Pamela A. Mosier-Boss is an American analytical chemist who spent her career at the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. Her research considered the development of environmental sensors and low-energy nuclear reaction.
Pamela A. Mosier-Boss | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Kent State University Michigan State University |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | United States Naval Research Laboratory |
| Thesis | Physiochemical studies of crown-solvent complexations (1986) |
Early life and education
editMosier-Boss' mother was a nurse.[1] Mosier-Boss studied biology and chemistry at Kent State University.[2] She moved to Michigan State University for doctoral research, where she studied crown ether complexations.[3]
Research and career
editMosier-Boss worked on strategies to understand nuclear effects and near-surface interactions. She joined the United States Naval Research Laboratory, where she secured more patents than any woman in the history of the lab.[4] She was based in the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, where she developed battery systems, piezoelectric ceramics and phages.[4] Phages are viruses that are hosts to bacteria (e.g. anthrax). Mosier-Boss developed a strategy to attach phages, head-down, onto a grid. These grids could be attached to silicon chips, which would facilitate the determination of whether or not particular bacteria were present.[4]
Mosier-Boss proposed that low-energy nuclear reactions could generate neutrons that could be used to fission uranium. Such an approach, so-called cold fusion, would eliminate the need for radioactive sources. In particular, Mosier-Boss developed a co-deposition process to deposit thin films of palladium and deuterium. In these devices, deuterium is compressed electrochemically within the palladium lattice, which can generate nuclear events.[5] The co-deposition process involved the simultaneous deposition of deuterium and palladium from electrolytes that contain palladium salts dissolved in heavy water. The films must be deposited on a substrate that does not absorb hydrogen (e.g. gold) at high negative potentials.[5][6] She worked on CR-39 as a nuclear track detector,[7] which works by monitoring the ionization trails left after the atoms of CR-39 recoil in response to high energy neutrons.[4] By treating these detectors with an etching system she showed that it was possible to differentiate triple tracks, which she assigned to alpha particles generated in the 12C(n,n′)3α carbon reaction.[7] She went on to show that when the Pd cell was placed within an external field[8] a transmutation occurs, which changes the surface morphology of the Pd/D films.[9]
In 2013, Mosier-Boss was awarded the Infinite Energy Preparata Medal in recognition of her work on cold fusion.[4]
Selected publications
edit- Pamela A Mosier-Boss (8 June 2017). "Review of SERS Substrates for Chemical Sensing". Nanomaterials. 7 (6). doi:10.3390/NANO7060142. ISSN 2079-4991. PMC 5485789. PMID 28594385. Wikidata Q33837921.
- Pamela A Mosier-Boss (13 November 2017). "Review on SERS of Bacteria". Biosensors. 7 (4). doi:10.3390/BIOS7040051. ISSN 2079-6374. PMC 5746774. PMID 29137201. Wikidata Q47140108.
- P A Mosier-Boss; S H Lieberman; J M Andrews; F L Rohwer; L E Wegley; Mya Breitbart (1 September 2003). "Use of fluorescently labeled phage in the detection and identification of bacterial species". Applied Spectroscopy. 57 (9): 1138–1144. doi:10.1366/00037020360696008. ISSN 0003-7028. PMID 14611044. Wikidata Q46075288.
References
edit- ^ "Remembering the life of Maryann Mosier 1938 - 2011". obituaries.starbeacon.com. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
- ^ "Lattice Confinement Fusion and Fusion-Fast-Fission Energy Source Development" (PDF).
- ^ Morbier-Boss, Pamela A. (1986). "Physiochemical studies of crown-solvent complexations".
- ^ a b c d e "Pam Boss Receives Preparata Medal" (PDF). 2013.
- ^ a b "Thermal and Nuclear Aspects of the Pd/D2O System. Volume 1. A Decade of Research at Navy Laboratories".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Pd/D Co- Deposition" (PDF). 2021.
- ^ a b Mosier-Boss, Pamela A.; Szpak, Stanislaw; Gordon, Frank E.; Forsley, Lawrence P. G. (January 2009). "Triple tracks in CR-39 as the result of Pd-D Co-deposition: evidence of energetic neutrons". Die Naturwissenschaften. 96 (1): 135–142. Bibcode:2009NW.....96..135M. doi:10.1007/s00114-008-0449-x. ISSN 0028-1042. PMID 18828003. S2CID 11044813.
- ^ Szpak, Stanislaw; Mosier-Boss, Pamela A.; Young, Charles; Gordon, Frank E. (2005-08-01). "Evidence of nuclear reactions in the Pd lattice". Naturwissenschaften. 92 (8): 394–397. Bibcode:2005NW.....92..394S. doi:10.1007/s00114-005-0008-7. ISSN 1432-1904. PMID 16052356. S2CID 13723567.
- ^ Szpak, S.; Mosier-Boss, P. A.; Young, C.; Gordon, F. E. (2005-07-01). "The effect of an external electric field on surface morphology of co-deposited Pd/D films". Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry. 580 (2): 284–290. doi:10.1016/j.jelechem.2005.03.039. ISSN 1572-6657.