New York Times Story on Fleischmann
Aug. 13, 2012
Source: The New York Times
Martin Fleischmann made the greatest discovery since fire: replicating the furnace of the sun at room temperature in a jar of water, essentially solving the world’s energy needs forever.
That is how Dr. Fleischmann might have liked his obituary to read. On March 23, 1989, when he and a colleague announced that they had achieved nuclear fusion in their laboratory, it even seemed possible. News reports heralded the scientists’ “star in a jar.”
But when Dr. Fleischmann died at age 85 on Aug. 3 at his home in Tisbury, England, what had once seemed the peak achievement of a highly honored electrochemist had long been discredited. His dream of generating more energy from an enclosed space than was put into it is still being pursued.
His friend Steven B. Krivit, who confirmed the death, edits an online newsletter, New Energy Times, to report on developments in the field. He said that Dr. Fleischmann suffered from heart ailments, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.
