Francis L. Tanzella
Francis L. Tanzella | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Known for | Cold fusion / LENR calorimetry research |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrochemistry, low energy nuclear reactions |
| Institutions | SRI International |
Francis L. Tanzella is a chemist and experimental researcher known for his long-running work on cold fusion and low energy nuclear reactions (LENR). He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Career
Tanzella holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and carried out post-doctoral work in electrochemistry. He joined SRI International in Menlo Park, California, in 1986, where he became a program manager and principal investigator in the institute's energy research program. There he worked closely with Michael McKubre in a group that investigated claims of anomalous heat and nuclear effects in palladium–deuterium electrochemical cells following the 1989 Fleischmann–Pons announcement.
Work
At SRI, Tanzella participated in calorimetric experiments that reported excess heat and attempted to correlate it with the production of helium in deuterium-loaded palladium systems. He has authored and co-authored numerous conference and journal contributions in the LENR / condensed matter nuclear science (CMNS) field, including collaborations with physicist Peter Hagelstein, and has summarised "the state of the science based on measurements made at SRI." After leaving SRI he continued as an independent consultant, carrying out third-party evaluation of commercial LENR devices.
Cold fusion and LENR remain outside the accepted scientific mainstream, which has not reproduced the claimed effects to general satisfaction; Tanzella is among the researchers who continue to argue that the experimental anomalies are real and warrant further study.