July 2005

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COCOA BEACH, FL – “The Freedom Element - Living With Hydrogen,” is the title of Addison Bain’s book of reminiscences and professional experiences of more than four decades in and around hydrogen energy.

Bain, a veteran supporter of hydrogen as fuel and a founding member of the National Hydrogen Association and the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, was for many years the manager in charge of hydrogen and other fuels used by NASA’s space program, including the Space Shuttle. Dr. Bain came to national attention with his 1997 study in which he concluded, after many years of research, that hydrogen was not the cause of the archetypal 1937 “Hindenburg” airship disaster. Hydrogen contributed to the fire but it was the “Hindenburg’s” coating of its envelope, a highly combustible compound akin to propellants used in solid fuel rocket boosters, that most likely was ignited by a spark, possibly due to atmospheric conditions.

As Bain put it at the time in an NHA presentation, “the moral of the story is, don’t paint your airship with rocket fuel.”(H&FCL April 97).

Bain’s 301-page book, published last fall, traces his evolving interest in science and mathematics from his early years growing up in northwestern Montana to, beginning in 1959, his career in the U.S, missile and space program and eventually NASA until his retirement in 1994.

The book is available from the publisher, Blue Note Books, 400 W. Cocoa Beach Cswy, Suite 3, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931, 1-800-624-0401, www.bluenotebooks.com, or from Dr. Bain directly, addbain@juno.co