Discovery of the Cold Fusion Phenomenon

Eugene Mallove

Infinite Energy Issue 35, 2001, p.43

Professor of Physics Hideo Kozima of Shizuoka University in Japan can rightfully lay claim to having written the first “textbook” on cold fusion, so comprehensive is its content. Written in English, this is evidently a labor of love by one who is both a thoughtful observer of the history of science and a physicist who has developed his own theoretical understanding of diverse cold fusion phenomena. He calls this the “Trapped Neutron Catalyzed Fusion” (TNCF) model, for which he has exhibited considerable passion at international cold fusion conferences and in numerous technical publications.” (In the original sentence, TNCF is written as TCNF by careless mistakes.)

The book blends some of the history of the cold fusion controversy with extensive coverage of the experimental evidence for cold fusion phenomena (including effects in ordinary hydrogen systems), how the author’s TNCF model can explain these, and a perceptive review of many other episodes in the history of physics that seem to have relevance to cold fusion. He posits the existence of catalytic thermal energy neutrons, for which the says: ”If we assume an existence of thermal neutrons in a material, almost all the riddles of the cold fusion phenomenon disappear.”

Kozima’s book is a mixture of highly technical content with very accessible historical and philosophical discussions that illuminate the process of science in the cold fusion controversy. Kozima’s work is not a thorough history of various phases of the cold fusion saga, as are the positive cold fusion books, my own Fire from Ice (1991) and Beaudette’s Excess Heat (2000), which were clearly aimed at more general audiences, though this book too in large measure is certainly accessible to a wide audience. As mentioned, this is more like a textbook of the subject, which offers a potpourri of diverse and expanding areas, such as heavy element transmutation. It is a first work by a pioneer in what are certain to be many more such texts. We understand that other cold fusion scientists may be contemplating or preparing such books. There is a great need for such works to cover the topics of cold fusion calorimetry, nuclear instrumentation, material science, and theory.

It is noteworthy that Kozima’s book is the second excellent cold fusion book from Japan (in English by Japanese cold fusion scientists), the other being Nuclear Transmutation; The Reality of Cold Fusion, by Dr. Tadahiko Mizuno (Infinite Energy Press, 1999). While the latter was expertly translated by Jed Rothwell from its original Japanese, the slight difficulty with the Kozima’s book is its “Japanese English” unevenness, which was not particularly bothersome to this reviewer, and occasionally enjoyable. One very charming example (p. 296): “This Huizenga’s conclusion is one deduced by a poor brain only working on an extension line from muon catalyzed nuclear fusion where occurs surely d-d direct fusion reaction.” It should be noted that Kozima’s book first appeared in hardcover edition in Japanese in March 1997.

Some of the extras offered by Prof. Kozima’s work are independent name and subject indices, thirty-seven pages of cited references, generous presentation of pertinent graphical data, and scientist contributed essays by Makoto Okamoto, Akito Takahashi, Francesco Celani, Benjamin Filimonov, and Peter Glueck. All in all, an impressive book that deserves to be read widely.