Bobby Stanley Pons (born August 23, 1943) is an American electrochemist known for his work with

Martin Fleischmann Martin Fleischmann FRS (29 March 1927 – 3 August 2012) was a British chemist who worked in electrochemistry. By Associated Press. Premature announcement of his cold fusion research with Stanley Pons, regarding excess heat in heavy wa ...

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 ...

in the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Pons was born in

Valdese, North Carolina Valdese is a town in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,689 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hickory- Lenoir- Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area. One of the largest Waldensian congregations in the United S ...

. He attended Valdese High School, then

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

, where he studied chemistry. He began his PhD studies in chemistry at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...

, but left before completing his PhD. His thesis resulted in a paper, co-authored in 1967 with Harry B. Mark, his adviser. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that it pioneered a way to measure the spectra of chemical reactions on the surface of an electrode. He decided to finish his PhD in England at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, where in 1975 he met Martin Fleischmann. Pons was a student in Alan Bewick's group; he earned his PhD in 1978.

Career

On March 23, 1989, while Pons was the chairman of the chemistry department at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of ...

, he and Fleischmann announced the experimental production of "N-Fusion", which was quickly labeled by the press

. After a short period of public acclaim, hundreds of scientists attempted to reproduce the effects but generally failed. After the claims were found to be unreproducible, the scientific community determined the claims were incomplete and inaccurate. Pons moved to France in 1992, along with Fleischmann, to work at a

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

-sponsored laboratory. The laboratory closed in 1998 after a £12 million research investment without conclusive results. He gave up his US citizenship (page 2 of online version) and became a French citizen.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pons, Stanley 1943 births Alumni of the University of Southampton Electrochemists Living people American expatriates in France People who renounced United States citizenship University of Utah faculty Cold fusion People from Valdese, North Carolina