When University of Utah chemists B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann proclaimed their discovery of cold fusion nine months ago, the announcement set off a storm of debate and controversy.
Confusion, not fusion, reigned as physicists around the world at first castigated the findings. Later, some scientists would grudgingly concede that something indeed happens when the Pons-Fleischmann experiments are duplicated.But the question remains: Are the "events" in the test tubes indeed the product of cold fusion?
Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain - the international furor generated mountains of newspaper clippings and convinced Deseret News writers and editors that cold fusion was the top Utah news story of 1989.
Members of the Deseret News staff considered dozens of possibilities in pondering the year's top stories. They decided Utah's successful effort to represent the United States in the international bidding for the 1998 Winter Olympics was the No. 2 local story of the year. Running a close third in the balloting was the spontaneous teacher walkout in September.
Here are the top 10 news stories at a glance:
1.Cold fusion
Not since Barney Clark received the first artificial heart at the University Medical Center has scientific scrutiny focused so intently on Utah. And again controversy is a big factor.
Scientific reaction to the first Pons-Fleischmann news conference on March 23 ranged from intense skepticism to downright condemnation of the findings. Much of the controversy centered on the fact that the researchers are chemists, not physicists. Compounding the issue was a mini turf-war between the U. and Brigham Young University, where physicist Steven Jones is also involved with cold fusion research.
Add to that a negative report by investigators from the U.S. Department of Energy and numerous media editorials (especially on the East Coast) condemning the findings.
But the doubt has been tempered by increasing substantiation of the Pons-Fleischmann tests by other reputable research universities, most notably Texas A&M, Stanford and the University of Minnesota. Also, there has been success in other countries, adding an international flavor to the debate. While these findings tend to confirm the results of the Pons-Fleischmann efforts, no one is willing to predict when _ if ever _ it will be a practical energy source.
The issue is now creeping into the political and economic arenas. Japan has announced research results, prompting U.S. politicians to criticize federal reluctance to support research efforts.
2. The Olympics
Utah's pursuit of the 1988 Winter Olympics may not have sparked international controversy, but it has had its share of local debate and confrontation.
Olympics backers won a crucial victory Nov. 7 when voters approved plans to use public money to fund some of the up-front construction needed to host the Winter Games.
Environmental and anti-taxation groups have vowed to continue the fight. They contend that anticipated revenues, especially from television rights, are vastly overstated and that local Olympics officials cannot guarantee protection of fragile Wasatch Front canyons from intrusion by the Games.
The question may become moot in 1991 if Utah fails to win the bid when the International Olympics Committee makes its selection. Until then, the battle lines are drawn and the shooting has begun.
3. The teacher walkout
The schoolteacher walkout probably had the most direct impact on local citizens, especially in Davis County.
When a special session of the Legislature failed to move decisively on education issues, Davis teachers decided it was time to make their point clear. The walkout began at Davis High School about 10 a.m. on Sept. 22, and by noon most Davis County schools had followed suit, as teachers locked classroom doors and left.
Unexpectedly, the walkout crossed county lines, and by Sunday it was official _ a statewide walkout would be held on Monday.
This issue, too, is not settled. Teachers have vowed to walk again before the school year ends if the Legislature does not take significant action concerning teacher salaries, reducing class sizes and providing sufficient school supplies and textbooks.
4. Joshua Dennis
Joshua Dennis amazed the world in September, surviving five days lost inside a cold, dark, abandoned mine shaft near Stockton in Tooele County. Joshua was on a Saturday night Scout outing and became separated from the group inside the Hidden Treasure mine. Initial search efforts proved fruitless, and a massive search was launched the following morning, both inside and outside the myriad mine shafts that dot the area.
As minutes turned to hours, and hours to days, hope of finding the lost 10-year-old began to wane. Rescuers were ready to call off the search on Wednesday but returned to the shaft just after 2 p.m. when Joshua's father insisted the search continue. About 2:45 p.m., a Utah Power & Light Co. mine safety team found Joshua perched on a ledge about 500 feet from where he had disappeared. It turned out to be the "miracle" story for 1989.
5. Murder in Bolivia
Utahns were stunned in May when two local LDS missionaries serving in Bolivia were gunned down by terrorists. Jeffrey Brent Ball, Coalville, and Todd Ray Wilson, Wellington, apparently were returning to their apartment about 10:20 p.m. May 24 when a small yellow car sped by, spewing 9mm gunfire. The young missionaries were the only ones hit by the gunfire in what appeared to be a random attack.
A leftist terrorist group would later claim responsibility. Despite the shootings, missionary work continues.
6. Sorenson Medical Center
What's in a name? About $15 million. That's the costly lesson the University of Utah learned when philanthropist J.L. Sorenson took back his multimillion-dollar gift after public pressure forced school officials to renege on a promise to name the University Medical Center and School of Medicine after Sorenson.
The name change sparked immediate controversy among medical students, faculty and legislators, and several petitions protesting the change were delivered to U. President Chase Peterson and the U. Institutional Council. Sorenson, stung by the outcry, ultimately took his stock back, and the medical center and school got back their original names.
Fortunately for the U., the controversy was short-lived, and the university reports that monetary gifts to the school are continuing.
7. Lee excommunication
LDS Church members were stunned by the unexpected excommunication of Elder George P. Lee on Sept. 1 after he accused church leaders of bias against Indians. Lee had been a popular member of the church's First Quorum of the Seventy since becoming a general authority in 1975, and he was seen as a role model for other Indian church members. He was excommunicated for "apostasy and conduct unbecoming a member of the church."
8. Bundy's execution
After years in the public limelight, convicted murderer Ted Bundy went to the Florida electric chair on Jan. 24.
In the final days of his life he confessed to more than two dozen killings of young women in Utah, Idaho, Washington and Colorado. Bundy admitted killing eight Utah women and, on the day before he died, gave a Salt Lake detective broad information about where to find the remains of three of his victims. To date, the remains have not been found.
Bundy died for the murder of a 12-year-old Florida girl, but for many he will be remembered for the trail of death he left across the West.
It was in Utah where Bundy made the mistake that would eventually lead to the unmasking of his secret life. While a law student at the U., Bundy continued a murderous double life that started in Seattle. When a young Murray woman escaped from his car following her abduction at Fashion Place Mall, police finally had the witness they needed to begin prosecuting Bundy. Unfortunately, Bundy would escape from a Colorado courthouse, and at least three more young women would die before his final capture and execution.
9. Dike breaks
The New Year hit southern Utah with a whoosh rather than a bang in 1989 as several hundred Washington County residents were forced to evacuate their homes in front of flood waters raging out of the burst Quail Creek dike shortly after midnight on Jan. 1.
Some 25,000 acre-feet of water streamed out of the reservoir, washing away at least two bridges and devastating farmland along the banks of the Virgin River. Fortunately, residents living downstream were evacuated ahead of the waters; the only loss of life involved farm animals.
10. The Jazz Arena
In February, Utah Jazz fans (the basketball variety) were excited when team owner Larry Miller announced plans to build a larger arena for the team in downtown Salt Lake City. The project has inched forward since, although Miller remains optimistic that the new Jazz home can be occupied during the 1991-92 season.
Plans are for a 20,000-seat arena located southwest of the Salt Palace. Financing is the major obstacle, but there are still some problems associated with land acquisition that must be resolved before ground can be broken.