Pamela A. Mosier-Boss is an American analytical chemist who spent her career at the

Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC Pacific), formerly Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific or SSC Pacific) provides the US Navy with research, development, delivery and support of integrated co ...

. Her research considered the development of environmental sensors and

low-energy nuclear reaction Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. It would contrast starkly with the "hot" fusion that is known to take place naturally within stars and artificially in hydrogen bombs and ...

Early life and education

Mosier-Boss' mother was a nurse. Mosier-Boss studied biology and chemistry at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

. She moved to

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

for doctoral research, where she studied

crown ether In organic chemistry, crown ethers are cyclic chemical compounds that consist of a ring containing several ether groups (). The most common crown ethers are cyclic oligomers of ethylene oxide, the repeating unit being ethyleneoxy, i.e., . Impor ...

complexations.

Research and career

Mosier-Boss worked on strategies to understand nuclear effects and near-surface interactions. She joined the

United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

, where she secured more patents than any woman in the history of the lab. She was based in the

, where she developed battery systems, piezoelectric ceramics and phages. Phages are viruses that are hosts to bacteria (e.g. anthrax). Mosier-Boss developed a strategy to attach phages, head-down, onto a grid. These grids could be attached to silicon chips, which would facilitate the determination of whether or not particular bacteria were present. Mosier-Boss proposed that

s could generate neutrons that could be used to fission uranium. Such an approach, so-called

cold fusion Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. It would contrast starkly with the "hot" fusion that is known to take place naturally within stars and artificially in hydrogen bombs and p ...

, would eliminate the need for radioactive sources. In particular, Mosier-Boss developed a co-deposition process to deposit thin films of

palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...

and

deuterium Deuterium (or hydrogen-2, symbol or deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two Stable isotope ratio, stable isotopes of hydrogen (the other being Hydrogen atom, protium, or hydrogen-1). The atomic nucleus, nucleus of a deuterium ato ...

. In these devices, deuterium is compressed electrochemically within the palladium lattice, which can generate nuclear events. The co-deposition process involved the simultaneous deposition of deuterium and palladium from electrolytes that contain palladium salts dissolved in heavy water. The films must be deposited on a substrate that does not absorb hydrogen (e.g. gold) at high negative potentials. She worked on

CR-39 Poly(allyl diglycol carbonate) (PADC) is a plastic commonly used in the manufacture of eyeglass lenses alongside the material PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate). The monomer is allyl diglycol carbonate (ADC). The term CR-39 technically refers to the ...

as a nuclear track detector, which works by monitoring the ionization trails left after the atoms of CR-39 recoil in response to high energy neutrons. By treating these detectors with an etching system she showed that it was possible to differentiate triple tracks, which she assigned to alpha particles generated in the 12C(n,n′)3α carbon reaction. She went on to show that when the Pd cell was placed within an external field a transmutation occurs, which changes the surface morphology of the Pd/D films. In 2013, Mosier-Boss was awarded the Infinite Energy Preparata Medal in recognition of her work on cold fusion.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosier-Boss, Pamela Living people Kent State University alumni Michigan State University alumni American women chemists 20th-century American chemists 21st-century American chemists Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists