Go to original

James J. Brophy, 65, Who Played Major Role In Cold Fusion Effort
The New York Times

December 17, 1991

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 16 — Dr. James John Brophy, retired vice president for research at the University of Utah and a main player in the university's short-lived venture into cold fusion research, died Saturday at University Hospital in Salt Lake City. He was 65 years old and lived in Salt Lake City.

Dr. Brophy died of pancreatic cancer, his wife, Muriel, said.

He led the university's response during the tumultuous months after the announcement in March 1989 that researchers had achieved nuclear fusion in a tabletop, room-temperature experiment.

The announcement by two electrochemists, B. Stanley Pons, chairman of the university's chemistry department, and Martin Fleishmann of Southampton University in England, sent scientists from around the world scrambling to duplicate the experiments because the assertion raised the prospect of a cheap, virtually inexhaustible source of energy. But as hundreds of laboratories failed to duplicate the experiment, most cold fusion efforts collapsed.

Dr. Brophy helped persuade the Utah Legislature to appropriate $5 million to start up the National Cold Fusion Institute on the university campus. He became acting director in late 1989.

The institute failed to obtain sufficient outside financing, however, and closed earlier this year.

Dr. Brophy was an administrator at the Illinois Institute of Technology before joining the University of Utah as research vice president in 1980. He retired in June and was named a professor emeritus of physics and electrical engineering.

He wrote more than 100 technical papers on solid-state physics and held a number of patents. He wrote "Basic Electronics for Scientists" and "Semiconductor Devices" in 1965.

He was a native of Chicago and earned his degrees at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

In addition to his wife, Dr. Brophy is survived by his three sons, James J., of Denver, John R., of Valencia, Calif., and Thomas C., of Bellevue, Wash., and two grandchildren.

(In accordance with Title 17, Section 107, of the U.S. Code, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. New Energy Times has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of the original text in this article; nor is New Energy Times endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

"Go to Original" links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted on New Energy Times may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the "Go to Original" links.