Within weeks of the public revelation of the historic Fleischmann-Pons experiment that produced a disproportionate amount of heat when electricity was passed through palladium-in-heavy water, as many as 50 scientists in BARC were working on the new hot topic: cold fusion. It was the largest such group of cold fusion researchers anywhere in the world, drawn from many disciplines. Less than a month after the process was announced, on March 23, 1989, they saw first proof that the phenomenon was indeed for real. There were 12 independent groups of scientists working on this. Ten of these got what could be called positive results. One scientist who was especially curious about the phenomenon, was Dr Mahadeva Srinivasan, who later retired as the head of the Neutron Physics Department, and Associate Director of the Physics Group. Dr Srinivasan was no stranger to nuclear science. His specialisation was in nuclear engineering, reactor physics, criticality, neutron measurements, etc. He’d earlier helped with the neutronic design of the Pokhran nuclear device; led the team that designed the U233-fuelled Kamini reactor at Kalpakkam. By the time he and Dr P K Iyengar, the then director of BARC, met Fleischmann in Salt Lake City a year after the original disclosure, and compared notes, Dr Srinivasan had become an enthusiastic advocate of cold fusion. Fleischman told Dr Iyengar that CIA had him under observation, mostly because these experiments yielded tritium, used to make hydrogen bombs, as a by-product.
A couple of months later, Dr Iyengar became the Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, and Dr R Chidambaram became the Director of BARC. As an institution where over 3,500 scientists and engineers work, BARC is usually open to frontline research based on relevance and excellence. In case of applied research, the criterion was relevance to national nuclear energy goals. In case of basic theoretical research, it was another matter—a shot in the dark, illuminated only by the occasional refereed paper which got published. Perhaps because ‘cold fusion’ was being cold shouldered by mainstream international laboratories, possibly due to the enormous funding hot fusion was getting, or because of a lack of chemistry between him and Iyengar, or because he was a much more conservative scientist than Iyengar, or because of a combination of these factors and more—Chidambaram began pouring cold water, lots of it, over the experiments. He didn’t want BARC to become the standard bearer of spurious science, and bring ignominy to the hallowed institution. “I think cold fusion is nonsense. I’ll not give institutional support to this business,” he told Srinivasan, adding, “But you’re welcome to continue these experiments in your individual capacity.” The effect was chilling: when the Director laid down the line, one by one, other scientists began to back off, not wanting to risk their careers, reducing enthusiasts to a few. In time, even that petered out. Srinivasan (and a few enthusiasts) was left to plough a lonely furrow till he retired seven years later, convinced, however, he had seen the light.
That nobody anywhere in the world had a demonstrable breakthrough, added to the mistrust of the phenomenon. That breakthrough appears to have finally arrived in 2011, of which more next week.
sudarshan@newindianexpress.com
