Remembering Giuliano Preparata
by George H. Miley
Dept. of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering
University of Illinois, Urbana, IL

Presented at the 8th International Workshop on Anomalies in Hydrogen / Deuterium Loaded Metals, Asti, Italy on Oct. 14, 2007

Audio Recording of Miley Presentation

Abstract

Anyone who attended an ICCF meeting before 2000 remembers the brilliant and fiery theoretical physicist, Giuliano Preparata. He provided new insight into the deep mysteries of cold fusion, and greatly enlivened the meetings with his lively debates. His book, QED Coherence in Matter, is a gem; it provides a view into Giuliano’s unique approach to coherence of matter and cold fusion (the “famous” chapter 8). It is not easy reading, so, I occasionally put his book in my briefcase and pulled it out whenever I found time on a trip. Indeed, I had it with me when I sadly learned of his untimely passing. I pulled the book out and stared at the cover, then moved to the dedication page where Giuliano credits his father for teaching him the meaning of “honour and honesty”. His father must have been proud since Giuliano learned the lesson well. The community lost a leading light that day.

Brief Bio

Giuliano was born in Padova, Italy in 1942. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1964, he became immersed in strong interaction physics theory. In 1967, he joined Princeton University and after several positions, ended up in 1970 as Assoc. Professor at NYU. From 1980 until his death, he was the Chair Person of High Energy Nuclear Physics at Milan University. In the early days of cold fusion, Giuliano joined the activities of the National Cold Fusion Institute in Salt Lake City. This experience peaked his interest in the physics of this exciting new field. His later cold fusion research was done at Milan University and in collaboration with the ENEA Fascati Laboratory where he played a key role in both theory and interpretation of cold fusion experiments.

Curriculum

Produzione Scientifica

Ha pubblicato circa 400 lavori e un libro nei seguenti campi:
- fisica subnucleare
- fisica nucleare
- fisica del laser
- superconduttività, superfluidità
- acqua liquida e solida
- materia condensata (vetri, colloidi, elettroliti, ecc.)
- fisica delle stelle di neutroni
- astrofisica dei GRB (Gamma Ray bursts)
- fusione fredda
- ha inoltre sviluppato con Cecilia Saccone, Ordinario di Biologia Molecolare all’Università di Bari, un modello markoviano di evoluzione molecolare che ha ricevuto notevole attenzione.

Tomek Ferbelski ha dedicato questa poesia a Giuliano Preparata

FATHER FEYNMAN You are old, Father Feynman, Preparata declared, and you hair has turned visibly grey: and yet you keep tossing ideas around – At your age, a disgraceful display! In my youth, said the master, as he shook his long locks, I took a great fancy to sketching: I drew many diagrams, which most thought profound while others thought just merely fetching. Yes I know, said the youth, interrupting the sage, that you once were so awfully clever; but now is the time for quark sausage with chrome do you think you can last-on forever? In your words, my young fellow, the crone did retort, as his face turned perceptibly redder, in your words I detect an impatience, I’m sure, which makes me decidedly madder You are old, quoth the youth, in his accented speech, while eyeing the throne of the Master: let me help you relinquish your sceptre next day. Or would you prefer that much faster? No, thanks, Giuliano, the sage did rebuff. enough of your own brand of sass: Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? be off. Or I’ll kick-in you ass! Tomek Ferbelski

 

Some Insights - His QED

 

In 1916 Walter Nernst [Preparata (2002)] proposed that a complex body could emerge from its component atoms just when they become able to tune together their fluctuations, producing a common phase of oscillation that could be regarded as the "identity" of that complex object. Conventional forces, electrostatic or chemical, produce a further binding in the basic structure created by the tuning of quantum oscillations.

This pioneering proposal was left unanswered for a long time, until, starting in the fifties, a sequence of theorists, from Robert Dicke [Dicke (1954)] to Klaus Hepp and Elliott Lieb [Hepp & Lieb (1973)] to Herbert Fröhlich [Fröhlich (1968)] and finally to Giuliano Preparata [Preparata (1995)] in the eigthies, have worked out a new vision of the dynamics of the transition from gaseous matter, that is an ensemble of basically independent particles, to condensed matter (liquids and solids).

The essential result can be stated as follows. An ensemble of a very large number N of particles, can assume two different configurations and are coupled with the e.m. field (as every particle made up of charged components, for instance atoms and molecules, does), enters a coherent state when its density exceeds a threshold and its T lies below a critical value. This coherent state has an energy lower than the original gas-like state; in the coherent state the particles oscillate between the two configurations in unison, in tune with an e.m. field grown up from the vacuum fluctuations and trapped within the assembly of coresonating particles. This coherent regime of both matter and e.m. fields holds within a region of space whose size is the wavelength of the e.m. oscillations; this region is called "coherence domain" (CD) and its size ranges from a fraction of a micron for liquids and metal electrons to some microns for solids to several tens of microns for ions in solution. ….is then the sum of two mesoscopic components, a coherent fraction made up by a large number of CD's and a gas-like non coherent fraction made up by particles filling the interstices among CD's. CD's are able to establish bounds among themselves through the tails (evanescent fields) of the quite intense e.m. fields existing inside the domains. So there is a large cage of the CD's within which there is a definite phase and zero entropy, trapping a "gas" of non coherent particles, (EDG)

 

 

Known For

• Martin Fleischmann has described him as “ the smartest person I ever knew. However, he turns out to be his own worst enemy.”
• He was viewed as “replacing Schwinger as the leader in cold fusion theory. But despite his brilliance, his personality prevented a wide discipleship.” (As in the earlier poem others compared him to Feynman.)
• “He read widely and could delve deeply into an amazing range of topics in and out of physics.”

Several of My Personal Memories

• During discussion of x-ray patterns observed in his experiments -- GP = “..you haven’t read Chapter 8 of my book!! Read it before we continue this discussion!!”
• “.. The Italian delegation is leaving – we will not listen to this nonsense any longer.”
• “.. Reject all of these papers – they are nonsense”
• “…. You Americans are arrogant, trying to control all physics publications.”

Some Quotes From Colleagues

• I remember especially one sentence he was used  to explain his “strong” interactions with other physicists: " I love physics like a woman, like a lover. While I know that I am not the only one entitled to love her ,and I am not jealous in a conventional way, ---------still,  to see her abused drives me crazy!".

• One event that comes to mind is a discussion between xy and Preparata during ICCF4 in Hawaii.  As I recall, xy had just either submitted or published a review article on cold fusion theories in which Preparata's model did not fare well.

Closing

• He was difficult to get along with
• He was loud and demanding
• But this was from his love of physics
• The community lost a leading light that day.
• Yes, we all miss him,
• His brilliance and his energy
• His insight lives on!!

Acknowledgements: Memories from many are gratefully acknowledged, especially

• Emilo Preparata
• Antonella de Nnino
• Emilio Del Giudice
• Vittorio Violante
• Scott Chubb
• Peter Hagelstein
• Mike McKubre
• Akito Takahashi
• John Bockris
• Martin Fleishmann