T.S. Eliot and Prejudice. - book reviews

National Review, Sept 29, 1989 by Russell Kirk

Nevertheless, Jones made the Utah

scientists and their administrative overseers very nervous. The problem was that the University of Utah suffers each year from a desperate cash-shortage. So when the university's president, Chase Peterson, heard that two of his scientists were working on a form of technology that could revolutionize the way energy is produced and make trillions of dollars for whoever controlled the patent rights, understandably he seized on the idea. To have it stolen by Utah's arch-rival BYU, however, seemed a distinct and terrifying possibility. So Peterson approached BYU administrators and eventually came to a secret agreement that the two universities would cooperate and publish their results together.

Before long the crew at Utah had become convinced that BYU was planning a double-cross. Again, says Taubes, they were wrong. Paranoia won the day, however, and Utah wound up double-crossing Brigham Young, as Peterson called a major press conference to announce that Utah had succeeded in producing cold fusion. Only days before, according to Taubes, Fleischmann had been saying that he and Pons were still at least 18 months short of achieving satisfactory results-the kind of results you call a press conference to announce. As to whether cold fusion will ever work, Taubes isn't sure. One thing he does know is that "the explosion of publicity that followed brought Utah more trouble than any double-cross by BYU ever could have."