Physicists who meddle with cold fusion, like psychologists who dabble in the paranormal, are likely to be labelled quacks by their peers. This is due to an infamous incident in 1989 when Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann held a press conference to announce their discovery of nuclear fusion in what amounted to a test-tube full of water connected to a battery. In particular, they said that they were getting more energy out of the process than they put into it. Their result was instantly dubbed "cold fusion", to contrast it with giant fusion-reactor experiments that attempt to reproduce the ultra-high temperatures found inside the sun. But when it failed to stand up to scrutiny, confusion—and eventually outrage—ensued.
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