WHAT'S NEW, Friday, 28 April 1989 Washington, DC
1.
THE SCIENCE ADVISOR WILL SERVE ON THE NATIONAL SPACE COUNCIL
after all. In a report from Bush to Congress last month, the
Science Advisor was conspicuously omitted from the Council
(WN 3 Mar 89). This had been
viewed as a bad omen by leaders of the
science community. But last week, when the President signed the
Executive Order officially establishing the Council, it had been
expanded to include the Assistant to the President for Science
and Technology. Meanwhile, neither Bromley's office nor the White
House seems to have any idea when he will assume the job. Senate
confirmation is not required for Presidential Assistants, but may
be for Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
2
. A COLD FUSION RESEARCH INSTITUTE WAS CALLED FOR IN HEARINGS
on
Wednesday before the Science, Space and Technology Committee of
the House. The President of the U. of Utah requested $25M to
start an institute to exploit the new technology. Rep. Walker
(R-PA) said later it was "the very least" the federal government
could do. Walker had already introduced a budget amendment to
move $5M from conventional fusion research. Rep. Morrison (R-WA)
wondered whether we should bother to maintain an investment in
hot fusion research. Pons and Fleishmann began by announcing that
their apparatus is producing more energy than ever. Prof. Huggins
of Stanford testified that his group detected an energy excess
only when heavy water was used. A "business strategy consultant"
for the U. of Utah urged Congress not to "dawdle" around waiting
for confirmation. He seemed to invoke the Pennsylvania Lottery
principle: if the pot is big enough, we shouldn't pay too much
attention to the odds. By the time the hearings got around to
the skeptics, only two committee members remained, the television
cameras were gone. The "Garn Express" to Salt Lake City for a
cold fusion briefing
(WN 21 Apr 89) has been delayed to 12 May.
3. LOS ALAMOS WILL SPONSOR A COLD FUSION WORKSHOP IN SANTA FE
May
23-25, under the auspices of the DOE. Norman Hackerman and Robert
Schrieffer will co-chair the workshop, which is intended to cover
recent experiments and calculations involving cold fusion. DOE
Secretary James Watkins has ordered the national laboratories to
intensify their research efforts in cold fusion. A panel of the
Energy Research Advisory Board will assess the field for Watkins.
4. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHENEY ANNOUNCED A "CUT" IN SDI TO $4.6B
for FY 90, but in Washington words have a different meaning. That
is up $500M over FY 89. It is down only from the fantasy budget
submitted by President Reagan as he left for California.
5. EMILIO SEGRE DIED ON 22 APRIL AT THE AGE OF 84.
A refugee from
fascist Italy in 1938, he shared the 1959 Nobel Prize for the
discovery of the antiproton. At a 1983 reunion at Los Alamos, he
joined 70 other scientists who had worked on the atomic bomb
during World War II in issuing a call for nuclear arms reduction.
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