German Spiegel Online Features Rossi & E-Cat

Spiegel Online, A major German news outlet has a feature article by Ralph Diermann about Andrea Rossi and the E-Cat in its science section today. Translated into English, the title is “Dubious Invention: Mr. Rossi and his Wonder Reactor”, and it provides a reasonably balanced picture of the E-Cat, including comments from proponents and detractors.

The author contacted some scientists working in the ‘hot’ fusion fields who stated that Andrea Rossi could not possibly be achieving nuclear fusion within his system based on the currently understood laws of physics. One scientist stated that what Rossi does belongs in the category of charlatanism.

On the other hand, the author quotes Hanno Essén, and Bo Höistad, both of whom participated in the 2012-2013 3rd Party testing. Essén states that “We think it is very, very unlikely that the test runs have been manipulated . . . As far as we can tell, there were no interventions that have our central results can influence.” Höistad mentions that he found the test results so extraordinary that he asked for further testing under more extreme conditions (probably a reference to the current round of 3rd party testing).

As has been typical of much mainstream coverage of the E-Cat to date, the conclusion of the article is noncommittal. The article ends:

If Rossi’s reactor actually should reliably generate heat, the human dream of clean, cheap and inexhaustible energy would be true. If he does not, Rossi deserves at least respect for another achievement: that he has successfully led the public and some scientists around by the nose for a long time.