They were chemists, not physicists. They were completely out of their depth when thinking about physics. From what I read in Frank Close&#x27;s book they jumped the gun when they learned about Steve Jones (who wanted to explain Earth&#x27;s He-3 with cold fusion), and they didn&#x27;t want to risk losing credit for their major discovery.<p>Obviously they were no saints and did lie and massage data when it all crumbled. But they behaved far more like blinkered true believers than frauds.