Excellent article by Ethan Siegel and Peter Thieberger.
http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/12/the_nuclear_physics_of_why_we.php
Dec 072011
sbkrivit
Dec 052011
Yan Kucherov, a low-energy nuclear reactions researcher who had worked with the Naval Research Laboratory as well as with ENECO, died early Sunday morning in Alexandria, Va, Dec. 4, 2011 after a battle with cancer. He was 61.
Yan Kucherov – Photo by Ed Wall
Graham K, Hubler, head of the materials and sensors branch at NRL remembered Kucherov with fondness.
“Yan was a true friend, outstanding human being and a talented colleague whose honor and integrity knew no bounds,” Hubler wrote. “He will be sorely missed at NRL and by colleagues around the world.”
[Updated Dec. 7: Yan R. Kucherov, Born in Kharkov, U.S.S.R. on Feb. 23, 1951, Departed on Dec. 4, 2011 and resided in Alexandria, VA. Services: Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm]
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Dec 042011
[Ed: See follow-up story here: More Slides From Sept. 22 NASA LENR Innovation Forum. See Rossi Story Index here.]
On Sept. 22, NASA conducted a LENR Innovation Forum workshop at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Speakers included NASA scientists Joseph Zawodny, Gustave Fralick, Michael Nelson, Jim Dunn and Dennis Bushnell and retired University of Illinois professor George Miley.
New Energy Times obtained three of the slide presentations under a FOIA request.
Zawodny Slides
Nelson Slides
Bushnell Slides
At the meeting, Bushnell, the chief scientist at NASA Langley, said that LENR has a strong potential for a new source of energy. He was optimistic about nickel powder LENR solutions.
“The temperature you can get out of [LENR] is interesting,” Bushnell said. “We’ve had to be careful [in our research in] terms of the energetics. I don’t think there is a power [limitation] problem.
“I think the problem now is of raw courage to look into something that is new. We’ve been fortunate to have a center director at Langley that has the courage to support us to do this. We’ve been at it for three or four years.
“The U.S. efforts on this, for reasons I don’t understand, haven’t gone to the Widom-Larsen theory. They also haven’t gone to try to understand the 18 years of hydrogen-nickel [work] with really superb intellectual content. We need to get off of the Pons-Fleischmann electrochemistry and get into flow systems.”
At the meeting, Bushnell also spoke about Andrea Rossi, the inventor of the Energy Catalyzer.
“We intend to core down on the Rossi stuff and find out what’s real and what’s not,” Bushnell said. “But Rossi’s business is hard to explain other than with some kind of LENR. The Rossi stuff is probably wholly Edisonian and not totally understood, which is an understatement. But we can probably understand it at some point.”
Bushnell failed to mention that NASA had already made attempts to perform due diligence on the Rossi device. Some of the people involved in those attempts were in attendance at this workshop.
In the timeline shown in Nelson’s slides, Nelson omitted the Sept. 5 and 6, 2011 Rossi device tests performed in Bologna for engineers representing Quantum Energy Technologies. NASA representatives were present both days.
One of the eye-witnesses, a former NASA staff member, saw problems from the moment they arrived there.
“Rossi changed the game totally.” the witness said. “From the test plan, the device, everything. There was nothing there that we had agreed on. He had a 30 liter reservoir in there and he wouldn’t even let us see what was in the box or weigh the box.”
The Sept. 5 demonstration was inconclusive; Rossi’s device sprang a leak. The Sept. 6 demonstration was inconclusive; there was no outflow of steam or water.
On the second day, when the former NASA staff member asked Rossi if his device had an internal reservoir, Rossi became enraged. Quantum’s engineers left but NASA engineers offered to come back in a few days to give Rossi time to fix the flow. Rossi declined their offer. He said he was “too busy.”
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Dec 012011
Dario Braga, the director of scientific research at the University of Bologna, has clarified several points regarding the university’s official relationship with Andrea Rossi, inventor of the Energy Catalyzer.
First, Braga has given New Energy Times a more precise timeframe for how long it will wait until Rossi activates the research contract to study his Energy Catalzyer. The research contract, which was signed six months ago, becomes active only when Rossi makes his first payment to the university.
Second, Braga explained why the university considers its scientists not to have “carried out” any E-Cat experiments and why they have only “attended as observers to E-Cat experiments.”
Braga told “7 Gold News TV Magazine” in Italy on Nov. 27 that the university will not wait much longer for Rossi to make the first payment.
“The Rossi contract must start soon; otherwise, the University of Bologna can withdraw from the contract,” Braga said. “It must be understood that the period can be a few weeks, maybe a few months, but for sure not years.”
Dario Braga, Photo Courtesy Il Resto Del Carlino
New Energy Times asked Braga yesterday whether the university had set a specific deadline for the first payment.
“The deadline for this is mid-January, and, as far as I know, an extension is unlikely,” Braga wrote.
On Nov. 11, New Energy Times published a news report based on the Nov. 5 press release from the university, titled “E-CAT: UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA IS NOT INVOLVED.”
New Energy Times asked Braga yesterday for a clarification of the involvement of professor Giuseppe Levi, who organized the Jan. 14, 2011, press conference for and demonstration of Rossi’s device, wrote the press release for the event, performed calorimetric measurements for Rossi’s device, wrote and distributed a scientific report of his calorimetry, worked with Rossi to run another experiment on Feb. 10 for 18 hours, reported results of that experiment to the news media, and participated in another Rossi experiment on April 3, 2011.
New Energy Times also asked Braga for a clarification of the involvement of professor Mauro Villa and student David Bianchini, each of whom had written and distributed scientific reports on behalf of Rossi.
In a New Energy Times video interview, Rossi had stated that Bianchini was a professor at the university and that Rossi was paying Bianchini a consulting fee to take radiation measurements of Rossi’s device.
Braga explained the university’s perspective to New Energy Times today in an e-mail.
“Faculty of the University of Bologna are not part of the Rossi device evaluation until the university can start with its own experiments,” Braga wrote. “There is nothing we can do to prevent our scientists from attending outside demonstrations at a private location or to prevent them from providing their own opinions as researchers on a scientific experiment. These behaviors are not illicit and do not carry any formal or informal implication on the level of involvement of the University of Bologna on the matter.
“Bianchini is not an employee of our university but a student and should not have used the Department of Physics as his affiliation in writing the safety report. We are investigating this matter further. Professor Villa’s and professor Levi’s reports were circulated and prepared long before the contract between Rossi and the Department of Physics was actually signed and were for internal purposes. Once again, these reports do not carry any implication about the involvement of the University of Bologna in Rossi’s demonstrations.”
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Nov 282011
Thomas Blakeslee, a writer and investor in alternative energy, contacted me two weeks ago with his concerns and critique about my news coverage of Andrea Rossi, inventor of the Energy Catalyzer. We exchanged several e-mails.
Unlike some Rossi fans, Blakeslee has expressed his point of view in detail and with sincerity.
Blakeslee has stated many points and expressed perspectives that I do not agree with. Blakeslee has made statements about Rossi and his device that appear to be unsupported by fact.
However, Blakeslee has not hidden behind an anonymous screen name, but instead, he has taken personal responsibility for his views and statements. I respect this. Our exchange is listed on this page.
