Morrison versus Fleischmann and Pons

摘要

The early years of cold fusion involved major changes in scientific communications where fax machines and the early Internet (or BITNET) often seemed more influential than scientific journals. This posed a dilemma for Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons regarding "reports" by Douglas Morrison about cold fusion conferences or events that were sent out to many scientists. Morrison's biased reporting was all that many scientists would hear about cold fusion after the initial 1989 excitement. In an April 1992 letter to me Fleischmann states: "And come on Douglas: write some papers for peer reviewed journals." Fleischmann knew that Morrison's statements would not hold up under careful scientific examination. In an extract from another letter from April 1992, Fleischmann states "...We believe that the proper ways for communications with the general scientific public are traditional methods: scientific meetings (where it is generally accepted that papers and lectures presented may not be reported except with the permission of the authors) and peer reviewed papers in learned journals."