Pioneering electrochemist who claimed to have discovered cold fusion.
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Ball, P. Martin Fleischmann (1927–2012). Nature 489, 34 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/489034a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/489034a
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Fleischmann denied due credit
Nature (2012)
Peter Cary
On behalf of John O'M. Bockris:
BOCKRIS
HAILE PLANTATION
10515 S.W. 55TH PLACE
GAINESVILLE, FL 32608
Monday, December 10, 2012
RE: Nature, Vol. 489, page 34, 6 September 2012, the obituary for Martin Fleischmann by Philip Ball.
Dear Chief Editor:
	In respect to the full-page which you have given Martin Fleischmann in Volume 489, page 34, the September issue for 2012, which might be said to be an obituary is one of those documents which is fully true word by word, but which by suppression, turns out to be a gross distortion of truth.
	I knew Fleischmann as well as anyone. He was my graduate student in the sense that I shared half the supervision of his Ph.D. thesis published many years ago. Of course I knew him throughout his career. He was a brilliant scientist. Fleischmann talked often about fusion and that indeed is the doubtful part of his work which is under discussion at the present time. On the other hand I must add that I count ten active chemists who during the last year have all communicated with me to say they support Fleischmann?s claim, which is an indirect one: He really claimed to have synthesized helium from deuterium and by reasoning which all accept, this turns out to imply, if true, fusion.
	Now, why I say that the material you have published distorts is the following. Because of our investigations following up the claim that he made fusion in the cold we discovered a new field in Chemistry. It is called Condensed Matter Nuclear Reactions and is an active field at the present time with thousands of publications worldwide. These are modern ones. In fact the rate of publication seems to be increasing with time. Although many chemists have not followed up the various confirmations, we have made the general conclusion that in some cases it is possible to carry out nuclear reactions in the cold. We would not have had the situation we are in now which is one of advance and new knowledge if not for Martin Fleischmann.
	I must ask you to print my letter because otherwise it leaves a blot on the Journal as having allowed the publication of something with is so unrepresentative of what Fleischmann contributed to Science.
Sincerely,
					John O?M. Bockris
Retired Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, 1978 to 1997 Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 1953 to 1972.	
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Ed storms
Mel Miles
Mike McKubre
Brian Josephson
Sorry Nature didn't publish your important letter in their correspondence section, John. As you probably know, they did publish a similar letter of mine, which can be seen at http://bit.ly/ZxkZLl.