For a while, it seemed that the world was about to change for ever. But it never happened. Exactly 10 years ago on Tuesday, the world was introduced to the concept of cold fusion at a press conference at the University of Utah. Dr Stanley Pons and Professor Martin Fleischman from Southampton University in the UK said they had achieved fusion in a test tube.
Fusion is the energy source of the stars - the energy that is liberated when atoms combine.
In stars, and in prototype fusion reactors, this requires enormous temperatures, hundreds of millions of degrees. Yet these scientists said it could be achieved in a test tube at room temperature. They claimed their fuel cell produced four times more energy than went into it. A new era of energy was at hand. It was a discovery on a par with that of fire, said a scientist at the time.