Unfortunately it's not clear to most people how obviously bogus the cold fusion thing was to an experimental nuclear physicist at the time -- especially if they

Unfortunately it's not clear to most people how obviously bogus the cold fusion thing was to an experimental nuclear physicist at the time -- especially if they routinely used palladium targets. (No, that's not having a closed mind or whatever -- just being clued-up.) Anyhow, it had classic characteristics of pseudo-science if you you were familiar with relevant history.