In 1989 claims were made that nuclear fusion had been achieved at room temperature through an electrochemical process. The heat liberated via this process was orders of magnitude greater than what was possible from a chemical reaction, which is why the claim of a nuclear process was put forth. Replication of the experiment proved extremely difficult, and accusations of bad science saturated the discussion. By 1990 a DOE report declared the field not worthy of funding, and most peer-reviewed journals would not even accept a cold fusion paper for review. For most scientists and the general public, that was the end of the story. However, cold fusion research has continued to this day. Replication of experiments has become commonplace, and the criticisms of the original claims have been answered. The stigma of the 1989 fiasco, however, still drives the mainstream scientific and public reaction to the field.
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