Michael McKubre

Michael McKubre working on deuterium gas-based cold fusion cell used by SRI International.

Michael McKubre, PhD, is an electro-chemist in the forefront of cold fusion energy development^[1] and one of the most respected scientists in the field.^[2]:2 McKubre was director of the Energy Research Center at SRI International in 1998.^[3] He is a native of New Zealand.^[2]:1

From 1989 to 2002, he has been researching cold fusion in the SRI.^[4] Unlike other researchers in the same field, he has obtained mainstream funding during all his research: first from the Electric Power Research Institute, then from the Japanese government, and in 2002 he had funding from the U.S. government^[4] In 2004 he and other cold fusion researchers asked the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to give a new review to the field of cold fusion, and he co-authored a report with all the available experimental and theorical evidence since the 1989 review.^[5] As of 2010, he was still making experiments with palladium cells in the SRI,^[6] and collaborates with the ENEA laboratory, where the most reliable palladium is being produced.^[7] McKubre more recently took part as one of the 22 physicists of the Steorn "jury".

Personal life

In January 1992, in a SRI lab, a cold fusion cell exploded, killing one of his collaborators and wounded three persons, McKubre among them.^[8] During years he had to return nearly every day to the room where the death happened^[9] and work behind bulletproof glass, and he still has pieces of glass embedded in his side.^[2]:2

Works

• Hagelstein, Peter; Michael, McKubre; Nagel, David; Chubb, Talbot; Hekman, Randall (2004) (PDF). New Physical Effects in Metal Deuterides. Washington: US Department of Energy. http://web.archive.org/web/20070106185101/www.science.doe.gov/Sub/Newsroom/News_Releases/DOE-SC/2004/low_energy/Appendix_1.pdf.  (manuscript) Paper listing the available experimental evidence of cold fusion.

References

1. ^ CBS interview, page 1
2. ^ ^{a b c} Weinberger, 2004
3. ^ Brad Wieners (November 1998). "Michael McKubre & Edmund Storms Give Birth To The Cool". Wired (6.11). http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.11/wired25.html?pg=25. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Interview of McKubre and Beaudette, by KUER from University of Utah, audio file, 2002-11-27
5. ^ U.S. Department of Energy (2004) (PDF). Report of the Review of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy. http://web.archive.org/web/20080226210800/http://www.science.doe.gov/Sub/Newsroom/News_Releases/DOE-SC/2004/low_energy/CF_Final_120104.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-19. 
6. ^ Chemistry Roundup, Science Friday, March 26, 2010
7. ^ CBS interview, page 2
8. ^ Sheldon, 2008, page 377
9. ^ Wieners, 1998

External links

• Interview with CBS' 60 Minutes
• Weinberger, Sharon (2004-11-21). "Warming Up to Cold Fusion". Washington Post: W22. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54964-2004Nov16.html. "For years the experiments took place behind bulletproof glass, the result of a 1992 accident that killed one of his colleagues. McKubre still has bits of glass embedded in his side from the cold fusion experiment that exploded that day in his lab (the blast had nothing to do with fusion; hydrogen mixed with oxygen, creating the equivalent of rocket fuel)." 
• Sheldon, E. (September–October 2008). "An overview of almost 20 years' research on cold fusion". Contemporary Physics 49 (5): 375–378. Bibcode 2008ConPh..49..375S. doi:10.1080/00107510802465229. "an explosion in January 1992 caused a cold fusion cell at SRI International in Menlo Park to blow up violently while Andrew Riley was bending over it, killing him instantly and wounding three other researchers, including Michael McKubre, who headed SRI’s research team (the incident is described in New Scientist, 11 January 1992, 1803, p. 12ff)." 
• Wieners, Brad (November 1998). "Michael McKubre & Edmund Storms Give Birth To The Cool". Wired (6.11). http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.11/wired25.html?pg=25. 

External links

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