Press Release

NEW ENERGY FOUNDATION COLD FUSION ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION TO BE HOUSED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

PRESS RELEASE—FEBRUARY 15, 2008

The New Energy Foundation is pleased to announce that the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections will be the official repository of the New Energy Foundation Cold Fusion Oral History Collection, when the project is completed. “This arrangement brings to fruition the hopes that the New Energy Foundation and I had at the beginning of the project, to have the benefit of the University of Utah’s expertise and capabilities,” stated Project Director Marianne Macy.

The University of Utah plays an important role in cold fusion history, as it was there on March 23, 1989 that Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons made their historic announcement. The New Energy Foundation will be in a leadership position to process and publish the materials and the University of Utah will become the center of cold fusion science historical research. Some of the University's holdings already document aspects of the history of cold fusion, among them a series of oral history interviews conducted with university administration, the papers of the Cold Fusion Institute, and the private collections of individuals such as Charles Beaudette.

The Collection will include interviews with scientists, researchers, program and government administrators, journalists, and other key figures whose work influenced the history of research in Condensed Matter Nuclear Sciences, what historically has been called "cold fusion." The New Energy Foundation initiated the project in May 2007 and provided initial funding which will be supplemented by the University of Utah. A seven-member Advisory Panel, made up of researchers and advocates in the field, aided Director Macy in identifying all of the individuals to be included in the oral history. Interviews, which are researched and conducted by Macy, have been underway since June 2007. Macy, who has worked in the fields of oral history and journalism since 1980, will assure that the agreements under which the interviews were conducted are fully met.

New Energy Foundation General Manager Christy Frazier noted, "We believe it is of important historic value that the University of Utah will become the repository for this Collection, and we are also excited about the fact that it will be completed around the 20th anniversary date. Most in this field have been working diligently, with great results, for these 20 years, and it is extremely important that their life's work and contribution to science be recorded for posterity."

The New Energy Foundation will retain the right of first publication of released oral history materials. Selected sections of some interviews, with the subject’s permission and review, will be published in Infinite Energy Magazine and on the Foundation’s website (www.infinite-energy.com) to coincide with both the 14th International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF-14) in Washington, DC in August 2008 and the 20th anniversary of the Pons-Fleischmann announcement (March 23, 2009).

The University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library's role will include the digitizing of transcripts and creation of the appropriate technology base for keyword searching. After the New Energy Foundation’s initial publication and role in creating awareness of the archive, the Marriott Library will host the digital access through the University's online publication system. The original oral records and transcripts of the interviews will be held in the J. Willard Marriott Library's Special Collections.

Dr. Gregory C. Thompson, J. Willard Marriott Library Associate Director and head of Special Collections, indicated that this important relationship between the New Energy Foundation, Marianne Macy and the University’s J. Willard Marriott Library will continue to develop the University’s cold fusion oral history collection and archives.

The non-profit New Energy Foundation was founded by the late Dr. Eugene Mallove, who, until his murder in May 2004, was a leading proponent for new energy/new science. The international organizational and public relations processes through which cold fusion research has been pursued these last years sheds much light on the conduct of and support for science. This oral history collection will not only be used by researchers to understand the history of cold fusion, but by students of the modern processes of science and technology.

For more information about the New Energy Foundation Cold Fusion Oral History Collection, please contact the New Energy Foundation at (603) 485-4700, or staff@infinite-energy.com.