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[Phys-l] A little story



After reading a theoretical speculation of a "cold fusion" researcher-- he thinks that neutrons do not exist--I posted an excerpt from my book, on the private list for CF researchers. It occurred to that many of you would also be interested in this excerpt. That is why I am pasting it below.

Best wishes to all,

Ludwik



I agree with Ed; CMNS theories should be consistent with "what is basic and well known." They should not lead to conclusions contradicting reality. By the way, my very first publication was about a detector of high energy (above ~50 MeV) neutrons. How can I accept the idea that neutrons do not exist? Here is an extract from autobiography. It has to do with common thermal neutrons. The [...] is an indication that something was skipped while translating my diary into English. The episode took place in France.

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From Section 11.1: Using a nuclear reactor (1961)

It took some time to make our reaction chamber ready. The mechanical system was complicated by the vacuum requirements. But things seem to be working. Claude is as eager as I am to start using it at the accelerator. But we are not the only people eager to use the synchrocyclotron. Those who control the schedule decided that our setup should first be tested at the nuclear reactor in Saclay. We will have one month to demonstrate that our setup is ready. We are expected to show that the energy spectrum of fission fragments has two humps, and that the angular distribution is isotropic. I have no option but to give up the idea of skiing during the winter break. […]

It is December 28, 1961. We have installed the scattering chamber at the EL-3 reactor in Saclay. Our direct supervisor is Professor Netter; we know him because he was our neutron physics teacher in Orsay. Claude expects to be drafted soon. I find him to be a little shy. Working together we are becoming friends; I hope it will become a life- long friendship. Yes, it is my dissertation topic, but I do not think that this will create a problem. Each of us sees this work as an important scientific contribution. Everything else is secondary. I am certain of this. […]

The Devil is against us. We have been here for several weeks but the expected results have not materialized. Suspecting preamplifiers, we asked Monsieur Corbe, who built them, to come and check everything again. “Your electronic system is perfect,” he said, after examining everything with the oscilloscope. But why do we see about one thousand time fewer fission fragments than we should? We were desperate; the possibility of returning to Orsay without being ready for the accelerator was very real.

The only logical conclusion was that, contrary to assurances, the neutron beam coming from the hole in the protective cement block was not as intense as claimed. So we decided to test this. One night, when no one was around, we took the risk of doing something totally forbidden. Staying far away from the hole, we used the crane to raise the protective cement block up for about five minutes. Then we lowered the block down and ran to our instruments. They recorded thousands of fission fragments, displaying the expected two-humped energy spectrum.

When lowering the block we made sure the hole in that block was aligned with the hole in the first block. [It was probably not aligned before.] We verified the alignment by using a long rod. Now our chamber worked as expected. All data we needed, to show that we are ready for using the synchrocyclotron, were collected in the next two hours. Netter came in the morning and we told him what we did. He said that we disqualified ourselves as scientists. Consequences of this act are unavoidable. I tried to argue with him that this was our last resort--to test the only remaining hypothesis. But he was outraged. Then he left.

Several hours later I called Radvanyi and told him what happened. He was also mad, but not as angry as Netter. He asked us to come to Orsay and show the results. It was clear to me that he was at once impressed by our two-humped spectrum. No disciplinary action was undertaken against us. […] [I suspect that things were settled privately between professors.]

Next week I will be describing the status of my doctoral project at the weekly seminar. After showing our Saclay results I will outline what we want to do in Orsay. I want to convince others that our scattering chamber can be placed near the exit of the beam pipe. It can remain there permanently, without disturbing other experiments, further away downstream. Naturally, I will say nothing about violating the safety rules in Saclay. […]

= = = FILL FREE TO SHARE THIS STORY WITH OTHERS; HOPEFULLY THIS WILL PROMOTE MY NEW BOOK = = =.

Ludwik's new book (AUTOBIOGRAPHY) see:

http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/mybook2.html


Share this link with those who might be interested. Thanks in advance.