Martin Fleischmann kick-started cold fusion controversy and faced decades of hostility. His colleague Michael McKubre ponders the future of the field
Science advances one funeral at a time, said Max Planck. Now Martin Fleischmann is gone, what's in store for cold fusion research?
I like that quote. It implies you've got to wait for the stubborn old bastards to die before you can make progress. But that wasn't Planck's intention: what he meant was that people refuse to even consider unorthodox arguments while their authors are still alive. Once they die, the argument becomes depersonalised. I do think there is an opportunity here. The hostility might abate because Martin is gone.