It’s been twenty-three years since the announcement of the discovery of cold fusion, and yet, this powerful solution to our energy needs is not even recognized by the Department of Energy (DoE), despite the interest of other federal agencies like NASA and the military.

In trying to understand why, I learned that it was the top science schools in the U.S. who produced negative reports early in 1989 that influenced both federal policy and mainstream academic science, and still do today. Read Remove Institutional Blocks for more.

In that year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and California Institute of Technology (CalTech) conducted experiments to test the claims of Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, two scientists who had discovered a powerful form of energy that could be created in a test tube. These experiments by MIT and CalTech were to be the centerpiece of the DoE’s Energy Research Advisory Board report, a report that would determine the federal response to cold fusion and shape energy policy at the highest level of government.

However, as long as twenty years ago, several studies have shown that the experiments conducted by MIT and CalTech were seriously flawed. Dr. Mitchell Swartz of JET Energy and the designer of the NANOR device still on public display at the MIT campus, did the first analysis showing that some temperature data had been shifted downwards, with no adequate reason given for why.

Since then, Dr. Melvin Miles, a former university chemistry professor and Navy researcher, has performed several studies on the calorimetry of MIT and CalTech finding major mistakes in experimental procedure and heat measurement. The most recent analysis was published in the Journal of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science and co-authored by Dr. Peter Hagelstein, an MIT electrical-engineering professor, and the lone cold fusion researcher on the campus. [.pdf]

I met with Dr. Miles to talk about his work de-constructing the original style Fleischmann-Pons electrolytic cell, and becoming an expert at calorimetry, the art of measuring heat. I wanted to ask him about these early studies that had such influence, and what went wrong. Our conversation ensued for over four hours.

We met at the Chemistry Department at University of LaVerne where Dr. Miles had previously taught and we were joined by Dr. Iraj Parchamazad, Chairman of the Chemistry Department there. Dr. Parchamazad is also a cold fusion researcher who has recently had an amazing success in generating excess heat from palladium-loaded zeolites exposed to a deuterium gas. With no energy input besides that needed to make the zeolites, he is able to get a huge energy return. I will be writing about Dr. Parchamazad’s work in an upcoming article.

These first two videos discuss Miles’ work on calorimetry, on which he has spent two decades of his career.

This is not a discussion about technology, but science. The cells on which Miles works are research experiments, designed to determine variables, and answer the multiple criticisms that have kept this science out of the mainstream. The skills he has developed in calorimetry make him one of the top scientists in the world with this specialty.

I provide for you here this fascinating look into a meticulous researcher’s inner process of discovery, a scientific experiment that has lasted for two straight decades, and which only recently has begun to provide a preliminary model for the mysterious and mercurial cold fusion reaction.

Armed with Science to Fight Climate Change an interview with Melvin Miles from University of LaVerne Campus Times March 2, 2007

“The government needs to be exploring energy alternatives and cold fusion is being ignored,” Miles said. “Even if there is a small chance it will work, it should be explored.”

“There is enough deuterium in the oceans to fulfill the energy needs of the world for 13 billion years. One gram of deuterium costs $20 and has the energy equivalent of 2400 gallons of gasoline. Also, the fusion of deuterium does not cause greenhouse gases that produce global warning.

“Science today is a new type of religion,” Miles said. “New discoveries or concepts that don’t agree with the scientific scriptures are to be banished without a fair hearing.”

Most 4-year-olds’ interests lie in toys, cartoons and cookies.

However, Melvin Miles, research electrochemist, was curious about the moon, stars and electricity.

“I tried to generate electricity at about age 4 by using baling wire, a light bulb, and stolen matches, and received one of my early spankings,” Miles said.

At age 8, he became hooked on chemistry when he experimented with his dad’s chemicals in the family barn.

He began reading his father’s books to learn about chemistry.

Miles went on to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Utah with a major in physical chemistry and a minor in physics. He wanted to become a scientist.

Now at age 70, Miles begins his day with a five mile run. He then researches thermal batteries at the China Lake Navy laboratory.”

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