Profile: Research Profile - John Dash

Energy like the sun

Squeezing hydrogen atoms togethercreates heat. It's what the sun does every day—using intense gravity tosuck in hydrogen and squash it into a smaller and smaller space, untilit fuses.

If you could squeeze hydrogen on Earth, you couldproduce the power of the sun and deliver plentiful, clean energy. Justone problem: Earthly methods of squeezing hydrogen use more energy thanthe power produced. Or do they?

Researchersaround the world, including John Dash (pictured at left), professoremeritus of physics, are pursuing a way to make hydrogen squeezeitself, so to speak.

The metals titanium and palladium aresort of super sponges for hydrogen. Palladium can attract and absorb upto 900 times its own weight in hydrogen. And when that much hydrogengets attracted into and squeezed onto the metal, cold nuclear fusionhappens. (It's "cold" because no heat is used to squash the atomstogether.)

Researchers at a handful of U.S. universities,including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University ofIllinois, are working on developing cold fusion to a scale where itcould be useful. There might be more scientists working on thetechnology except for the stigma.

About 20 years ago, twoscientists trumpeted to the press that they had created cold hydrogenfusion. Their claims made them the wunderkind of the age—instantEinsteins. But when only a few scientists of the many who tried couldduplicate their claims, the study of cold fusion gained a reputation aspseudoscience and government funding fizzled.

With thatkind of skepticism, only a few intrepid scientists, like Dash,continued to investigate cold fusion and its potential for safe andinexhaustible energy.

With funding from PSU and the U.S.Army Research Office, Dash got positive results with his firstexperiment. He and his student assistants continue to produceincremental improvements in heat output. Their efforts caught the eyeof a private, anonymous donor, who has contributed $1 million to Dash'sresearch.