Discovery of the so-called Cold Fusion, in 1989, generated well known controversies. Can a strong nuclear reaction, such as fusion of two deuterons, result from a chemical process, such as electrolysis? Most scientists believe that this is theoretically im possible (due to the coulomb barrier). But some of them, perhaps one hundred, continue continue conducting experiments in this area, and searching for theoretical explanations. The field is now called Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (CMNS), but most people still refer to it by the old name Cold Fusion.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion
The efforts of these pioneers, however, were often ridiculed and their work has not been supported by granting agencies. Editors of major journals often rejected their manuscripts without sending them to referees. The CMNS episode will certainly become an important chapter of science history, no matter how it is resolved.
The situation seems to be changing. For the first time, since the discovery of Cold Fusion was announced by Fleischmann and Pons, The American Institute of Physics is publishing proceeding of their conference.
scitation.aip.org/proceedings/confproceed/1273.jsp
I am a retired nuclear physicist and I have a website describing various CMNS phenomena.
csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html
Facebook.com
Twitter.com
