![Rusi Taleyarkhan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Rusi_Taleyarkhan.jpg)
Rusi P. Taleyarkhan is a nuclear engineer and former
academic fraudster who has been a faculty member in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
since 2003. Prior to that, he was on staff at the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in
Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He obtained his
Bachelor of Technology degree in
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
from the
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...
in 1977 and
MS and
PhD (Nuclear Engineering and Science) degrees from
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1978 and 1982 respectively. He also holds an
MBA (Business Administration) from RPI.
In 2008, he was judged guilty of
research misconduct
Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countrie ...
for "falsification of the research record" by a Purdue review board.
[Purdue physicist found guilty of misconduct](_blank)
Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2008, Thomas H. Maugh II
Sonofusion work and controversy
![Sonofusion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Sonofusion.svg)
In 2002, while a senior scientist at ORNL, Taleyarkhan published a paper on fusion achieved by bombarding a container of liquid solvent with strong
ultrasonic
Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies fr ...
vibrations, a process known as sonofusion or
bubble fusion
Bubble fusion is the non-technical name for a nuclear fusion reaction hypothesized to occur inside extraordinarily large collapsing gas bubbles created in a liquid during Sonic cavitation, acoustic cavitation. The more technical name is sonofusion ...
. In theory, the vibrations collapsed gas bubbles in the solvent, heating them to temperatures high enough to fuse hydrogen atoms and release energy. Following his move from Oak Ridge to Purdue in 2003, Taleyarkhan published additional papers about his research in this area.
Numerous other scientists, however, were not able to replicate Taleyarkhan's work, including in published articles in ''Physical Review Letters'' from the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
, from
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, from
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
, from former colleagues at Oak Ridge National Labs, and a study funded by the
Office of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
in the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
.
Taleyarkhan's results were reportedly repeated by
Edward Forringer of
LeTourneau University
LeTourneau University (LETU) is a private, interdenominational evangelical Christian university in Longview, Texas. Founded as LeTourneau Technical Institute in February 1946 by R. G. LeTourneau with his wife, Evelyn, the school initially educate ...
in Taleyarkhan's own labs at Purdue in November 2006.
Purdue decided at that time not to further investigate the initial narrowly defined charges of misconduct against Taleyarkhan made by other members of the Purdue Faculty.
The ''Chronicle of Higher Education'', however, has noted some problems with the verification. "During this time, Dr. Taleyarkhan says, two more scientists came into his laboratory and independently verified bubble fusion. Dr. Taleyarkhan contends that both were experts and did their work independently of him. But in interviews, both researchers contradict aspects of that account. One of those scientists, Edward R. Forringer, a professor of physics at LeTourneau University, in Texas, says he is certainly not an expert. Nonetheless, he says he is confident that his results do support the reality of bubble fusion."
Forringer, however, did not publish his purported confirmation in any refereed journal.
On May 10, 2007, Purdue announced that they would add at least one scientist without ties to the university to a new inquiry of Taleyarkhan and his work, at the insistence of a
Congressional panel investigating the use of federal funds in attempts to reproduce Taleyarkhan's results. The panel cited concerns that Taleyarkhan's claims of independent verification were "highly doubtful", and criticized Purdue for using three of the same members of an earlier inquiry committee in their recently completed review. Taleyarkhan called the report a "one-sided, grossly exaggerated write-up" but agreed to cooperate.
On September 10, 2007, Purdue reported that its internal committee had determined that "several matters merit further investigation" and that they were re-opening formal proceedings.
This board judged him guilty of "research misconduct" for "falsification of the research record" in July 2008
and on August 27, 2008 his status as a member of the Purdue University Graduate Faculty was limited to that of 'Special Graduate Faculty.' He was permitted to serve on graduate committees, but would not be able to serve as a major professor or co-major professor for graduate students for a period of three years.
Taleyarkhan received from September 2008 to August 2009 a $185,000 grant from the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
to investigate bubble fusion.
In 2009 the
Office of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
debarred him for 28 months, until September 2011, from receiving U.S. Federal Funding.
[.] During that period his name was listed in the 'Excluded Parties List' to prevent him from receiving grants from any government agency.
See also
*
List of scientific misconduct incidents
Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countries ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taleyarkhan, Rusi
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
American people of Indian descent
American people of Parsi descent
Cold fusion
People involved in scientific misconduct incidents
Purdue University faculty
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
American nuclear engineers
IIT Madras alumni