Dr Larry Forsley: Journeys of Discovery

Since childhood, Larry has been propelled forward as a scientist by moments of wonder and exploration. For the past decade he’s been with NASA, and he is now the Deputy Principal Investigator for Lattice Confinement Fusion and its application to deep space power. He is immersed in the solid-state fusion field, which owes its existence to pivotal instances of discovery. His interest is nurtured by an insatiable curiosity and an unyielding pursuit of knowledge.

The genesis of Larry’s scientific journey can be traced back to his hometown of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, a serene enclave nestled on Cape Ann in the northeast United States. In his sophomore year, Larry’s small high school was entrusted with water quality test kits, granting them the opportunity to examine various locations across Cape Ann. During their investigation at Gloucester Paints, a startling truth emerged: unused boat bottom paint was being carelessly discharged into Gloucester Harbor. They swiftly reported this environmental infringement, and Gloucester Paints received a citation from the EPA. This pivotal project, undertaken when Larry was only sixteen, not only acquainted Larry with principles of scientific methodologies, such as measurement and research, but also kindled his enthusiasm for the investigative nature of scientific pursuits and the profound questions that arise during such endeavors.

This led to another seminal event in Larry’s teen years: his participation in a student science training program at Nebraska Wesleyan University, funded by the National Science Foundation. In this program, they studied the water in the Platte River. Larry learned additional instrumentation and implemented the skills he’d acquired in that formative science class. Larry’s participation in the student science training program further amplified his thirst for knowledge and his appreciation for the intricacies of scientific instrumentation. Through hands-on experimentation and applying his new skills, he developed a deep understanding of the scientific process and the transformative nature of scientific discovery.

Larry’s experiences as a young scientist in Manchester-by-the-Sea and his involvement in the student science training program at Nebraska Wesleyan University left an indelible mark on his scientific journey. These early experiences of discovery have shaped Larry’s perspective and instilled in him an unwavering determination to push the boundaries of scientific understanding and continue to inspire his work in solid-state fusion. This further manifested when he moved from studying environmental engineering at the University of Rochester to becoming a laser fusion group leader and a visiting scientist on a German tokamak.

Larry’s experiences as a young scientist instilled in him an unwavering determination to push the boundaries of scientific understanding and continue to inspire his work in solid-state fusion.

Larry initially worked in hot fusion but became involved in cold fusion in 1990. Although he initially dismissed cold fusion as nonsense due to his experience in hot fusion research in the United States and Germany, he became intrigued by the possibility of cold fusion. The intrigue emerged from a mishap. In an experiment he, along with his colleague Dr. Jacob Jorne, accidentally vaporized a Tanaka Precious Metals Pd cathode and cracked a calorimeter borrowed from Case Western Reserve University. This event prompted him to question what was happening and sparked his deeper involvement in cold fusion. He remembers thinking, “What’s going on here?” And the rest is history.

Wanting to explore further, Larry proposed to Dr. Harry Gove, Director of the Nuclear Structures Research Laboratory, to conduct atomic mass spectroscopy experiments using palladium atoms. Harry had the accelerator and proposed using it to carbon-14 date the Shroud of Turin. However, complications arose when Dr. John Huizenga, a prominent figure in the cold fusion saga (and Larry’s undergraduate chemistry professor), objected to Larry’s project, labeling it as “bad science.”

Larry's motivations for working in solid-state fusion stem from his experiences in hot fusion research and noting its limitations. He highlights building an optical spectrometer diagnostic on the ASDEX Tokamak at Max-Planck-Institute in Germany. This work, time spent in laser fusion, and working as a consultant to the Livermore Mirror Fusion Programs led him to understand the problems with hot fusion. These insights made him question the necessity of relying solely on a hot plasma and sparked his interest in exploring solid-state cold plasma fusion.

His skepticism indicated that hot fusion couldn’t meet global energy and climate change challenges in time. Perhaps LENR (low-energy nuclear reactions) could be scaled to meet these needs. As he continues to conduct research and development, Larry emphasizes the need to find solutions within a limited timeframe to tackle pressing issues such as wildfires, the release of methane from Arctic permafrost, and the redistribution of diseases. These pressing concerns serve as a reminder of both the importance of their scientific work and the urgency required to address them within the next two decades.

“Take the wildfires in Canada, for example. It’s a very obvious reminder of not only why we do this work, but the urgency in which this work needs to be done.”

[Larry's] skepticism indicated that hot fusion couldn’t meet global energy and climate change challenges in time. Perhaps LENR (low-energy nuclear reactions) could be scaled to meet these needs.

One of Larry’s favorite memories in his career will sound familiar to those who know about LENR’s origin story. In the latter part of 1990, he walked into the chemical engineering department at Rochester and noticed an unusual printout from the thermocouples that measured heat transport in the calorimeter. Normally, water does not exceed its boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), but the chart showed a sudden spike to 110 degrees Celsius in the middle of the night before decaying back down.

Upon further investigation, Larry discovered the cathode had vaporized inside the cell. He contacted Jacob who had been in the lab after Larry had left the previous evening. Jacob had initially turned off the power supply but then changed his mind and turned it back on, inadvertently causing the unexpected event.

It echoes the same event that happened in Drs. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischman’s lab, where Pons’ son inexplicably cycled the power resulting in an apparatus explosion and the removal of a thumb-size piece of cement in the floor under the fume hood. He’s talked to Martin about this incident, as well as a chemistry department graduate student who learned of the event the next day. This remarkable occurrence evoked his awe and incredulity, but sustained the intrigue of science and solid-state fusion for him.

Larry believes that on a small scale, there is limited time to commercially deploy millions of devices for widespread impact within twenty years. Instead, he suggests using LENR-based technology to augment existing nuclear power plants, which have already obtained licenses. This approach would reduce nuclear waste, improve power generation efficiency, and circumvent the licensing challenges of building entirely new reactors.

Larry takes scientific risks but emphasizes the importance of obtaining approval from regulatory bodies such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as the advisory Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) based in Paris, France. By leveraging existing infrastructure and addressing regulatory hurdles, the next step would involve constructing reactors with more LENR components that would eventually eliminate uranium enrichment and minimize plutonium buildup. These would enhance nuclear non-proliferation as well as offsetting carbon dioxide and methane buildup in the atmosphere.

This technology can be scaled up, and will need to be rapidly scaled up to address global environmental issues. However, the science must be understood for applications to develop and grow. Larry is encouraged by the increasing number of scientists, especially young scientists, who are starting to work in solid-state fusion (backed up by increased funding and opportunities, such as the DoE ARPA-E LENR Program). As a scientist who has worked in the field for decades, Larry recognizes a new generation of multi-disciplinary scientists must be supported and should be inspired by this work. As we work towards a better understanding of solid-state fusion and its potential, we work towards a better future for all of us. This is Larry’s goal and that of many other scientists working in solid-state fusion on their journeys of discovery.

Larry believes that on a small scale, there is limited time. He suggests using LENR-based technology to augment existing nuclear power plants.

This technology will need to be rapidly scaled up to address global environmental issues. However, the science must be understood for applications to develop and grow.