F: Are you surrounded by helpers or is this a solo operation?
R: Yes, I have helpers and in for what concerns the production line and for what concerns the research and development.
F: I see. Which part of your work is the most satisfying or is it all equally satisfying to you?
R: Research. It is the creative part of the work when I think I have the same sensation of an artist that paints a painting. Because it is the creative part. That is when I feel very happy. The other parts of the work are a necessary part and it is necessary to bring on these developments because I think that it is necessary that we work on the industrial development to avoid that the development gets breaked somewhere else.
F: So you feel your work is… there is no point to your work if you cannot bring this to the public.
R: Exactly. I want not absolutely that this remains closed in some laboratory just to make successful publications. I think that until a thing is useful for the people it is useless.
F: When do you think that there’s going to be more interest from the academic environment? At the moment there does not seem to be much interest from most of the universities around the world? When do you think that will change?
R: This is not a problem of ours, honestly. My battlefield is the market. We have to make a product that works well starting from industries and that is our battlefield. If and when the academic world will be completely involved with this is not my actual focus. It does not depend on me. But what I care to say is that we have very good professors from the academic world who are working with us as consultants and so it is not true that all the academic world is not interested in this. In any case, I think that a good sense allows us to think that with the development of the product, the movement of it in a competitive world will involve the academic world. You know the academic world works mainly based on financing and when results will be financed you can be sure . . . [inaudible].
F: Are you receiving any interests from governments of countries? Do you have any relationships with government bodies?
R: Yes, but I cannot specify which ones.
F: Do you know where your ideas come from when you make a discovery. Is there a way that you get ideas is it through study or thinking or do they come out of the blue?
R: An easier question which is the root of this invention. Well, the root has been the press conference that Pons and Fleischmann made in 1989. Because I was working in the field of energy production with alternative sources. That has always been my profession. I was very interested in that press conference and I tried to repeat the experiment and I had not been able to, but that has been the spark that ignited my research in the field. From then I worked on attempts to obtain results. Once I arrived at the point that I felt the experiment of Fleischmann and Pons was not replicable, not for me in any case, I have tried many other systems. And mainly I wanted to try empirically all of the possible systems derived from different theoretical approaches until we found the first results and then we got the development.
F: Since that time, is it from trial and error that you learn, or do you get ideas, thoughts?
R: This you know, you need an idea to make a trial. You have to start from ideas. But then the ideas have to be passed through trial and error. You know this is what in the history of science is called the Galilean method.
F: For some reason, Italy has been a fruitful ground for breakthroughs. Is there anything about Italian culture that contributes to the scientific progress that comes from your country.
R: Well, Italy has a very deep cultural background. This is true. Yes, maybe I did not I never thought about this. Maybe you are right, but we have to respect the fact that also in the United States there is a tremendous background of cultural achievements and also you know the United States is a country made by people that immigrated from Europe and so all the heritage of Europe has been transferred to the USA. But I myself I am a typical example of this. I have chosen to reside in the United States.
F: So you are a resident alien, is that right?
R: Yes, I am an Italian citizen, but a resident of the United States.
F: I think that is all I have to ask you today. Thank you so much for your time.
R: Thank you very much.
F: We have a lot of readers on my website that are always hoping to hear news of some public event or public announcement. Can you give any idea of when we might hear from you within the next can you say months or weeks.
R: Well the most important things that will happen in the next months will be first a public knowledge of one megawatt plant in operation in a normal customer situation. Second the fact the E-Cats are going to work at very high temperatures to fullfill the requirements to have high efficiency in many applications. And these are the two main improvements that we will be going through. With this occasion I thank you extremely very for this interesting interview that you made. It has been fun to have you here with me today.
F: Thank you so much and I wish you success as you go on with your work.
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UPDATE: Just today, Andrea Rossi made this comment about this interview on the Journal of Nuclear Physics:
Dear Frank Acland:
Thank you for the information: your inteeview has been very useful.
I have just an adjournment: the production will be focused on the USA alone, for the first years. This has been decided in a meeting of today of the Trust that owns Leonardo Corp with me, as the CEO of Leonardo.
Warm Regards,
A.R.
