Nuclear fusion, a thermonuclear reaction, involves the combination of two atomic nuclei to form a larger nucleus. This gives off energy and is the process behind the sun and hydrogen bombs alike.

In March 1989, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann at the University of Utah claimed to have observed controlled, low-temperature nuclear fusion in their laboratory, by running a current through palladium electrodes in a glass jar filled with heavy water (water with molecules containing a heavier version of hydrogen, known as deuterium). They witnessed an excess of heat, which they claimed was coming from the fusion of deuterium atoms.

This claim of cold fusion countered existing understanding of nuclear fusion as a process possible only at temperatures exceeding a million degrees. The news was heralded as a potential solution to the reliance on fossil-fuel energy.

When others had difficulty reproducing the effects of the Pons-Fleischmann experiment, which could not be explained by existing theories, established science quickly deemed cold fusion an unconvincing concept, largely turning its back on the idea.

Eugene Mallove, who quit his job as MIT's top science writer over what he perceived to be the institution's slighting of cold fusion, thought that the possibility of alternate energy was too valuable to dismiss cold fusion instantly. He devoted the rest of his working life to the idea, starting a nonprofit foundation in Concord and a bimonthly magazine aimed at touting cold fusion and other "infinite energy" sources.

- Eric Moskowitz