Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T20:19:50.055Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Competition Among Scientific Disciplines in Cold Nuclear Fusion Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

James W. McAllister
James W. McAllister
Affiliation:
Faculteit der WijsbegeerteRijksuniversiteit te Leiden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the controversy in 1989 over the reported achievement of cold nuclear fusion, parts of the physics and chemistry communities were opposed in both a theoretic and a professional competition. Physicists saw the chemists' announcement as an incursion into territory allocated to their own discipline and strove to restore the interdisciplinary boundaries that had previously held. The events that followed throw light on the manner in which scientists' knowledge claims and metascientific beliefs are affected by their membership of disciplinary communities. In particular, the controversy offers evidence for a constructivist reinterpretation of the “division of nature into levels,” which is customarily held to underpin the division of science into disciplines.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1992 , pp. 17 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkins, P. W. 1990. “Frightening Chemistry.” Oxford Magazine, no. 57 (Noughth Week, Trinity Term):5.Google Scholar
Barnes, B. 1990. “Sociological Theories of Scientific Knowledge.” In Companion to the History of Modern Science, edited by Olby, R. C., Cantor, G. N., Christie, J. R. R., and Hodge, M. J. S., 60–73. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Beall, H., and Berka, L. H.. 1990. “Report on the WPI-NEACT Conference: ‘Perceptions of Chemistry’.” Journal of Chemical Education 67:103–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becher, T. 1989. Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Cultures of Disciplines. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Belloni, L. 1989. La vera storia della fusione nucleare fredda. Milan: Rizzoli.Google Scholar
Briand, J.-P., and Froment, M.. 1990. “La fusion ‘froide’ dix-huit mois après.” La Recherche 21:1282–84.Google Scholar
Bromberg, J. L. 1982a. “TFTR: The Anatomy of a Programme Decision.” Social Studies of Science 12:559–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromberg, J. L. 1982b. Fusion: Science, Politics, and the Invention of a New Energy Source. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Close, F. 1990. Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion. London: W. H. Allen.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. S., and Davies, J. D.. 1989 (27 April). “The Cold Fusion Family.” Nature 338:705–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. S., and Davies, J. D.. 1989 (30 November). “Is Cold Fusion Hot?” Nature 342:487–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colgate, S. A., and Furth., H. P. 1958. “Stabilized Pinch and Controlled Fusion Power.” Science 128:337–43.Google Scholar
Collins, H. M. 1985. Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Conn, R. W. 1983. “The Engineering of Magnetic Fusion Reactors.” Scientific American 249, no. 4 (October): 44–55.Google Scholar
Cookson, C. 1989 (23 March). “Test Tube Nuclear Fusion Claimed.” Financial Times, no. 30801:1, 28.Google Scholar
Crawford, M. 1988. “Furor in Fusion Labs.” Science 242:1501.Google Scholar
Crawford, M. 1989 (14 April). “Budget Squeeze Causes Fission in Fusion Labs.” Science 244:138–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, M. 1989 (28 April). “Cold Fusion: Is It Hot Enough to Make Power?” Science 244:423.Google Scholar
Crawford, M. 1989 (5 May). “Utah Looks to Congress for Cold Fusion Cash.” Science 244:522–23.Google Scholar
Craxton, R. S., McCrory, R. L., and Soures., J. M. 1986. “Progress in Laser Fusion.” Scientific American 255, no. 2 (August):60–71.Google Scholar
Dolan, C. 1989 (31 March). “Utah Can Hardly Contain Its Reaction to Nuclear Fusion.” The Wall Street Journal, 213, no. 63:B3.Google Scholar
The Economist. 1989 (22 April). “Fusion Frenzy.” 311, no. 7599:45–46.Google Scholar
Elias, N., Martins, H., and Whitley, R., eds. 1982. Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ERAB. 1989 (November). Cold Fusion Research: A Report of the Energy Research Advisory Board to the United States Department of Energy (DOE/S-0073). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Energy.Google Scholar
Fleischmann, M., Pons, S., and Hawkins, M.. 1989 (10 April). “Electrochemically Induced Nuclear Fusion of Deuterium.” Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Electrochemistry 261:301–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleischmann, M., Pons, S., and Hawkins, M.. 1989 (10 May). Erratum Note. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Electrochemistry 263:187–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleischmann, M., Pons, S., Hawkins, M., and Hoffman., R. J. 1989 (29 June). “Measurement of γ-Rays from Cold Fusion.” Nature 339:667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, S. 1988. Social Epistemology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Fuller, S. 1989. Philosophy of Science and Its Discontents. Boulder, Col.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Gai, M., Rugari, S. L., France, R. H., Lund, B. J., Zhao, Z., Davenport, A. J., Isaacs, H. S., and Lynn., K. G. 1989 (6 July). “Upper Limits on Neutron and γ-Ray Emission from Cold Fusion.” Nature 340:29–34.Google Scholar
Gaston, J. 1973. Originality and Competition in Science: A Study of the British High Energy Physics Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gibson, A. 1958. “Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions.” Nature 181:803–6.Google Scholar
Gieryn, T. F. 1983. “Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists.” American Sociological Review 48:781–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, I. 1989 (December). “Fusion in a Flask: Expert DOE Panel Throws Cold Water on Utah ‘Discovery’.” Physics Today 42, no. 12:43–45.Google Scholar
Hacking, I. 1983. Representing and Intervening: Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of Natural Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hagelstein, P. L. 1990. “Status Report on Coherent Fusion Theory.” Paper presented at the First Annual Conference on Cold Fusion, Salt Lake City,28–31 March.Google Scholar
Hagstrom, W. O. 1974. “Competition in Science.” American Sociological Review 39:1–18.Google Scholar
Hendry, J. 1987. “The Scientific Origins of Controlled Fusion Technology.” Annals of Science 44:143–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heppenheimer, T. A. 1984. The Man-Made Sun: The Quest for Fusion Power. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Herman, R. 1990. Fusion: The Search for Endless Energy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, H. A. O. 1989 (July). “Fusion Cools Down.” Chemistry in Britain 25:691.Google Scholar
Holden, C. 1989 (15 September). “The Selling of Cold Fusion.” Science 245:1192.Google Scholar
Horgan, J. 1989 (February). “Fusion's Future: Will Fusion-Energy Reactors Be ‘Too Complex and Costly’?” Scientific American 260, no. 2:15–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. C. 1989 (1 June). Letter. Nature 339:345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. E., Palmer, E. P., Czirr, J. B., Decker, D. L., Jensen, G. L., Thorne, J. M., Taylor, S. F. and Rafelski, J.. 1989 (27 April). “Observation of Cold Nuclear Fusion in Condensed Matter.” Nature 338:737–40.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. 1984. “1953 and All That: A Tale of Two Sciences.” Philosophical Review 93:335–73.Google Scholar
Koonin, S. E., and Nauenberg., M. 1989 (29 June). “Calculated Fusion Rates in Isotopic Hydrogen Molecules.” Nature 339:690–91.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. S. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (Second edition, 1970).Google Scholar
Lamb, D., and Easton., S. M. 1984. Multiple Discovery: The Pattern of Scientific Progress. London: Avebury.Google Scholar
Levi, B. G. 1989 (June). “Doubts Grow as Many Attempts at Cold Fusion Fail.” Physics Today 42, no. 6:17–19.Google Scholar
Levi, B. G. 1989 (December). “Ramsey, Dehmelt, Paul Win Nobel for Helping to Set High Standards.” Physics Today 42, no. 12:17–19.Google Scholar
Lewenstein, B. V. 1990. “Cold Fusion and Science Communication?” Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry News 7, no. 1:6–8.Google Scholar
Lewenstein, B. V. 1991. Cornell Cold Fusion Archive: Finding Aid. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Lewis, N. S., Barnes, C. A., Heben, M. J., Kumar, A., Lunt, S. R., McManis, G. E., Miskelly, G. M., Penner, R. M., Sailor, M. J., Santangelo, P. G., Shreve, G. A., Tufts, B. J., Youngquist, M. G., Kavanagh, R. W., Kellogg, S. E., Vogelaar, R. B., Wang, T. R., Kondrat, R., and New, R.. 1989 (17 August). “Searches for Low-Temperature Nuclear Fusion of Deuterium in Palladium.” Nature 340:525–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindley, D. 1989 (4 May). “More Than Scepticism.” Nature 339:4.Google Scholar
Lindley, D. 1989 (11 May). “Still No Certainty.” Nature 339:84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindley, D. 1989 (25 May). “Lukewarm Praise for Effort.” Nature 339:243.Google Scholar
Lindley, D. 1989 (1 June). “Cold Fusion Gathering Is Incentive to Collaboration.” Nature 339:325.Google Scholar
Lindley, D. 1989 (20 July). “No New Money from US Government?” Nature 340:174.Google Scholar
Lindley, D. 1989 (17 August). “Utah Backs New Centre with $5 million.” Nature 340:492.Google Scholar
Lindley, D. 1989 (12 October). “Next US Tokamak in Question.” Nature 341:476.Google Scholar
Maddox, J. 1989 (6 July). “End of Cold Fusion in Sight.” Nature 340:15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallove, E. F. 1991. Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Mauskopf, S. H., ed. 1979. The Reception of Unconventional Science. Boulder, Col.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Nature. 1989 (6 April). “Cold Fusion Causes Frenzy but Lacks Confirmation.” 338:447.Google Scholar
Nature 1989 (13 April). “Prospect of Achieving Cold Fusion Tantalizes.” 338:529.Google Scholar
Nature 1989 (20 April). “Scientific Look at Cold Fusion Inconclusive.” 338:605.Google Scholar
Nature 1989 (27 April). “Hopes for Nuclear Fusion Continue to Turn Cool.” 338:691.Google Scholar
Nature 1989 (16 November). “Strength via Adversity?” 342: 212.Google Scholar
Pauling, L. 1989 (11 May). Letter. Nature 339:105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peat, F. D. 1989. Cold Fusion: The Making of a Scientific Controversy. Chicago: Contemporary Books.Google Scholar
Petrasso, R. D., Chen, X., Wenzel, K. W., Parker, R. R., Li, C. K., and Fiore., C. 1989 (18 May). “Problems with the γ-Ray Spectrum in the Fleischmann et al. Experiments.” Nature 339:183–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrasso, R. D., Chen, X., Wenzel, K. W., Parker, R. R., Li, C. K., and Fiore., C.. 1989 (29 June). Letter. Nature 339:667–69.Google Scholar
Pinch, T. 1991. “How Gold Became Fool's Gold.” Times Higher Education Supplement, no. 965 (3 May):24.Google Scholar
Polanyi, M. 1969. “The Republic of Science: Its Political and Economic Theory.” In Knowing and Being, edited by Grene, M., 49–72. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Pool, R. 1989 (31 March). “Fusion Breakthrough?” Science 243:1661–62.Google Scholar
Pool, R. 1989 (7 April). “Fusion Follow-up: Confusion Abounds.” Science 244:27–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pool, R. 1989 (14 April). “Confirmations Heat Up Cold Fusion Prospects.” Science 244:143–44.Google Scholar
Pool, R. 1989 (21 April, a). “Skepticism Grows over Cold Fusion.” Science 244:284–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pool, R. 1989 (21 April, b). “Fusion Theories pro and con.” Science 244:285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pool, R. 1989 (28 April). “How Cold Fusion Happened — Twice!” Science 244:420–23.Google Scholar
Pool, R. 1989 (2 June). “Cold Fusion: End of Act I.” Science 244:1039–40.Google Scholar
Pool, R. 1989 (21 July). “Some Companies Keep a Foot in the Door.” Science 245:256.Google Scholar
Pool, R., and Heppenheimer, T. A. 1989 (12 May). “Electrochemists Fail to Heat Up Cold Fusion.” Science 244:647.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, P. B., Barwick, S. W., Williams, W. T., and Porter, J. D.. 1989 (30 October). “Search for Energetic-Charged-Particle Emission from Deuterated Ti and Pd Foils.” Physical Review Letters 63:1926–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rafelski, J., and Jones., S. E. 1987. “Cold Nuclear Fusion.” Scientific American 257, no. 1 (July):66–71.Google Scholar
Redondi, P., and Pillai, P. V. eds. 1989. The History of Sciences: The French Debate. London: Sangam Books.Google Scholar
Rich, V. 1989 (20 April). “Mixed Success in East.” Nature 338:607.Google Scholar
Rose, B., Taylor, A. E., and Wood., E. 1958. “Measurement of the Neutron Spectrum from ZETA.” Nature 181: 1630–32.Google Scholar
Spiegel-Rösing, I. 1974. “Disziplinäre Strategien der Statussicherung.” Homo 25:11–37.Google Scholar
Stacey, W. M. 1984. Fusion: An Introduction to the Physics and Technology of Magnetic Confinement Fusion. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Storer, N. W. 1972. “Relations among Scientific Disciplines.” In The Social Contexts of Research, edited by Nagi, S. Z. and Corwin, R. G., 229–68. London: Wiley-Interscience.Google Scholar
Thonemann, P. C., Butt, E. P., Carruthers, R., Delius, A. N., Fry, D. W., Gibson, A., Harding, G. N., Lees, D. J., McWhirter, R. W. P., Pease, R. S., Ramsden, S. A., and Ward., S. 1958. “Controlled Release of Thermonuclear Energy: Production of High Temperatures and Nuclear Reactions in a Gas Discharge.” Nature 181:217–20.Google Scholar
Waldrop, M. M. 1989 (5 May). “Cold Water from Caltech.” Science 244:523.Google Scholar
Whitley, R. 1984. The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Williams, D. E., Findlay, D. J. S., Craston, D. H., Sené, M. R., Bailey, M., Croft, S., Hooton, B. W., Jones, C. P., Kucernak, A. R. J., Mason, J. A., and Taylor., R. I. 1989 (23 November). “Upper Bounds on ‘Cold Fusion’ in Electrolytic Cells.” Nature 342:375–84.Google Scholar
Ziegler, J. F., Zabel, T. H., Cuomo, J. J., Brusic, V. A., Cargill, G. S., O'Sullivan, E. J., and Marwick., A. D. 1989 (19 June). “Electrochemical Experiments in Cold Nuclear Fusion.” Physical Review Letters 62:2929–32.Google Scholar