September 2004

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CONCORD, NH/NORWICH, CT - With great dismay, H&FCL has belatedly learned of the shocking death of Eugene F. Mallove, Sc.D., the internationally known expert and advocate of low-temperature nuclear reactions and founder and editor of the field’s principal voice, “Infinite Energy” magazine.

Mallove, 56, was murdered May 14 at his small family-owned home in Norwich, CT where he had gone to clean up the house between tenants, according to accounts in local newspapers and in the new July/August issue of the magazine that he founded. According to the May 16 “Norwich Bulletin,” Mallove was discovered unconscious in the morning of May 14 at the house and later pronounced dead from multiple injuries to his head and neck. Police ruled the death a homicide. Police believe he was assaulted during a robbery. At the time of writing in late August, no arrests have been made.

Mallove was an MIT graduate with a master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and a doctorate in environmental health sciences from Harvard according to biographical material provided by “Infinite Energy.” He was chief science writer for MIT’s public affairs department when the furor over cold fusion, now renamed low-temperature nuclear reaction, erupted in 1989.

According to a story in the July 27 “Boston Globe,” Mallove was skeptical at first but soon became convinced this was for real. He quit his MIT job in 1991 and dedicated his life and work to this field which he regarded as unjustly ridiculed and dismissed by mainstream science.

Since 1987 when still called “The Hydrogen Letter,” H&FCL has occasionally run items on low-temperature nuclear reactions (THL Aug 87, July 89, Nov. 89, May 91, H&FCL Jan. 95, March 96) but never covered the field in any detail.

Most recently, H&FCL reported on DoE’s decision to revisit the field and review its claims (April 04), a decision prompted by requests from scientists at MIT, SRI International and George Washington University.

“Infinite Energy” and “H&FCL” exchanged complimentary copies. A few times, Mallove mentioned H&FCL and its editor in his magazine, usually with some kind words about the newsletter’s objectivity, but also rebuking us mildly about the fact that we didn’t write more about cold fusion.