Cold Fusion Communications

The article on the cold fusion session held during the Chicago meeting (C&EN, April 23, page 42) brings back memories of the Dallas meeting in April 1989 and the vast amount of background work done by our ACS Communications Department in Dallas in just one day.

Vince Tocci was head of communications at the time, and, although Stanley Pons was scheduled to present a paper coauthored with Martin Fleischmann before the Analytical Division on Thursday morning and another paper before the Colloid Division on Thursday afternoon, no one had any idea he was to present anything of such earthshaking potential during the meeting.

When Tocci was informed of the proposed presentation, he organized his staff. Arrangements were made for the auditorium and for lodging for both Pons and Fleischmann in locations where they could be reasonably free of any personal interference prior to their presentation. The Dallas Police were informed as a precaution. One of the police officers commented to me that they had had a previous nationwide news problem, and they didn't want another. Security was evident. The presentation was made to a standing-room-only audience.

If my memory serves me, the cold fusion announcement was made initially at this meeting and was to be presented at the American Institute of Physics meeting the following week.

Although subsequent events failed to completely substantiate the results reported, ACS was, once again, at the leading edge of research. The Communications Department is to be commended for the prompt and smooth arrangement of this event.

James R. Hanley Jr.
Fruit Cove, Fla.