This section is little used for there is little history rounded up by the average fusorite.
The history of hot fusion is of interest from the stand point of our not re-inventing the wheel and garnering as much intel from guys who have already been over the ground in the past. For the most part it is very well documented.
IECF history is virtually non-extant, by comparison.
Let's look at the reasons.
Hot fusion has been well funded from day one (about 1951). With this came the eggheads, the national labs, the hangers-on of all flavors and charms. Like Quarks they multiplied with time and were used to fluff up the program.
If there is one single thing that is demanded and expected in exchange for public money in government programs it is reports. Whether a man is worth a damned as an experimenter, innovator, leader, administrator is of far less value than proving his worth via reports.......rafts and piles of 'em. The more reports, whether interim, evaluatory, final or advisory a man turns out shows he is obviously doing something and making progress. (in the government's mind) Such reports can ben sent to the GPO (government printing office) and offered to the taxpayer as proof of the value recieved for his or her tax dollars on projects. Volume of paper equates to program worth and helps to act as bulwarks to boost funding.
Thus, hot fusion is rather replete if not awash in paper work and reports.
IEC started in some serious form with the ITT/Farnsworth effort. A small, underfunded fledgling effort started up and run completely within a tube division of the remote Fort Wayne plant on Pontiac street. Reports were written and lost and for the most part were for corporate leader's 'eyes only'. Notes taken were either turned to the company or personally collected and secreted away.
We have no way of evaluate the effort except for the one or two limited data efforts published by Bob Hirsch. Farnsworth nor ITT have any formally published works.
The BYU effort of 1968-1973 is pretty much un-documented as well. Others have dabbled at IECF, but most of the efforts of late have been about as secretive as the ITT work. Miley at the Univ of Illonois, Urbanna-Champagne, has published a lot of overviews, and short collected papers giving rather limited info of late, but this effort remains, for most outward appearances, pretty much a patent mill for covering IECF applications. There is little detailed coverage of IECF history.
For the most part, the early history ala Farnsworth is word of mouth, hearsay, and nearly Teslaesqe in hyperbole, claims and hype. The real facts are buried or lost in the fading memories of the last of the 4 or 5 folks who were associated directly with the effort. I have made an effort to ferret out some facts and have been moderately successful, but remain chagrined and frustrated at the tales told. I will collect and publish this material at some point, it is hoped. I fear most of the history after this point would also have to come word of mouth as well. There are no minutes or proceedings of government conferences, commitee meetings, oversite reviews, etc. in the world of IECF to serve as a guide as to the principals involved, the chronology of milestones or levels of success or failure. This makes the area ripe for conspiracy theories, tales of lost glory or opportunities thwarted by "those against us" or humanity.
Be wary of tales told of IECF. This is one reason we are at work at this amateur level.
Richard Hull
Created on Friday, January 05, 2001 5:02 PM EDT by Richard Hull Last Modified on Friday, May 04, 2001 8:41 AM EDT by Richard Hull