Rusi Taleyarkhan

Rusi P. Taleyarkhan is a faculty member in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University since 2003. Prior to that, he was on staff at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1977 and MS and PhD (Nuclear Engineering and Science) degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1978 and 1982 respectively. He also holds an MBA (Business Administration) from RPI. [cite web
url = https://engineering.purdue.edu/NE/People/?group_id=2780&resource_id=3700
title = Rusi Taleyarkhan profile at Purdue University
accessdate = 2007-05-13 ] He was judged guilty of research misconduct for "falsification of the research record" by a Purdue review board in July, 2008. [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-misconduct19-2008jul19,0,1765099.story Purdue physicist found guilty of misconduct - Los Angeles Times ] ]

Sonofusion work and controversy

In 2002, while a senior scientist at ORNL, Taleyarkhan published a paper on fusion achieved by bombarding a container of liquid solvent with strong ultrasonic vibrations, a process known as sonofusion or bubble fusion. In theory, the vibrations collapsed gas bubbles in the solvent, heating them to temperatures high enough to fuse hydrogen atoms and release energy. Following his move from Oak Ridge to Purdue in 2003, Taleyarkhan published additional papers about his research in this area.

Numerous other scientists, however, were not able to replicate Taleyarkhan's work, including published articles in Phys. Rev. Lett. from the University of Gottingen, from UCLA, from University of Illinois, and from former colleagues at Oak Ridge National Labs.

Taleyarkhan's results were reportedly repeated by Edward Forringer of LeTourneau University in Taleyarkhan's own labs at Purdue in November 2006,cite journal
last = Forringer
first = Edward R.
authorlink = Edward Forringer
coauthors = David Robbins, Jonathan Martin
date = 12 November 2006
title = Confirmation of Neutron Production During Self-Nucleated Acoustic Cavitation
journal = Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
volume = v. 95
pages = p. 736
id = ISSN 0003-018X ] . Purdue decided at that time not to further investigate initial narrowly defined charges of misconduct against Taleyarkhan made by other members of the Purdue Faculty.cite news
first = Kenneth
last = Chang
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/science/13purd.html
title = Researcher Cleared of Misconduct, but Case Is Still Murky
work = New York Times
edition = Late Edition (Final)
page = F-4
date = February 13, 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-13 ]

The "Chronicle of Higher Education", however, has noted some problems with the verification. "During this time, Mr. Taleyarkhan says, two more scientists came into his laboratory and independently verified bubble fusion. Mr. Taleyarkhan contends that both were experts and did their work independently of him. But in interviews, both researchers contradict aspects of that account. One of those scientists, Edward R. Forringer, a professor of physics at LeTourneau University, in Texas, says he is certainly not an expert. Nonetheless, he says he is confident that his results do support the reality of bubble fusion." cite journal
last = Vance
first = Erik
date = 6 April 2007
title = The Bursting of Bubble Fusion
journal = Chronicle of Higher Education
volume = v. 13
issue = issue 31
id = ISSN 0009-5982 ] Forrigner has not, however, published his purported confirmation in any refereed journal.

On May 10, 2007, Purdue announced that they would add at least one scientist without ties to the university to a new inquiry of Taleyarkhan and his work, at the insistence of a Congressional panel investigating the use of federal funds in attempts to reproduce Taleyarkhan's results. The panel cited concerns that Taleyarkhan's claims of independent verification were "highly doubtful", and criticized Purdue for using three of the same members of an earlier inquiry committee in their recently completed review. Taleyarkhan called the report a "one-sided, grossly exaggerated write-up" but agreed to cooperate.cite news
first = Rick
last = Callahan
url = http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007May12/0,4670,FusionProbe,00.html
title = Purdue probes 'tabletop fusion' again
publisher = FoxNews.com
date = May 12, 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-12 ] On September 10, 2007, Purdue reported that its internal committee had determined that "several matters merit further investigation" and that they were re-opening formal proceedings.cite news
first = Andrew
last = Mytelka
url = http://chronicle.com/news/index.php?id=3003?=atnb
title = Purdue Resumes Inquiry Into Physicist's Controversial Fusion-Energy Research
publisher = Chronicle of Higher Education
date = September 10, 2007
accessdate = 2007-09-10 ]

This board judged him guilty of "research misconduct" for "falsification of the research record" in July, 2008 and on August 27, 2008 he was stripped of his named Arden Bement Jr. Professorship, and forbidden to serve as a major professor for graduate students.cite news
first = Associated
last = Press
url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/27/national/a140220D17.DTL&feed=rss.business
title = Purdue reprimands fusion scientist for misconduct
publisher = San Francisco Chronicle
date = August 27, 2008
accessdate = 2008-08-28 ]

References

External links

* [http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/File/Reports/purdue_staff_report.pdf House subcommittee Report, May 7, 2007]