure he feels that way too. So hooray for the program and America. I want to say that being here tonight seems like a totally appropriate occasion for my father to receive this award because of the amazing research that has been done by the Italians and the fantastic positive contribution that they have made to this field and also to the Japanese, who have been a fantastic, stalwart backup of the whole thing. So onwards and upwards…”

Researchers from all over the world had upbeat comments on the occasion. Francesco Celani, from the Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Frascati, Rome) stated, “We are lucky because we meet Martin again and he is in good shape. I think it will be more interesting because he is here.”

Ed Storms, Los Alamos National Laboratory (Retired), indicated, “It’s absolutely appropriate that he gets the rewards and adulation of the people in the field that he helped start. I’m glad that he is well enough to attend. He started the field, and so at this point everyone’s job here is dependant upon what he discovered.”

Ivan Chernov, physicist from Tomsk Polytechnic University (Tomsk, Russia), said, “I think he made a very interesting short talk about what is important to understand about this phenomenon. He especially emphasized that the electromagnetic field is important. I agree with him because we now have developed this idea too. We are observing nuclear reactions stimulated by electrons with metals that appear to have a strong oscillation of electron density and a strong electric field which allows it to accelerate atoms of deuterium in these materials.”