Alternative Science (Alt-Sci) · Run 10 · 2026-10-08
2026-10-08-run10.html · 76 projects reviewed · ranked for an alternative-science reader who distrusts institutional science
How this document is organised
Rankings at a glance: one row per project; click a name to jump to its entry.
Rank entries: every entry has the same sections in the same order, so projects compare section by section.
Ranked Projects and Selected Projects: one card per project; Selected Projects are those the owner named for a full card whatever their rank.
Ranked Themes and Selected Themes: the same kind of card for an idea shared by several projects (for example the aether or free energy), with its timeline, core propositions and member projects.
Other ranked projects: every project outside the top 20, one line each.
What changed this run: movements, reasons, and the history of runs.
Each entry is a summary. The full study document is the project's primer, linked in the entry header with the arbiter, sites log and source catalogue.
How projects are ranked
Ranked for an alternative-science reader who distrusts institutional science. Rank 1 is the most interesting. Interest is not proof: every entry carries its verdicts. Four things are weighed:
A - Untested Untested anomaly or documented resistance
B - Open question Open question the arbiter left unsettled
C - Testable Reader can test or calculate it
D - Influential Depth and influence in alternative science
Who reviewed
Physicist tests each claim against known physics. Mathematician checks derivations, units and assumptions. Contrarian makes the strongest honest case for the claim. Arbiter reconciles the three and gives the verdicts. Investigator finds outside records (leads, not verdicts). QE audits coverage and shortcuts.
Verdict key
EstablishedPlausible, untestedNever properly testedTested, not supportedRefuted by calculationInternally inconsistentNot testable as statedHistorically superseded but instructive
Evidence status: read in the review · partly read · cited or indexed, not read · not found or not obtained
Single-source evidence is described, not dismissed; parties with a stake are marked · stake.
Moray's antenna-and-ground box lit lamps before named witnesses 1925-38; never metered, device lost, FBI file anomaly; the books' physics pages largely borrow Le Bon.
ABC
Never properly testedbox demonstrations and hidden-feed question
US government documents on scalar waves, cold fusion excess heat, tachyons and ELF mind control; refuted items beside an unreplicated heat-and-helium record.
Kassner's 1930s patents on microwave 'natural frequencies' of dipolar substances; never tested, the research record goes dark; standing-field electrolysis claim split.
Silvertooth's two-laser standing-wave interferometer reported a 378 km/s ether wind toward Leo, matching the CMB dipole; the derivation fails on its own premises.
Ether-Technology compiles Brown, Searl, Saxl and Seike gravity-control work; asymmetric-capacitor thrust is real ionic wind, the vacuum and Searl claims are not.
ABC
Refuted by calculationSearl spinning-ring mechanism
Rahn's 1936 book on mitogenetic rays: faint ultraviolet from living cells said to speed division; a contested 1937 negative, never settled by agreed protocol.
ABC
Never properly testeddivision-accelerating UV emission
Bearden's potential-as-energy-flow theory and MEG patent: COP above 1 never neutrally tested, self-powered run undone; influential, with real physics underneath.
ABCD
Refuted by calculationsustained self-powered output
Lindemann's book reading Gray's cold electricity as Tesla radiant energy, plus Bearden, Meyer and Testatika claims; no test reports, net-gain forms fail energy budgets.
ABD
Never properly testednet energy gain from radiant-energy devices
Van Vlaenderen's scalar-potential electrodynamics keeps the Lorenz-gauge field S physical, predicting longitudinal waves and an extra force no one has tested.
Harold Aspden revived Maxwell's undetermined term in the force between moving charges and built a lattice-aether theory of constants; neglected, not suppressed.
Ching-Chuan Su's local-ether wave equation: gravity as optical index, mass as frequency, Galilean magnetism; predictions differing from relativity mostly fail or are untested.
Kennard's 1917 rotating condenser in a solenoid settled a unipolar-induction question; his 5 percent agreement with theory is not reproduced from his own rule.
William Hooper's non-inductive coil said to give a shield-proof motional electric field and gravity effects; own helper's data favour an artefact, record goes dark.
Partnered opposite-wound output coils and Sweet's vacuum triode amplifier, said to cancel B and avoid Lenz drag; the coil result is ordinary physics.
AC
Refuted by calculationstrong form, no reaction or net gain
A Untested anomaly or documented resistance · B Open question the arbiter left unsettled · C Reader can test or calculate it · D Depth and influence in alternative science
A Utah inventor's antenna-and-ground box lit kilowatts of lamps before about 30 named witnesses; it was never metered, the device is gone, and key federal files remain unread.
Invention / theory background
T. Henry Moray (1892-1974) of Salt Lake City demonstrated his Radiant Energy device from 1925 to 1938: a box wired only to an antenna and a ground that lit lamps and heated irons. He said the power came from oscillating cosmic radiation captured by resonance and converted by a secret mineral 'valve' he never let anyone examine. His books' physics pages largely reproduce Le Bon (1905). He and his sons later claimed transmutation and sold the Cosray therapy device.
Ranking explanation
It ranks near the top as the collection's strongest untested anomaly (A): named witnesses, a sealed 158-hour run and a two-year federal engagement, none metered. Unread records (FBI file, Army report, Ottawa letters) keep it open (B); the energy and battery arithmetic is easy to check (C). The finding that the books' physics is borrowed leaves the lamp question untouched. Below Heaviside, whose blocked ideas were confirmed; above Government's mixed claims.
Key supporting elements
About 30 named witnesses on about 25 dated occasions, 1925-38, report lamps and an iron run from a box wired only to antenna and ground, including a 1938 Utah Securities Commission inspection with parts weighed, meter-tested and the box bored.
The sealed 1928 run lasted 157.9 hours at about 110-120 W, 17-19 kWh: about 450-600 kg of lead-acid batteries against two small boxes. Harvey Fletcher of Bell Labs: 'I am just as puzzled as ever.'
Field runs at witness-chosen sites: Strawberry Valley 1926, 26 miles from the last power line by odometer (one 100 W lamp for 15 minutes); a 1938 desert test 25-30 miles from Johnson's Pass (recalled 24 years later).
Records outside the family books: the REA paid and equipped Moray, Feb 1939 to Feb 1941; its engineer Wood called him 'essentially honest, unable to ... perpetuate a hoax' and said he had 'stumbled on to something'.
An Army Ordnance general (Shinkle) filed a report on a Moray demonstration in Dec 1936; the FBI interviewed Moray in 1951 about a 1929 Soviet visitor; a 74-page FBI file released in 2000 drew 'No Records' in 2013.
Key contradictions
No power was ever metered. Every wattage is a sum of lamp ratings, and one witness said bulbs 'burned cold except ... a hot spot about the size of a dime', so delivered power is unknown.
The detector was withheld in every recorded examination except possibly 1938, each start-up needed priming, and the 1928 ground was a house water pipe normally bonded to the mains. Hidden feed, ground path and priming are not excluded.
Known radiation cannot supply kilowatts: cosmic rays fall about a billion times short, and 50 kW per square metre is 37 times full sunlight. Moray's own text says the first stage is 'excited by an external energy source'.
Moray's own patent agent Hayes testified (Reno, 1932) that he could not build the machine from the patent papers; physicist Orin Tugman wrote (1940) he was refused a demonstration for 12 years and called it 'a very clever hoax'.
Claimed performance fell 600-1,000 times by 1968; the 1963-70 gold yields fall about 600,000 times short of the needed energy. The books' physics pages largely reproduce Le Bon, Glasser and Preston, with no Moray data.
User follow-ups (11)
Q01AnsweredWhat did Moray mean by taking up Rutherford's experiments again (Radiant Energy p.54)? The sentence is copied from Le Bon (1905), and the experiments are Rutherford's 1902-06 alpha-particle velocity measurements.
In Radiant Energy (1926, p.54) Moray writes that it "could prove profitable if these experiments of Rutherford and his co-workers were taken up again." What did he most likely mean? Which of Rutherford's experiments (alpha-particle velocities, scattering, the 1919 nitrogen transmutation, or others), and how would taking them up again connect to his radiant energy device and his later transmutation and direct-conversion work?
Asked 2026-10-06 · answered 2026-10-06 · 3 min web search
A01Not Moray's own idea: the sentence is copied, uncredited, from Gustave Le Bon (1905), and the experiments meant are Rutherford's 1902-06 measurements of alpha-particle velocity.
Known
The sentence is Le Bon's, from The Evolution of Matter (1905), Book IV ch.III, copied almost verbatim in Radiant Energy pp.53-56.
Le Bon wrote: "I think that, on this point, the experiments of Rutherford and his pupils should be taken up anew." Moray changed "should be taken up anew" to "could prove profitable".
Le Bon's footnote: alpha particles might be emitted by all matter, but are detected only above a minimum speed (Strutt, Nature 1906).
Rutherford's 1902-06 measurements found alphas become undetectable below about 9,000 km/s.
Scattering (1909-11) and the 1919 nitrogen transmutation came after Le Bon wrote.
Inferred
(a) Moray copied the passage and agreed with it, with no specific plan.
(b) He took up Le Bon's idea that ordinary matter gives off energy below what instruments detect, which fits his "sea of energy" and his valves that standard meters supposedly cannot read.
(c) Looking back from his later work, Rutherford stood for alpha transmutation (cited by Moray on p.60) and for direct conversion. His 1968 Air Force proposal cites Rutherford, Chadwick, Ellis and Le Bon, and "experiments dating back to 1913" (very likely Moseley's radium battery) for an isotope-excited semiconductor converter.
Open
Whether Moray knew the passage was Le Bon's.
When he first used it (1945 is the earliest dated printing).
Q02AnsweredWas Moray's 1968 contrast of intrinsic and extrinsic infrared detectors a hint at the cosmic microwave background? Unlikely: the passage is a correct summary of 1968 detector practice.
In his 7 August 1968 proposal to the Air Force Systems Command ("Proposal for Development Plasma Probe", with Stan Taylor, p.1), Moray contrasts intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductor infrared detectors: extrinsic detectors reach beyond 6 microns but need cooling below 40 K, while a narrow-gap intrinsic detector for longer wavelengths is "not beyond the realm of possibility." Was he hinting at detecting the cosmic microwave background (discovered 1965) or another background radiation, perhaps the "oscillations from the Universe" of p.5? What was the state of intrinsic and extrinsic long-wavelength detectors in 1968, and how does the passage fit the plasma probe and energy converter he proposed?
Asked 2026-10-06 · answered 2026-10-06 · 3 min web search
A02The passage is a correct summary of 1968 infrared-detector practice; a hint at the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is unlikely.
Known
Extrinsic detectors reaching past 6 microns meant chiefly mercury-doped germanium (cutoff about 14 microns, cooled to about 30 K; used in the first forward-looking infrared imagers, 1969) or copper-doped germanium (4 K).
The "material with a gap narrow enough" was the 1960s narrow-gap programme: mercury cadmium telluride (discovered 1959, aimed at 77 K) and lead tin telluride. The proposal names none of them.
No outside source of the paragraph was found; exact-phrase searches return only copies of the proposal.
CMB: the 2.7 K background peaks near 1 mm (photon about 0.0012 eV), about 100 times longer than the passage's range; Penzias and Wilson found it at 7.35 cm with a radio receiver.
The proposal never mentions microwaves or a 3 K background. Its "oscillations from the Universe" (p.5) and "radiations of the Cosmos" sit beside cosmic rays, Van Allen protons and Compton-scattered X-rays (pp.4-12).
Inferred
(a) Background showing the Air Force reviewers current detector knowledge.
(b) A bridge to the next sentence, which claims the Institute's tubes are "energy transponders" that both detect and convert, a narrower gap meaning lower-energy quanta can free charge; the passage itself notes such gaps need cooling.
Infrared plays no part in the plasma probe, which measures charged-particle spectra.
Open
The paragraph's source.
Who Stan Taylor was.
The Air Force reply.
Note
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): The source file is named Air Force Materials Command; the letter itself is headed Air Force Systems Command.
Q04AnsweredWhat was Moray detecting with phosphorescent sulphide screens (Radiant Energy p.54)? The passages are Le Bon's, uncredited; the zinc sulphide family offers several phosphors worth trying.
In Radiant Energy (1926, p.54) Moray describes the spinthariscope, a zinc sulphide screen that sparkles under alpha particles from radium, and adds: "One may, by using certain varieties of phosphorescent sulphide, succeed in making screens showing the phenomenon of dissociation, now [not] only with salts of radium, but also with other substances. Herein be the door to greater discoveries." What might he have been detecting, or hoping to detect, with such screens? Which sulphides, and which trace activators or dopants (for example copper, silver or manganese in zinc sulphide, or calcium sulphide, which he mentions elsewhere), would respond to radiations other than alpha particles, and which would be worth trying today? Is the passage Moray's own, or taken from Gustave Le Bon's writing on the "dissociation of matter", and if so, what did Le Bon mean by it?
Asked 2026-10-06 · answered 2026-10-06 · 3 min web search
A04Both spinthariscope passages are Gustave Le Bon's, uncredited; Moray added "Herein be the door to greater discoveries". The zinc sulphide family gives several phosphors worth trying.
Known
Le Bon wrote in the first person: "I have succeeded, by using certain varieties of phosphorescent sulfide, in making screens ... not only with salts of radium, but also with divers substances, notably thorium and uranium." His footnote: a thin sulphide layer on glass, laid on the sample; uranium and thorium minerals and a gas mantle scintillate. Those are real alpha emitters.
Moray dropped the named samples and added "Herein be the door to greater discoveries", his own sentence.
The calcium sulphide "eighteen months" passage is also Le Bon's ("In my former experiments"), part of his 1896 "black light" work, never confirmed. By "dissociation" Le Bon meant that all matter slowly breaks up and radiates.
Silver-doped zinc sulphide detects alpha particles and is almost blind to beta and gamma rays; mixed with lithium-6 fluoride it detects neutrons.
Copper-doped zinc sulphide (radium-paint phosphor, long green glow) is quenched by infrared; Le Bon used it as an infrared detector. Manganese-doped zinc sulphide is triboluminescent.
Europium-samarium-doped calcium or strontium sulphide stores charge that infrared releases as light, the modern form of Le Bon's observation. All are worth trying, against a blank.
Inferred
Competing readings: copying with a flourish; Le Bon's universal dissociation adopted; a check on his own radium-zinc detector stone (a 1984 note lists "triboluminescent zinc and radium chloride"); or detecting invisible rays generally.
Open
Whether Moray ever used such screens.
Note
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): "now only" is probably a transcription slip for "not only". In Isotopes in Ionic Recovery of U3O8 Moray notes that calcium sulphide exposed to the sun for a few seconds "radiates invisible light for eighteen months".
T. H. Moray, Radiant Energy ("1926" printing, post-1945), printed pp.54-55; Isotopes in Ionic Recovery of U3O8 (1958, rev. 1959) pp.5-6; Noffsinger notes 1984 (project _text and facts.json)
Q08AnsweredDoes resonance of current, light and sound break down and transmute matter, as Moray claims? Resonance does break objects, molecules and, at MeV energies, nuclei, but turning silver into cadmium needs nuclear reactions far beyond these inputs.
Moray describes a new phenomenon: matter breaks down (dissociates, disintegrates and transmutes) when exposed to resonance produced by the simultaneous, synchronized action of electricity, light (rays) and sound. Two passages: (1) Isotopes in Ionic Recovery of U3O8, pp. 23-26 (page images r023-r026): the frequency of the current and the wavelength of the ray or rays 'must harmonize so as to blend or synchronize with the natural frequency or wave length of the substance treated', which he calls a 'superultra sonic reaction'; violent oscillations cause 'disintegration and transformation'; all vibrations 'are electrical in nature and can be duplicated in harmonics and sonics'; p. 23 claims a silver-to-cadmium change. (2) Radiant Energy (1926), pp. 34-35: 'Every substance has a natural vibratory resonance and a point of dissociation'; 'pure resonance' leads to 'the dissociation of the matter'; 'The writer has, as Tesla did, come very close to pure resonance with certain substances.' Quote both passages exactly. Check whether either is borrowed (as Radiant Energy pp. 53-56 and the booklet's p. 6 were from Le Bon), for example from Tesla, Keely or Le Bon. Then answer: what does known physics say about resonance breaking matter (mechanical resonance and fracture; acoustic cavitation and sonochemistry; sonoluminescence; resonant multiphoton ionization and laser isotope separation; photonuclear reactions), what combined current + light + sound effects really exist, what energy would a silver-to-cadmium change need, and is there any independent evidence for Moray's claim?
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-07 · 3 min web search
A08The passages exist, but the theory is partly copied and has no data behind it. Real resonance breaks objects, molecules and, at MeV energies, nuclei. Silver becomes cadmium only through the nucleus (neutron capture or MeV reactions), far beyond current, light or sound.
Known
U3O8 booklet p.23: current frequency and ray wavelength "must harmonize so as to blend or synchronize with the natural frequency or wave length of the substance treated", a "superultra sonic reaction"; the same page claims "the change from silver to cadmium". No silver or cadmium data anywhere in the folder.
Pp.20-23 copy Glasser, Medical Physics (1944), pp.1354-55. Glasser's "reduced number of valence electrons" (a chemical effect) became Moray's silver-to-cadmium change.
P.25 adapts Preston, The Theory of Light (p.588): an oscillating capacitor discharge becomes "disintegration and transformation" of atoms.
Radiant Energy p.34: "Every substance has a natural vibratory resonance and a point of dissociation"; p.35: "The writerhas, as Tesla did, come very close to pure resonance". No earlier source found; Keely (water "disintegrated" by vibration, 1882) and Tesla's 1898 oscillator story are predecessors.
Sonoluminescence reaches 12,000-20,000 K (about 1.7 eV); AVLIS ionizes uranium-235 with tuned lasers; the giant dipole resonance breaks nuclei with 7-40 MeV gamma rays.
109Ag + neutron gives 110Ag, which decays to 110Cd (24.6 s). A proton must cross a Coulomb barrier of about 9.8 MeV.
Inferred
(a) A theory assembled from reading, with silver-to-cadmium as an illustration.
(b) Real chemistry (ionization, electrolysis, heating, cavitation) concentrating metals, described as transmutation.
(c) Real transmutation: would need a neutron or MeV source the booklet does not describe.
Open
Whether any silver-to-cadmium test was run (notebooks, assays, spectrograms).
What the "especially constructed tubes" emitted.
Full Glasser text, to check whether Figs. 4-7 are also his.
Q09AnsweredCould resonant transmutation of ordinary silver to cadmium yield a vacancy-filling current, and was Moray's detector a phosphorescent diamond? Such currents exist (Moseley 1913: 150 kV, microwatts) but need radiation at least equal to the output, and no Moray document names diamond as his detector.
Could Moray's resonance 'disintegration and transformation' (Isotopes booklet p. 25; silver to cadmium, p. 23) yield a current (J)? A new cadmium atom is one electron short, so fast transmutation could draw electrons, and a current made by filling vacancies (Moray's 'siphoning') might differ from ordinary conduction current. Related: his self-annealing detector (1968 Air Force proposal); Le Bon's idea that a tiny, unweighable dissociation of matter releases great energy; ordinary (not special) silver; a 'reverse Compton' pump letting matter absorb high-energy radiation that normally passes through (1968 proposal pp. 4-5); and his detector crystal (phosphorescent diamonds, Radiant Energy p. 55; phosphorescence 'and sometimes other properties', p. 58). Also: not only neutrinos; waves combining into harmonics at frequencies matching no known spectra, a hidden energy reservoir; entropy as missing energy; and how far star models, and science generally, can be trusted given dark matter and dark energy.
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-08 · 3 min web search
A09A nuclear-charge current is real but tiny and radioactive: output cannot exceed the radiation released. Diamond appears only in copied Le Bon text; Moray's detector was a pressed radium-doped stone.
Known
Moseley 1913: a radon bulb, alphas stopped, charged itself to about 150 kV at about 0.01 nA (about 1.5 microwatts).
Ordinary silver cannot become cadmium by itself: 109Ag to 109Cd is 215 keV uphill, 107Ag to 107Cd 1,416 keV, via the weak force. Stripping atoms bare unlocks decay for 163Dy (47 days) and 187Re (32.9 years), not silver.
Le Bon: a loss of substance "too small to be detected by our balances" may release great energy; 50 kW is about 48 micrograms a day.
Radiant Energy p.54 copies Le Bon's diamond sentence and drops his footnote: he gauged radium by the glow of Brazilian diamonds.
"And sometimes other properties" (p.58) is Moray's addition to Le Bon's phosphor paragraph.
Foster (1990, in Perreault 2001): radium-doped "Swedish Stone" detector pellets pressed in a diamond press "flashed" and burned out a 2000-amp supply.
Checks: neutrino and photon solar luminosity agree within about 10%; Neff 2.99 +/- 0.17; Weber's crystal neutrino enhancement failed four tests.
Inferred
A vacancy current is a near-ideal current source with no magnetic field in a spherical cell, but 50 kW out needs at least 50 kW of ionizing radiation; self-annealing protects only the device.
Foster's flash: stored energy released under pressure, or a short through the hot pellet powered by the heater supply.
A hidden energy channel is bounded to a few per cent of the Sun's output, not excluded; entropy is spread-out heat, not missing energy.
Open
Moseley's full paper; Foster's original letter and the Project X records.
What "other properties" meant: Moray's notebooks.
Decisive tests: radiation survey of a running device; electrode assay; gamma spectroscopy of surviving tubes.
Note
This question began as hypotheses put to the review in a discussion summarised on 2026-10-07 (status work in process; notes 2026-10-07-followup-Q09). It was researched on 2026-10-08 (notes 2026-10-08-followup-Q09), and the answer above is the researched one.
Hypotheses put to the review (Q09), research/2026-10-07-followup-Q09.md
Q11AnsweredIs Moray's negative plate that becomes 10,000 times more active in thorium emanation his own? It is copied from Le Bon, who credited Rutherford's 1900 experiment; collecting the deposit raises activity per area, not total energy.
Moray's booklet Isotopes in Ionic Recovery of U3O8, pp. 4-5, says a metal plate charged with negative electricity at a high potential, placed in a closed vessel with thorium emanation, collects 'all the particles emitted by the thorium' and 'becomes ten thousand times more active, surface for surface, than the thorium itself'. Is the passage Moray's or copied (Le Bon, whose text the same booklet copies on p. 6, or a radioactivity textbook)? What was the original experiment (Rutherford's 1900 'excited radioactivity' of thorium: the active deposit collected on a negative wire)? Does concentrating the deposit on a small surface add any energy, or only raise activity per area? Could Moray have used this to concentrate radioactive products in his tubes (compare the 1968 Air Force proposal's radioactive excitation)?
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-08 · 4 min web search
A11Copied: Isotopes pp.4-6 are Le Bon's Evolution of Matter, which credits Rutherford for the 10,000 figure; the booklet drops the credit. Concentrating the deposit raises activity per area only, never total energy.
Known
Le Bon, Evolution of Matter, Book IV Ch.III sec.6: 'according to Rutherford, this plate becomes 10,000 times more active, surface for surface, than the thorium itself'. The booklet copies the section in order, uncredited.
Booklet changes: Rutherford's name removed twice; Le Bon's 'current theory' (prevailing) becomes 'electric current theory'.
Rutherford, Radio-activity (1904 sec.166; 1905 sec.176): thoria vessel at +300 V, negative wire inside; wire 'over 10,000 times as active per unit surface as the thoria'. This is the cylinder and filament in the question; the figure is 10,000, not 1,000.
Original paper: Rutherford, Phil. Mag. 49, 161-192 (1900). Rutherford and Soddy 1902: activity 'entirely confined to the negatively charged surface', removable by acids, halves in about 11 hours.
Radiant Energy pp.58-59 folded cylinder is also Le Bon (experimental part, near p.401); Moray adds 'ray counter instruments' and 'gas-filled tubes'.
Inferred
The deposit is thoron daughters (lead-212) carried as positive ions. Collection moves atoms, not energy: 100 g thoria gives the wire at most about 0.06 microwatt, against 2.4 microwatts for the whole thoria.
Reading A: Moray copied it only to argue that radioactivity is dissociation of matter; no collector electrode appears in his device texts read.
Reading B: any tube with a radium-bearing (carnotite) coating and a negative cathode collects radon daughters on the cathode anyway, which could prime discharges but adds no energy.
Reading C: the 1968 proposal's '2.5 Mev to 8 Mev' excitation matches such deposits (thallium-208 gamma 2.61 MeV; alphas 6-8.8 MeV); possibly coincidence.
Open
Does the 1900 paper itself give 10,000? Which Le Bon printing did Moray use? Booklet p.5 page image not checked.
Whether any Moray tube had a biased collector: notebooks (Mahurin) or gamma spectroscopy and autoradiography of surviving tube electrodes (look for lead-210).
Notes
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): the booklet also describes a folded metal cylinder that accumulates 'emanation' (Radiant Energy pp. 58-59, Le Bon).
The question as first put gave 1,000 times and a cylindrical device with a charged filament; the booklet says 10,000 times and a charged metal plate.
Moray, Isotopes in Ionic Recovery of U3O8, pp.4-6; Radiant Energy (1926) pp.58-59; 1968 Air Force proposal
Q12AnsweredWas Le Bon's amalgamated tin, 'radioactive' in sunlight, really the photoelectric effect? Yes, by every test; Moray copies Le Bon's 'dissociation' reading but not the amalgam experiments.
Le Bon (The Evolution of Matter, 1909; rexresearch full text) says mercury and tin are each barely 'radioactive' in light, but mercury with 1/1000 of its weight of tin, or a tin strip soaked 24 hours in mercury (amalgamated tin), becomes 'extraordinarily radioactive' in sunlight: in his electroscope table amalgamated tin discharges fastest (1000, against 2 for gold, pure mercury and tin), but only when charged negatively. Was this radioactivity or the photoelectric effect (Hallwachs 1888: ultraviolet light ejects electrons, so only a negative charge leaks away; amalgamation cleans the surface and lowers the work function)? Did anyone repeat Le Bon's amalgam experiments, and how were they received? Does Moray (Radiant Energy, Sea of Energy, Isotopes booklet) rely on or repeat Le Bon's amalgam claims, and does it bear on Moray's detector or on Ives's thin-film photoelectric work (alkali metals and standing waves)?
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-08 · 5 min web search
A12Photoelectric, by every test: Elster and Geitel had the amalgam result in 1889, and Ramsay and Spencer repeated Le Bon in 1906. Moray copies Le Bon's 'dissociation' reading of light-driven charge loss, not the amalgam experiments.
Known
Elster and Geitel (1889, abstracted by Lodge): amalgams of K, Na, Zn, Sn are the most light-sensitive; 'pure mercury shows no effect'; only negative charge leaks. Their 1892 actinometer was an amalgamated zinc sphere.
Le Bon cites Elster, Geitel and Branly, and says Lenard and Thomson found his particles have the e/m of cathode rays (electrons).
Le Bon's data fit photoemission: action mostly at 0.29-0.36 micron, tin alone only below 0.295 micron, 200 times weaker uncleaned.
Ramsay and Spencer (Phil. Mag. 1906) repeated Le Bon: tin amalgam 0.6 s, mercury 216 s; but no measurable positive leak, nothing through metal shields; they suggested transmutation.
Millikan and Winchester (1907) treat these data as photoelectric. Campbell (Athenaeum 1906): experiments 'perfectly inadequate'; light-provoked activity is not spontaneous radioactivity.
No amalgam passage was found in Moray's texts. Radiant Energy p.46 copies Le Bon: the ultraviolet charge loss is 'dissociation of matter'. Elsewhere Moray writes 'photo-electric effect'.
Inferred
'40 times uranium' compares currents: a uranium alpha makes about 120,000 ion pairs; a photoelectron is one charge under 1 eV.
Sunlit amalgam (100 cm2) gives about 1 nA, nanowatts at most. It cannot power Moray's loads, and his detector ingredients contain no tin or mercury.
The sons' 'synthetic radioactivity as described by LeBon' may mean this chapter, the thorium induced activity (Q11) or the chemical effluves.
Plauson's 1925 patent (in the folder) puts photoelectric amalgams on an atmospheric collector. Ives's alkali cells descend from Elster and Geitel; his standing-wave effect is optical, not chemical.
Open
Why tin in mercury beats both metals alone (clean liquid surface, lower work function, or impurities).
Replies in the Athenaeum 1906 (pp.237-366); Nye 1974; which experiment 'Mr. Carse' failed to repeat.
Key point: Was Le Bon's light-provoked 'radioactivity' radioactivity?
Supports
Le Bon called his effluves identical with radioactive emissions; Ramsay accepted 'disintegration' in 1906.
Contradicts
Threshold, sign, cleaning and e/m all match photoemission; Millikan 1907; Campbell 1906: not spontaneous.
Moray, Radiant Energy p.46; Sea of Energy 5th ed.; Plauson US 1,540,998 (Nuenergy compilation)
Q15AnsweredAsked whether a gas tube with tin and mercury electrodes, once amalgamated, would pass more current or rectify. Amalgamation makes the tin act like mercury, so it weakens rectification (mercury on the anode causes arc-back) and barely changes the current.
Tin and mercury electrodes: if a gas tube had one tin electrode and one mercury electrode, and the two combined (amalgamated tin), would the current change? Would it increase, or would the tube rectify?
Asked 2026-10-08 · answered 2026-10-08 · 3 min web search
A15Amalgamation would barely change the current and would weaken rectification: tin and mercury have nearly equal work functions, and mercury on the anode causes arc-back. The tube's 253.7 nm light frees only nanoamperes of photoelectrons.
Known
Mercury-arc tubes rectify because the mercury pool emits and the cool carbon or iron anode does not (Wikipedia; Guntherschulze 1928 p.54).
Prince and Vogdes (1927): mercury condensed on the anode 'causes the formation of a cathode spot there' (arc-back). Copper parts were iron-plated against 'the amalgamating mercury vapour' (Guntherschulze p.162).
Glow rectifiers use unequal cathode falls (alkali against platinum: 80 V against 180 V) and unequal areas; the Argonal rectifier had alkali in a mercury cathode (Guntherschulze pp.46, 192-194).
Work functions: Hg 4.475 eV, Sn 4.42 eV; the 253.7 nm line is 4.89 eV, so both emit photoelectrons of at most about 0.45 eV.
Near-threshold quantum yield at 4.89 eV for gold is 1e-6 to 1e-4 electrons per photon (LISA Pathfinder).
Le Bon: amalgamated tin beats tin 1000 to 2 in sunlight but only 680 to 270 under spark ultraviolet. No amalgam-electrode tube test was found.
Inferred
A 0.055 eV work-function gap is about 2 V of cathode fall (44.4 V per volt): a clean tin-mercury glow tube is nearly symmetric; geometry would decide.
Photocurrent is about 2-20 nA per mW of absorbed 254 nm light, against milliamperes of glow current: it helps starting, not running.
Competing reading: if amalgam lowered the surface work function well below bulk values, glow-mode rectification would appear, as with alkali in mercury. No tin measurement decides it.
In vacuum under an external mercury lamp, unequal quantum yields give a one-way nanoampere photocurrent (LISA Pathfinder).
Open
No measured forward and reverse currents for a tin-mercury tube, clean or amalgamated; a bench test would settle it.
The photoelectric threshold of a dilute tin amalgam surface.
Notes
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): Le Bon's amalgamated tin discharged fastest in sunlight, only when negative (A12: photoelectric).
Orchestrator's reading, put to STEP F to check: mercury-arc rectifiers already rectify; mercury vapor amalgamates tin in operation; the 253.7 nm mercury line (4.9 eV) exceeds the work function of tin and mercury (about 4.4-4.5 eV), so the tube's own glow could free photoelectrons from an amalgam cathode. Find prior work on amalgam cathodes in glow tubes, measured rectification ratios, and whether Le Bon or anyone tried it.
Key point: Does amalgamating the tin make the tube rectify?
Supports
Alkali in a mercury cathode lowered the cathode fall and made glow valves work (Argonal, Pintsch).
Contradicts
Tin changes the work function by about 0.06 eV; mercury on the anode causes arc-back (Prince and Vogdes 1927).
Q16AnsweredAsked whether Moray's one-way valve between cascaded tanks is the key design point, how it compares with Wien's quenched gap, and whether the first stage feels the load. Yes: Moray describes a threshold gas gap firing stage to stage, like Wien's quench; each firing's size tracks the load.
Moray's multi-tank cascade (Sea of Energy 4th ed. p.116): oscillations in the first tank, reinforced by 'harmonic coupling', 'spill' over through a valve that blocks feedback into the next, lower-frequency stage. Is a gap that conducts only while energy passes, isolating the tanks otherwise, the key design point? How does it compare with Wien's quenched spark gap (1906) and impulse-excited tank chains? The tanks stay in phase, so when the load draws current the phase shifts slightly and the earlier stage should 'feel' the resistance at the next impulse: is that right (injection locking, Adler's equation)? Does a collector have to feel the load to absorb at all (a matched load; an unloaded resonant antenna re-radiates)? And 'the draft of the current is adapted to the load'. Include a bench test: diode vs gas-tube threshold vs ferrite isolator as the valve.
Asked 2026-10-08 · answered 2026-10-08 · 3 min web search
A16Yes: Moray himself describes the valve as a gas gap that fires at a set voltage and goes out when the voltage falls, passing energy stage to stage, which is Wien's quenched-gap idea. The earlier stage feels the load through how much charge each firing passes, not by back-flow; phase shifts only if a stage is detuned.
Known
Moray, Sea of Energy 4th ed. pp.55-56: 'when a certain voltage is reached, ionization occurs' and condensers discharge into the next oscillators; it stops 'because of the reduced voltage', 'much like a bucket brigade', 'a blocked circuit of no return'.
p.139: one direction at a time 'without necessarily changing from H.F. or A.C. to D.C.'; the same assembly is also used 'for the rectification and amplification' of radio signals.
Wien's quenched gap goes out at the first current zero, so the next circuit rings 'completely free of the primary circuit' (Wikipedia; NBS Circular 74).
Adler, after Razavi 2004: sin(theta) = (2Q/w0)(Iosc/Iinj)(w0 - winj); lock range (w0/2Q)(Iinj/Iosc).
A matched antenna absorbs at most what it re-radiates; an unloaded one absorbs nothing (Gustafsson 2012).
Ferrite isolators dump reverse power in a load; commercial parts start near 20-25 MHz.
Inferred
Example: 10 nF tanks, 1000 V, 100 V gap drop. Next tank at 300 V: 2.55 mJ drawn per firing; loaded to 100 V: 3.2 mJ. A direct capacitor dump loses 47-62 percent; Wien's resonant transfer avoids it.
A resistive load changes amplitude; phase shifts only with detuning (Q 50 to 40, 20 Hz off: 11.5 to 9.2 degrees).
An ideal isolator hides the load and burns unused power.
Competing reading: a contact rectifier between stages; p.139 excludes it for the cascade.
Open
The p.115 cascade schematic is unreadable in OCR; a page image would show stages and coupling.
No measurement of energy per firing against load, or of reverse isolation, exists for Moray's tubes.
Step by step: Bench test: diode, gas tube or isolator as the valve between two tanks
Two tank circuits (about 200 and 100 kHz) joined in turn by a fast diode, a threshold gas tube and an isolator. For each load, measure true drive power, load power, tank voltage, phase, firings per cycle and reverse leakage. Shows which valve matches Moray's 'bucket brigade' description, whether the first stage feels the load, and whether any configuration delivers more than it draws.
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): Moray, p.139: the valve passes waves 'in only one direction at a time ... without necessarily changing from H.F. or A.C. to D.C.': not a rectifier.
The bench-test design was in the research notes only, not in this answer; it was added as the step-by-step procedure on 2026-10-10.
Key point: Is the threshold gap the key design point?
Supports
Moray pp.55-56 and p.116 describe exactly a voltage-threshold gap that blocks feedback, as in Wien's quench.
Contradicts
p.139 also describes rectifier use; the valve design does not settle the energy source (claims 3, 4).
Q17AnsweredAsked whether multipaction, a secondary-electron avalanche, could be the mechanism of Moray's cold-cathode valve and ever gives net energy. It fits cold cathodes, radioactive seeding, thresholds and surges, but always draws on RF or an anode supply, and Moray calls his tubes gas-filled.
Multipaction as the mechanism of Moray's cold-cathode valve: a nonlinear secondary-electron avalanche that RF engineers try to eliminate. Could it explain conduction in unheated tubes (the Patent Office said the cathodes could not emit), radioactive coatings as seed electrons, a voltage and frequency window that acts as the 'spill over' threshold, one-way behaviour from unequal secondary yields, and the 'surges'? Is there any measured case of multipaction giving net energy rather than absorbing RF power?
Asked 2026-10-08 · answered 2026-10-08 · 3 min web search
A17Multipaction can explain cold-cathode conduction, radioactive seeding, a threshold window and surges, but no measured case gives net energy: it loads the RF, and Farnsworth's multipactor oscillators converted anode-battery power. Moray's own words ('Ionic', 'ionization occurs in the gases') point to a gas gap, while multipaction needs hard vacuum.
Known
Farnsworth cold-cathode multipactors, 1934-36: 200-4,000 W, 100 kHz-300 MHz, 'efficiency as high as 90%'; the oscillator 'takes energy from the battery in the anode circuit' (Wireless World 1936; Halloran 1934).
ECSS-E-ST-20-01C lists a 'Radioactive β source' among required seed sources; tests run below 1e-5 hPa.
Thresholds: no first-order multipactor below f x d of about 0.43 GHz mm (aluminium, 33.8 V); yield exceeds 1 only between E1 and E2 (Kishek and Lau 1998).
Kishek 1996: saturates 'by its loading of the cavity'; one overshoot can release 'as much as 20%' of stored energy.
Moray 4th ed. p.107: 'Ionic cold cathode tubes'; pp.55-56: 'ionization occurs in the gases'.
US 2,139,813 'ratio greater than unity' means secondary yield; Lyden (2023 patent) reads it as 'over unity'.
Inferred
At 1 MHz a two-plate gap needs about 43 cm and below about 7e-4 Torr; a gas tube at glow pressures breaks down as a gas discharge instead.
Unequal yields (2 and 0.5) give a DC current component, not a one-way block.
Competing readings: hard-vacuum multipactor; gas threshold gap (Q16); crystal rectifier (receiver use).
The 1934-36 tubes show the examiner's 'not heated' ground was narrow; his plate-potential point matches Farnsworth's need for an anode supply.
Open
Gas fill, pressure, gap and surfaces of a surviving Moray tube would decide the mechanism.
Moray's tank frequencies and valve voltages are unknown.
Borderland's 1989 multipactor test result was not found (Journal of Borderland Research 1989-91).
Note
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): The folder's aa-new multipactor papers (Kishek flyer, 'Multipactor discharge on a dielectric', 'Temporal evolution of multipactor discharge') are not yet weighed. Compare Farnsworth-PT (multipactor tube) and Dollard-Eric.
Key point: Does multipaction ever give net energy?
Supports
Borderland 1989 note (interested party): 'may produce over 100% efficiency'; no result published that was found.
Contradicts
All measurements treat it as an RF load; Farnsworth's tubes name the anode battery as the source.
Q18AnsweredCould resonance with electrons or nuclei release harvestable energy, and which proposed mechanisms (isomer triggering, photofission, NEET) are real? Each is real only as a trigger for energy stored beforehand, measured efficiencies are tiny, and kilowatt output would leave lethal gamma rays or fission products.
Resonating with atoms: if someone could resonate with electrons or nucleons, could their energy be harvested? Resonance can only release energy already stored out of equilibrium. Which candidates are real: triggered nuclear isomers (Collins's hafnium-178m2 claim, 1999, and the failed repeats; the disputed molybdenum-93m result, Nature 2018), resonant photofission of uranium and thorium (Moray's U3O8 booklet), nuclear excitation by electron transition? What would each leave behind (radiation, fission products) that witnesses would have noticed?
Asked 2026-10-08 · answered 2026-10-08 · 5 min web search
A18Only stored energy can be triggered, and Moray's materials hold no usable store. Isomer triggering claims shrank on retest (hafnium over 100,000-fold, molybdenum 500-fold); NEET returns less than it takes; photofission needs over 5 MeV gammas and costs more than it yields in natural uranium. Kilowatts by any route would leave lethal radiation.
Known
Collins 1999: dental x-rays raised 178m2Hf decay lines about 4%. Ahmad 2001 (Argonne): "No induced decay was observed", limit over 5 orders lower. LLNL 2008: "statistically marginal and inconsistent"; DARPA's restricted TRIP report is described as confirming.
Chiara 2018: 93mMo depleted 1% per ion, credited to NEEC. Theory: 9 orders lower. Guo 2022: below 2e-5. Ding 2026: 2.0e-5 (lead), from nuclear scattering, not NEEC.
NEET in gold: 5.0e-8 per K vacancy (Kishimoto 2000).
Photofission: about 10 MeV gammas; data reach down to 4.3 MeV. The booklet's top energy is 1.8 MV.
1968 proposal: "2.5 Mev to 8 Mev" excitation, "resonance absorption and re-emission", "without fission". Booklet p.34: nothing is removed.
Inferred
Both isomers are accelerator-made; 93mMo lasts hours. 5 kW for an hour needs 13.5 mg of 178m2Hf, about 1 Gy per second at 1 m.
At about 1 fission per 100 photons, 10 MeV gammas return 1-2 MeV. 5 kW is 1.6e14 fissions per second: neutrons, iodine-131, caesium-137.
Reading A: the 1968 text restates the isomer-trigger hope. Reading B: ordinary isotope decay converted in a semiconductor, resonance adding no energy.
Open
Gamma spectrum of surviving treated ore or tubes: fission products or only natural lines.
Full 1956 Bureau of Mines report on the "artificial" substance; any radiation survey of a running device.
Key equations
Process
Energy in versus out
Meaning
178m2Hf isomer, 31 y
2,446 keV stored; 1.33 GJ per gram
Real store, made in accelerators; trigger unconfirmed
A box wired only to antenna and ground lit lamps and an iron (0.1 to about 8 kW nameplate, 1925-38)
Never properly testedwitnessed, never metered; 50 kW unwitnessed
It was not induction, hidden wires or batteries
Never properly testedbatteries disfavoured for 1928 and 1938; hidden feed, ground path, priming open
The source is oscillating cosmic radiation captured by resonance
Refuted by calculationkilowatts from any known radiation, photoelectric or neutrino captureInternally inconsistentresonance as a sourceNot testable as statedunknown radiation or hidden channel, boundedNever properly testedprimed, stored or hidden feedTested, not supportedWeber's neutrino enhancement
The secret Moray valve (detector stone)
Plausible, untestedrectifier-type or radium-bearing stoneNever properly testedpreceded the transistorRefuted by calculationdetector alone as net power; radioisotope conversion at kWEstablisheddirect conversion at microwatts (Moseley 1913)
Matter dissociates into energy (Le Bon's thesis and observations, reprinted in the books)
Historically superseded but instructiveLe Bon's 1900s thesisEstablishedplain E = mc^2; amalgam charge loss as photoelectric effectTested, not supportedlight-driven charge loss as radioactivityNot testable as statedas Moray's power source
Gold made from reagents by irradiation (Research Institute, 1963-70)
Refuted by calculationnuclear origin at reported yieldsNever properly testedassays not artefacts
Cosray therapy device heals
Never properly testedefficacyInternally inconsistent785-patient tallyRefuted by calculation1946 treatise: alpha and beta pass body and lead
The work was blocked or suppressed
Establishedevents as documented history, incl. REA 1939-41Never properly testeddismissed without testing (standoff); 1939 smashing, 1940 shootingNot testable as statedbroad organised conspiracy
Inventor of the Radiant Energy device · sought patents, investors and funding
Salt Lake City, 1892-1974. Claimed an Uppsala doctorate (studied under the alias James Cain Larson, his sons say; no record found under 'Moray'). Alter's 1932 biography calls him 'Utah's electrical wizard, inventor, scientist, editor, poultry expert'. Author of Beyond the Light-Rays and The Sea of Energy; patentee of US 2,460,707.
John E. Moray
Son; editor of the 1978 5th edition; ran the Research Institute's gold and uranium work · heir; sells the book and raises funds
Co-inventor of the Cosray applicators per the family's 1946 treatise; led the 1963-70 irradiation work with Hooper, Hendricks and Rudolph; relays the accounts of the 1939 smashing and the 1940 shooting from his father.
Harvey Fletcher
Witness (25 Sep 1928); proposed the endurance test; says Moray skipped a New York test · asked fees for reports
Bell Telephone Laboratories physicist, born 1884, later dean at BYU. Wrote in 1928 'I am just as puzzled as ever'; in 1957 said Moray agreed to a Bell Labs or New York test and did not come (Moray: '100% untrue'); affidavit 1979 at 94.
Murray O. Hayes
Sworn witness to the 1928 endurance test; failed rebuild · Moray's patent agent and associate
Described as a patent examiner turned attorney. Said in 1929 he had seen everything including the detector; testified at Reno in 1932 that he and associates tried to build the machine from the patent papers and failed (editors' report, no transcript).
A. B. Jensen
Witness for the Utah Securities Commissioner, 1938 inspection and Dugway desert test
Called a battery expert in the family's 1991 paper; otherwise not in the review files. His statement is dated 1956 or 1958 and sworn 1963.
Felix J. Frazer
REA investigator 1939-41; accused by the family of smashing the device · accused party
Described in 1944 as a WPA investigator who spent two years 'assisting, begging, cajoling and threatening Moray'. Probably the Technocracy economist of that name, later an occultist; served subpoenas for the La Follette committee in 1937. Identity not proven.
Franklin P. Wood
REA engineer; August 1939 report · REA staff
Wrote that Moray was 'essentially honest, unable to originate or perpetuate a hoax or fraud' and had 'stumbled on to something'. Probably the Denver engineer of the American Technocratic League; identity not proven.
Orin Tugman
Critic; May 1940 letter quoted in the 1944 Senate hearing · university standing; investors in his state
Head of physics, University of Utah. Said that in 12 years Moray never let him see a demonstration, that demonstrations went to 'men not fitted to be critical', and called it 'a very clever hoax'.
Evidence / artifacts (178 of 182 listed, 98%)
Own works and inventions (15)
1920s-2000sMedia/photos collection (about 52 images) OCR sequence only; includes the capacitor test and a detector schematic with radioactive salt; photographs not interpreted
1931Beyond the Light-Rays: Explanations of the Oscillations of Radiant Energy T. H. Moray; scan of a later printing (16 pp.) and tesla.hu transcription; quotes Tesla's 'wheelwork of nature'
1932A Brief History of the Moray Radiant Energy Device (booklet) Printed in the 5th ed.; Moray later wrote it was 'composed and edited too much like promotion' (5th ed. p.62)
c.1940-1959Photo Actinia Oxygen Therapy by Electric Reaction (Cosray booklet) T. H. Moray, Research Institute; editions 1940/1945/1955/1959 cited; deep read pp.22-54; unsigned tally of 785 treated; June-July 1940 USDA order to build three devices
1945Radiant Energy: The Evolution and Transmutation of the Atom T. H. Moray, Research Institute; 22 pp.; 1940-41 gold and silver assays (Boaz Mine, Norris MT; Union Assay Office SLC, serial 88193); September 1943 transmutation letter
after 1945Radiant Energy: The Evolution of Energy and Matter T. H. Moray; a printing labelled 'compiled 1926' that cites the atomic pile and plutonium, so compiled after 1945; copyright entries for a 20-page Radiant Energy (23 Dec 1945) and a 55-leaf one (15 Jan 1956); ECAFE list (1950) gives a 1943 20-page edition. 63 pp. digested. Printed pp.53-56 (Rutherford and spinthariscope passages) copied nearly verbatim, uncredited, from Le Bon 1905 (follow-ups Q01, Q04). Pp.58-59 (folded metal cylinder, electroscope) and p.46 (ultraviolet charge loss as 'dissociation') are also Le Bon's (follow-ups Q11, Q12); pp.34-35 resonance-dissociation passage has no earlier source found (Q08). The diamond passage (printed p.54) and the p.58 doped-phosphor paragraph are Le Bon's; 'and sometimes other properties' is an insertion in Moray's printing (follow-up Q09).
1946A Short Treatise on Alpha, Beta, Gamma Ray Therapy By 'Dr. Henry Moray'; applicators 'the discovery and invention of John Eugene and Richard R. Moray'; 'half life ... about 1600 years'; 'no special shielding'. Internet Archive item thomas-henry-moray-radiant-energy· Moray family; printed by the sons
1949-02-01US Patent 2,460,707, Electrotherapeutic Apparatus (Cosray) Thomas H. Moray; filed 30 Apr 1943, continuation-in-part of a 15 Nov 1940 filing; tube with uranium or carnotite coating; the only T. H. Moray patent; no foreign family; cited by 9 later patents
c.1959Isotopes in Ionic Recovery of U3O8 (40-page booklet) T. H., John E. and Richard R. Moray; 0.04-2.6% ore to 21-67% U3O8; reports a Bureau of Mines radiometric report (28 Sep 1956) and an AEC Grand Junction estimate; deep read pp.33-40. p.6 calcium sulphide eighteen-months passage is Le Bon's (follow-up Q04). Pp.4-6 ('ten thousand times more active' thorium plate) copy Le Bon with Rutherford's credit removed (Q11); pp.20-23 follow Glasser 1944 and p.25 Preston's Theory of Light; p.23 claims a silver-to-cadmium change with no data (Q08).
1960The Sea of Energy in Which the Earth Floats (4th ed. 1960; 5th ed. 1978) 4th ed. Moray's own last edition (197 pp.; deep read pp.116-197; photocopy also digested). 5th ed. Cosray Research Institute, edited by John E. Moray with history, foreword by Tom Bearden (279 pp.; deep read pp.32-133; tesla.hu transcription). The source of most witness statements. The sons write that Le Bon's book was 'withdrawn from libraries' and that the FBI asked about it in 1942 (5th ed. pdf p.187); no second source found yet· Moray family; printed by the sons
1962-01-23Speech at Valley State College, Northridge CA T. H. Moray; first stage 'excited by an external energy source'; 2 good tubes in 100; about 1 lb per kW
1965-1982Progress Report: Recovery of Minerals from Low Grade Ore by High Energy Bombardment Research Institute (J. E. Moray), W. J. Hooper, Ruth L. Hendricks, T. E. Rudolph, L. M. Olsen; 68th National Western Mining Conference; 929.76 oz/ton gold; Aug 1963 controls 0.12 and 0.26 oz/ton; 62-test Varian series; Rex Research copy, deep read pp.1-22· Research Institute, seeking investment
1968-08-07Proposal for Development of Plasma Probe / Direct Energy Conversion from Radioactive Materials T. H. Moray, D.Sc. and Stan Taylor, Ph.D., to Air Force Systems Command; radioisotope-excited cascade at 'well below one pound per watt'; no reply in the folder. p.1 infrared-detector paragraph matches 1968 practice (Ge:Hg, HgCdTe), not a cosmic microwave background hint (follow-up Q02).
1991The Sea of Energy: A Means for the Preservation of the Environment (26th IECEC paper) John E. and Kevin R. Moray; Strawberry distance given as 50+ miles; notes held by the family· Moray family; printed by the sons
undatedA Brief Analysis of the Moray Radiant Energy Device: What it Is, Possibilities, Testimonies T. H. Moray, 50 pp.; Google Books lE4FNQAACAAJ; probably the original printing of the testimonies; WorldCat blocked
Patents and patent office (3)
1930sPatent Office files of Moray's seven rejected applications Moray asked for copies in 1954; Office said destroyed as abandoned; sons say 'disappeared' (5th ed. p.170). Decides: NARA RG 241, PTO file-wrapper index
c.1932Patent Office action on a Moray radiant-energy application (letter image) 'No natural source of electric wave energy is known to the Examiner and proof of the existence of such a source is required'; poor OCR, agrees with 4th ed. pp.163-164· the deciding party
1932-12-23Patent Office action, Serial No. 550,611 (REJECTED CLAIMS) Inoperability: unheated cathodes cannot emit; radioactive ionisation gives no space current without plate or grid potential· the deciding party
Court and state records (17)
pre-1921Marie Ahleen v. T. Henry Moray Utah Third District civil index
1930-12Ashton-Jenkins Co. v. Thomas H. Moray, case 46754 $2,500 on mortgage; Salt Lake Telegram 18 Dec 1930; Utah State Archives index
1930s-1950sUtah Division of Archives court index scans (9 pages) Folder copy of the Third District index pages; indexes stop at 1966
1932-04In re Moray Products Company (Second Judicial District Court, Washoe County, Nevada) Moray's petition under section 35 of the Nevada corporations act; notices SL Tribune 27 Apr and 3 May 1932, Nevada State Journal 4 May 1932 p.6. Case file, with Hayes's testimony of a failed rebuild, not obtained
1938Utah Securities Commissioner's report on the Moray device inspection Commissioner Gull; only A. B. Jensen's later statement survives in the family books
1940-1943Ken Williams v. Moray Utah Third District civil index
1940-03Salt Lake City police and medical records, March 1940 (shooting) Family account says no police report was made (5th ed. p.186)
1941Progressive Heating Co. / E. H. Brewster & Son v. Moray, case 65983 $616.24 on contract; Deseret News 14 Feb 1941
1941-1943Home Owners' Loan Corporation v. T. H. and Ella R. Moray, case 67422 Utah Third District civil index
1942-05-27Sanford v. Moray, cases 67845 and 68210 Judgment of $1,290 for failure to deliver stock bought in 'a corporation to use radiant energy in aircraft'; Deseret News 27 May 1942 p.15; case files not ordered
1947-1948Green/Christensen v. Mrs Henry Moray, case 80824 Utah Third District; Salt Lake Telegram 30 Dec 1947
1954-1956Roy Ware v. T. Henry Moray, case 104172 Utah Third District civil index
1970-09-25Research Institute and Moray v. Mark J. Hagmann, case 195569 Suit for return of papers; Daily Record 25 Sep 1970 p.1; Hagmann's endorsement is printed in the 5th ed. p.279. Case file not obtained
1974Salt Lake County probate file for T. H. Moray Would list estate property and what remained of the apparatus (arbiter, Silence A)
2019Utah business entity record: Cosray Research Institute, Inc. Printout from Utah Business Search
2019-05-14Utah water right 57-7134 (T. Henry Moray) Printout; home and laboratory address
undatedUtah probate files 2492 (Johannah Petronala Moray) and 2347 (James Moray) Probably Moray's parents; index entries only
Government records (26)
1935National Survey of Potential Product Capacity report (Felix J. Frazer, co-author) Basis for identifying the REA's Frazer as the Technocracy economist; Internet Archive report00ofnationalnatirich
1936-12-14War Department AGO index sheets: Shinkle report on 'Invention of sound detector by F. [T.] Henry Moray' NARA RG 407, T822; report of 8 Dec 1936 by Brig. Gen. Edward M. Shinkle, Office Chief of Ordnance; cross-filed under 095 Steffensen, K. K., 023 and Salt Lake City (NAIDs 557685758, 557741114, 556983073, 561454645); images saved
1936-12-08Shinkle's report on the Moray demonstration AGO central decimal file 413.68 or 095 Steffensen name file, NARA College Park; not requested
1937La Follette Civil Liberties Committee hearings Felix J. Frazer served subpoenas; HathiTrust osu.32437122905215 pp.3268-3324
1938-1941REA engineers' reports (Ben Crim; Felix J. Frazer) Craig: Crim found tests 'entirely satisfactory as far as performance [went]'; reports 'put in the Administrator's files', probably lost in the 1941 move. NARA RG 221 unsearched· REA
1938-1939John M. Carmody Papers, REA files (FDR Library) Chronological File Boxes 102-103, card indexes 91-94, Box 99 'Senate Hearings [1944]', Box 30 'Technocracy'; finding aid saved; no Moray folder by name
1939-02-14AGO index sheet: John H. Magdiel request via Sen. Elbert D. Thomas Asks for 'the report of Col. Edward M. Shinkle who witnessed a demonstration of Radiant Energy device'
1939-08Franklin P. Wood's report to the REA Quoted in the 1944 Senate hearing: 'essentially honest, unable to originate or perpetuate a hoax or fraud ... stumbled on to something'; full text not found· REA engineer, probable Technocrat
1940-06USDA 'written request and order' to build three Cosray devices Reported in Photo Actinia; no document
1944Senate Agriculture and Forestry subcommittee REA hearing (78th Cong., S. Res. 197, pt.4-5) HathiTrust umn.31951d03587118y. Investigators' report pp.1344-1345 (V. A. Young): payroll 17 Feb 1939-28 Feb 1941 at $25 a day. Slattery interview of 2 Jun 1943, pp.1370-1376: Craig's motor and fans, the German assassination story, Tomadelli 'pretty similar'· staff hostile to Administrator Slattery; Slattery accused
1945-1956Catalog of Copyright Entries: Radiant Energy (1945, 1956) and the 1946 therapy treatise Dates the folder's printings
1951-05-21FBI Salt Lake memo of interview with Moray (Yakovlev / Rosenberg espionage file) 249-page file, Moray passage p.14 plus a screenshot; Moray says a Russian he knew as A. A. Yakovlev visited in Oct 1929 and the Magdiels contacted the Russian embassy· FBI, accused in the family's account
1957Security-clearance hearing record for Moray Family account says a secret clearance was granted after a 1957 hearing (5th ed. p.172)
1961-07-21NASA reply declining to fund Moray Probability 'not sufficient to justify support'; facsimile in 5th ed.; John Moray says NASA first agreed $5 million· funding agency
1961-10-30Sen. Wallace F. Bennett letter to Lyle E. Holmgren Image fragment, no OCR; text from 5th ed.: Moray asked $50,000 and 'refuses to reveal the whereabouts of the box'· senator answering a constituent
1963-1964FDA Notice of Judgment 8137: Cosray Electronic device N.D. Fla.; misbranding default 3 Apr 1963, contested, motion to vacate denied 20 Aug 1963, destroyed 19 Mar 1964; 1,039-page volume searched, not read· prosecuting agency
1963FDA case file for Cosray (NARA RG 88) Not yet tried
1964-03Health Frauds and Quackery, Senate Special Committee on Aging hearings 91 pp.; lessee Gilbert paid $3,210 for a Cosray machine, told never to open the cabinet; mother not improved (p.85)· committee convened on quackery
c.1968Air Force Systems Command file and reply on the 1968 proposal NARA; no reply in the folder
1970-08-17AEC letter, Commissioner C. E. Larson to William Kerber Eyring 'convinced there is no demonstrable evidence that any energy has been harnessed'; folder fragment mostly illegible, text from 5th ed.· agency
1973-1974CIA Foreign Technology Division translation list and index card: 'Short Review of Radiation Energy' 95 pp., Moray at p.80; CIA cover sheet and card (1974)
2000-08-17FBI FOIA log: request 917273 'MORAY, T HENRY' 74 pages reviewed, 72 released, requester Michael J. Ravnitzky; a second 2000 request (924753, Nelms) closed for lack of consent; Internet Archive foia-log-2000-2002
2000FBI file on T. Henry Moray (the 72 released pages) Not on FBI Vault, MuckRock, governmentattic or theblackvault; request as previously processed records citing 917273; a 1942 enquiry about Le Bon's book, reported by the sons, would appear here if real· FBI, accused in the family's account
2000-06-22CIA FOIA request F-2000-01342 'THOMAS HENRY MORAY' governmentattic.org CIA logs, Google snippet; outcome not posted
2005NASA/CR-2005-213749 Advanced Energetics for Aeronautical Applications, Vol. II, section 4.4.5 David S. Alexander for NASA; calls the claim 'not scientifically defensible'; a literature survey, not a test
2013-02-11FBI FOIA log: request 1178194-002 'MORAY, THOMAS HENRY DR.' answered 'No Records' Requester Lynn Badia; received 1 Dec 2011, reopened 8 Feb 2013, closed 11 Feb 2013, 0 pages
Company and business records (7)
1931-1932Moray Products Company corporate file (Nevada) Not in Nevada's online index (earliest Moray entity 1987); request by mail
1932Moray Products Company stock trading, Salt Lake City Badger & Co. unlisted-stock tables (May-Aug 1932) and classified ads trading 'Moray radiant energy lighting stock'
1940-1941Boaz Mine and Union Assay Office certificates Cited in the 1945 pamphlet and Fate 1956; no certificates
1956US Bureau of Mines radiometric report (28 Sep 1956) and AEC Grand Junction evaluation Reported in the Isotopes booklet: 18-28% U3O8 equivalent with no 'before' value; originals not obtained
1963-1982Research Institute, Inc. corporate file, assayer certificates and accelerator logs Unnamed 'independent assayer'; runs at High Voltage Engineering, Electronized Chemicals, Radiation Dynamics, Varian; none obtained
1964-1965National Western Mining Conference proceedings Where the Institute presented the gold work
1925-08-06R. L. Judd (attorney) accounts, 1925-1928 Saw the device from Aug 1925; Oct 1925 lamp and 655 W iron with house mains pulled; Oct 1928 report to Fletcher; his own 'absolutely ... entirely new' is misattributed to Fletcher by John Moray· associate
1925-12-21Emigration Canyon test statement About 4 miles up the canyon, witnesses chose the site; Judd, O. W. Adams and others; countersigned 1929· associates
1926-10-29Strawberry Valley field test account Odometer: last power line at 26 miles; one 100 W lamp at about 75% for 15 minutes after 10 minutes of magnet stroking· associates
1928-09-25Harvey Fletcher letters, 1928-1933 6 Oct 1928 to Judd: 'I am just as puzzled as ever'; proposed the endurance test and an antenna-less run; 17 Apr 1933 to Benzel; May 1933 fee of 'about $200'
1928-10-08Endurance test statements (Hayes sworn; Judd; E. G. Jensen) 1-8 Oct 1928, railroad seals on the trunk, 157.9 h at about 110-120 W, ending at 635 W; water-pipe ground· associates
1928-1959Ottawa, Arthur Bray fonds 30-003, S1-SS5-F4: 'Radiant Energy' Invention (by Dr. T. H. Moray) Wilbert B. Smith files, 1928-56, 0.7 cm, with a brief biography; finding aid only
1928-1957Ottawa, Bray fonds S1-SS5-F24: Marcel C. Schiess 'witness accounts of the machine in use' and drawings; finding aid only
1929-10-24Murray O. Hayes to Lovesy Hayes has seen the wiring diagrams and 'the detector'· Moray's patent agent
1929-11-05Robert Millikan to Lovesy Declines: 'suspicious of a person who is trying to conceal things from a group of scientists'
1929-1930T. J. Yates statements (sworn 18 Dec 1930) 16 Mar 1929 checks; 13 Dec 1930 about 2.5 kW nameplate; shorted terminals, crystal set gave hum-free reception
1930-10-05M. H. Welling (Utah Secretary of State) and Mexican Consul General Gaxiola About 1.5 kW; house meter did not register
1930-09-02Lovesy letters (1929-1932) Postscript reports 2,150 W at Ellison's visit; NYU discussion 1929· promoter
1931-12Knudsen visit record (Moray memo and Richards letter, 19 Dec 1931) 'over four thousand watts'; the valve stopped during Knudsen's check; Knudsen suspected a hidden wire in the 90-ft pole
1931John Y. Smith letter relaying a former GE man Patent examiners 'honeycombed' with large-company employees; relayed allegation (5th ed. pp.171-172)
1936-09O. L. Polly letter, with E. G. Jensen, Herlin (1957) and Olsen (1937) extracts Polly, physics PhD per Moray's note: laboratory 'well equipped'; device 'does not depend on any battery'
c.1936David I. Gardner statement (sworn 1963) About forty 200 W globes, about 8 kW nameplate
1937-02Chester M. Todd statement (sworn 1971) Moray's nephew; about forty 100 W globes; bulbs 'burned cold except ... a hot spot about the size of a dime'· relative
1937-08-02Bell Labs (J. B. Kelly for Fletcher) to K. K. Steffensen Fletcher 'was not allowed to examine all the parts'; a small chance warranted 'complete investigation'; none made
1937-12-23Pyper letter (1938) Ex-utility electrician; about 5 kW, house lit from the box with mains opened; 'I did not see the inside of the larger box'
1938A. B. Jensen statements on the Securities Commission inspection and Dugway desert test About 5.5 kW for over an hour; leads 'electrically dead' before start-up; parts weighed and meter-tested; box bored; desert test 25-30 miles from Johnson's Pass. Dated 1956/1958, sworn 1963
1938-03-20E. G. Jensen letter on the series-capacitor test Output lit through 0.025 microfarad in the antenna lead; series 60 W lamp never lit· associate
1938-07S. E. Bringhurst statement (sworn 1971) About 5.7 kW nameplate; photograph· associate
1939John Moray's account of Frazer's tests and the smashing of the device Twelve-sheet glass test; Frazer 'took a hammer and smashed' it; Frazer's counter-claim that Moray destroyed it (5th ed. pp.180-181)· Moray family; printed by the sons
1940-03-02John Moray's account of the shooting and the 1943 Perish threat Relayed from his father; 'no police report was ever made' (5th ed. pp.186-189)· Moray family; printed by the sons
1940-05Prof. Orin Tugman letter to Craig Quoted in the 1944 Senate hearing p.1345: never shown a demonstration in 12 years; 'a very clever hoax'· University of Utah physics head
1945-1954Ottawa, Bray fonds S1-SS5-F6: Carl H. Betz With two Moray leaflets; finding aid only
1954-05-25Carl H. Betz handwritten lab notes Geiger rate rose near the device; lead did not shield it; partly legible
1955-01-05Helmut Wachs notes on detector materials Handwritten; partly legible
1955-03-25Gaston Burridge note on Moray Second-hand; conflicts with accounts of motors running
1956-10-22Fletcher to Schiess; Fletcher 1957 letter on the New York test Says he arranged a New York or Bell Labs test and Moray did not come; Moray: '100% untrue'
1957-1958Ottawa, Bray fonds F8 Richard Buchli and F17 Hooper (1958-59) Mention Moray; finding aid only
1959-03-04Ernest L. Wilkinson (BYU president) to Moray Offers help if Moray publishes or accepts an impartial jury
1963Henry Eyring statements (1963, 1965 memo, 1970 via AEC) Saw lights light; 'no way of knowing anything about its effectiveness' without inspection
1963Robert B. Craig letter (former REA deputy administrator) Saw the device on several occasions; recalls Crim's report (5th ed. p.119)· former REA official
1973-10-31Arthur G. Foster letter P.E., Hill Air Force Base; relays Fletcher on the New York test
1979-05-25Affidavit of Harvey Fletcher Age 94; made for a NASA proposal by the Eyring Research Institute (per House of Moray)
1984-01-08Noffsinger, 'Description of System' (handwritten) Only composition list of the detector in the folder; partly illegible; 'snow job also'
1990-04-11Arthur Glenn Foster account of pressing Moray 'detector' pellets ('Project X') Quoted in Perreault, Nuenergy (2001) p.30: ground, radium-doped 'Swedish Stone' pressed in a tetrahedral press; at a critical pressure it 'flashed', burning out the 2000-amp die-heater supply and a transformer. Only account of an outside contractor handling detector material; no letter or contractor found (follow-up Q09)· relayed by Perreault, who plans a commercial generator
2011-10-07Uppsala University Library reply on a Moray doctoral thesis No thesis 1910-1922 and no pre-1962 title under 'Moray'; the alias James Cain Larson not searched
undatedOttawa, Bray fonds S1-SS4-F4: two letters on Moray's demonstration Finding aid only
Later accounts and media (22)
1930-09-19Salt Lake Telegram reader's list of greatest Utahns Includes Moray and 'Dr. Murray O. Hayes'
1932J. Cecil Alter, Utah, the Storied Domain, pp.439-440 Biography of 'Utah's electrical wizard, inventor, scientist, editor, poultry expert'; Google Books snippet
1934Indian Science Congress proceedings, p.65 Cites the 1928 test ('bank of 100 lights for 154 hours'); speaker unknown
1940-03-26Tooele paper: Moray speaks at a funeral Three weeks after the family's shooting date; no mention of an attack
1941-12-02Salt Lake Tribune: Rep. Winter calls for an REA probe Cited by Bearden; not read
1942-05-01Ogden Standard-Examiner letter by J. G. Teuscher Recalls the 1931 announcement and public statements by Welling and others
1944-11-11Electrical World: REA's 'Industrial Revolution Projects' 'This scientist retailed perpetual motion to REA at $25 a day'· private-utility trade weekly
1944-12-11Chicago Tribune and Salt Lake Tribune: Halleck statement on the REA and Moray Full Wood quote; Frazer 'threatening Moray'; SL Tribune p.9, recap 17 Dec 1944· Rep. Halleck, opponent of the REA
1949-03-11Ogden Standard-Examiner: lab tour 'cos ray machine reportedly quite successful in treating cancer'; transmutation 'now being proved at Harvard'
1956Rosicrucian Digest, p.418 Author not identified
1956-09Gaston Burridge, 'The Alchemist', Fate Magazine Transmutation claims and 1940-41 assays; '57+ hours' run
after 1973'Free Electricity Generated from Radiant Cosmos' (popular article) 3 page images; a retelling
1977Tom Bearden, foreword to the 5th ed. and Excalibur Briefing page (cheniere.org) Zero-point-vacuum reading; says a 'trained Soviet agent' smashed the device; '50 kW' for the 157-h run· promoter with his own theory
1980John E. Moray speech to the U.S. Psychotronics Association Audio transcript; 2% valve yield· Moray family; printed by the sons
1998Exotic Research Report: Tesla and cosmic energy Bruce Perreault per the text
2000sHouse of Moray / T. Henry Moray Foundation home page and fundraising video John E. Moray; archived page and video transcript· Moray family; printed by the sons
2001Bruce A. Perreault, Radiant Energy Power Generation (Nuenergy) Spark-station then radioactive-dopant theory; says Moray's widow's tubes, bought by him, show no apparent radioactivity (p.12); deep read pp.9-21· plans a commercial generator
2008-12-08Free Energy Now interview with John Moray Sterling Allen; 100 W / 5 kW / 50 kW chronology; utility meters· Moray family; printed by the sons
c.2011Family narrative on Slideshare ('th-moray') Says the 1936 Shinkle test was of the 'Sound Detector Device'; Rep. Amlie said a report was filed· Moray family; printed by the sons
2016-11-17Gery Vesperman public comment to the NRC 250 pp.; Moray passage only
2016-2025Hobby replication videos, a Reddit 'blueprint' and a 2025 'specification' None with metered input and output
c.2020ConspiracyStuff video, 'Thomas Henry Moray and Zero-point Energy' Transcript; secondary retelling
Related work by others (34)
1882John E. W. Keely, water 'disintegrated' by vibratory motion Nearest predecessor of Moray's resonance-dissociation idea, with Tesla's 1898 oscillator story; Wikipedia (follow-up Q08)
1889Elster and Geitel, light sensitivity of amalgams (Wied. Ann. 38) and 1892 amalgamated-zinc actinometer Amalgams of K, Na, Zn, Sn most light-sensitive; 'pure mercury shows no effect'; only negative charge lost. Read in Lodge's abstract and Fricke and Schlegel, HGSS 8 (2017) (follow-up Q12)
1898Tesla's mechanical oscillator story Resonance said to shake a building; predecessor cited for Moray's 'as Tesla did' (Radiant Energy p.35); Wikipedia (follow-up Q08)
1899E. Rutherford, electrometer separation of alpha and beta rays, Phil. Mag. 47 Probably the '1899' that the 1968 proposal cites for direct conversion; the identification is the investigator's (follow-up Q01)
1900E. Rutherford, Radioactivity produced in substances by the action of thorium compounds, Phil. Mag. 49, 161-192 Original 'excited radioactivity' paper: active deposit collected on a negative wire; full text not opened (follow-up Q11)
1901Nikola Tesla, US 685,957, Apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy Elevated plate and ground charging a condenser; same architecture as Moray's
1902-1906Rutherford's alpha-particle velocity measurements (Phil. Mag. Aug 1906; 1908 Nobel lecture) Alphas lose ionization, phosphorescence and photographic action at about 9,000 km/s; the experiments Le Bon and Moray say should be taken up again (follow-up Q01)
1902Rutherford and Soddy, The Cause and Nature of Radioactivity, Part I, Phil. Mag. 4 Excited activity 'entirely confined to the negatively charged surface', halves in about 11 hours; Le Moyne Giunta text (follow-up Q11)
1903Philosophical Magazine 6th series vol. V, incl. Battelli and Magri on oscillatory discharges Period background on spark oscillation and radium physics
1904E. Rutherford, Radio-activity (1st ed. 1904 sec.166; 2nd ed. 1905 sec.176, pp.297-298) Thoria vessel at +300 V, negative wire 'over 10,000 times as active per unit surface as the thoria'; the figure Le Bon credits and Moray's booklet uncredits (follow-up Q11)
1905Pierre Curie, Nobel lecture Background on radium
1905Gustave Le Bon, The Evolution of Matter (transl. F. Legge), Book IV ch.III Source of Radiant Energy pp.53-56 and the Isotopes booklet p.6: 'the experiments of Rutherford and his pupils should be taken up anew'; first-person sulphide-screen tests on uranium and thorium; Rex Research full text (follow-ups Q01, Q04) Also the source of Isotopes pp.4-6 (sec.6, Induced Radioactivity) and of Radiant Energy pp.58-59; its amalgamated-tin 'radioactivity' chapter is photoelectric by the tests of the time (follow-ups Q11, Q12). Also the source of the diamond passage (a radium gauge in Le Bon; his Brazilian-diamond footnote dropped) and the doped-phosphor paragraph (follow-up Q09).
1906-02-17N. R. Campbell, Dr. Le Bon's Theories of Matter, The Athenaeum no.4086, pp.202-203 Le Bon's experiments 'perfectly inadequate'; light-provoked activity is not spontaneous radioactivity; replies pp.237-366 not read (follow-up Q12)
1906-10Ramsay and Spencer, Chemical and Electrical Changes induced by Ultra-violet Light, Phil. Mag. S.6 12:397-418 Repetition of Le Bon: tin amalgam 0.6 s against mercury 216 s; no positive leak, nothing through metal shields; the authors suggested disintegration or transmutation (follow-up Q12)
1906-01-25R. J. Strutt, letter in Nature on undetected slow alpha particles Quoted in a Le Bon footnote that Moray's printing drops: ordinary matter may emit alphas below the detection threshold (about 9,000 km/s, 1.7 MeV); answered by nuclear binding energies (follow-up Q01)
1906-02-24'F. L.', reply defending Le Bon, The Athenaeum no.4087 Says Campbell's own case was quinine-sulphate luminescence, which Kalahne repeated and found chemical, as Le Bon said; Parodi repeated the phosphorescence experiments 'with perfect success'; Rutherford cites Le Bon 'without questioning their validity'. Saved text· writer of the journal's Research Notes defending his column; possibly the translator Legge (inference)
1906-03-24'F. L.', follow-up letter on quinine sulphate, The Athenaeum no.4091 Sets out Le Bon 1900 and 1902 (hydration), Gates 1903 (radiation stopped by thin aluminium; no atomic emission), Kalahne 1905 and Gates 1906: supports Le Bon on chemical cause, not on atomic dissociation· same writer
1907Millikan and Winchester, photoelectric effects in high vacuum, Phil. Mag. S.6 14:188 Treat the Ramsay-Spencer data as photoelectric and reject their mechanism (follow-up Q12)
c.1907Gustave Le Bon, The Evolution of Forces, Part II (black light chapters) Copper zinc sulphide as an infrared reagent, calcium sulphide for blue-violet; Le Bon's black light was never confirmed; Rex Research full text (follow-up Q04)
1913H. G. J. Moseley, The attainment of high potentials by the use of radium, Proc. Roy. Soc. A 88, 471-476 Radium beta cell in Rutherford's Manchester laboratory, the first atomic battery; probably the 'experiments dating back to 1913' the 1968 proposal cites (follow-up Q01, the investigator's identification)
1915E. Leimer, 'Radium antenna' (abstract) Only period experiment on radium and an antenna
1923-1924Oleg Losev, zincite negative-resistance amplifiers and oscillators Needed a bias supply; Wikipedia
1924-1926H. E. Ives, alkali thin-film photoelectric papers (ApJ 60, 1924; BSTJ 5:320, 1926) Descend from Elster and Geitel's photosensitive metals; standing-wave mechanism unrelated to amalgams or to Moray's detector (follow-up Q12; Ives project)
1925J. E. Lilienfeld, field-effect patents (Canada 1925; US 1,745,175, 1930) Solid-state amplification before Bell Labs; Wikipedia
1925-06-09Hermann Plauson, US 1,540,998, atmospheric-energy collector In the Nuenergy compilation (pdf p.83): zinc, gold or polonium amalgam patches on the collector balloon; photocurrents of nanoamperes per 100 cm2 (follow-up Q12)
1928Preston and Porter, The Theory of Light, p.588 Oscillating Leyden-jar 'back-rush' passage that Isotopes booklet p.25 turns into atomic 'disintegration and transformation'; Google Books snippet; edition used unknown (follow-up Q08)
1929Tonks and Langmuir, Oscillations in ionized gases Plasma oscillation background
1930-05General Radio Experimenter: the dynatron oscillator Negative resistance from secondary emission
1944O. Glasser (ed.), Medical Physics vol.1, 'Roentgen Rays', pp.1354-1355 Copied nearly word for word on Isotopes booklet pp.20-23; Glasser's 'reduced number of valence electrons' becomes the silver-to-cadmium change; Google Books snippets (follow-up Q08)
1966Paracelsus Research Society Bulletin No. 29 'Mark J. Hagmann, M.A., covered transmutations'
1972Okuto and Crowell, ionization coefficient in semiconductors (PRB 6, 3076; also PRB 10, 4284, 1974; Solid-State Electronics 18, 161, 1975) Screenshot in folder; papers not open access
1985IEEE author biography of Mark J. Hagmann B.S. physics BYU 1960, Ph.D. electrical engineering Utah 1978; probable identity of the 1970 defendant
2010A. Franklin, review of Weber's neutrino-detection claim Weber's stiff-crystal enhancement of about 1e23 tested at least four times with null results (Franson and Jacobs 1992; Eot-Wash; Luo et al. 1995; Feng et al. 2006, '526 times smaller'); bears on the hidden-channel form of Claim 3 (follow-up Q09)
2018Borexino Collaboration, solar neutrino luminosity, Nature 562, 505 Neutrino luminosity within about 10% of the photon luminosity; bounds any hidden channel to a few per cent of the Sun's output without excluding it (follow-up Q09)
Records named but not yet examined (14)
1903F. Gates, Physical Review letter (McGill) on quinine-sulphate radiation First-hand text behind the F. L. reply
c.1905Parodi, memoir to the Institut Egyptien repeating Le Bon's phosphorescence experiments Reported 'with perfect success' only in the F. L. reply; no second source found yet
1905Kalahne, 'Ueber die Strahlung des Chininsulfates', Annalen der Physik No phosphorescence or ionisation without water vapour, per the F. L. reply
1906-01F. Gates, Physical Review letter (Cavendish) on dried quinine sulphate First-hand text behind the F. L. reply
1910-1915Uppsala, Swedish church or police registration under 'James Cain Larson' Decides the doctorate claim
1930sFletcher or Bell Labs telegram about the New York test No document either way; John Moray: 'no such correspondence exists in Moray's files'
19401940 Salt Lake newspaper story that 'the Germans had tried to assassinate him' Slattery says it reached the papers; not found in about 40 searches
1950sRecords of any silver-to-cadmium or resonance-transmutation test Notebooks, assays or spectrograms; none in the folder (follow-up Q08)
1957-1963Witness statements for the 1957 and 1963 demonstrations About a dozen witnesses in 1957 (digest only); Eyring 1963
1958-1970W. J. Hooper papers (Principia College) Named by the arbiter for the gold work
1974Perreault's surviving tubes and Moray's notebook (Stan Mahurin) Gamma spectroscopy and composition would test the dopant account
1974Mary Jo Nye, Gustave LeBon's black light, Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 4:163-195 The standard history of Le Bon's reception; found, paywalled, not read (follow-up Q12)
c.1990Foster's 1990 letter, the press log and the 'Project X' contractor Would show whether the flash was stored energy or a short circuit of the press supply
Left out: 26 earlier AI-written analyses, notes in the project folder and a 2018 enquiry to Uppsala University, duplicates, an unrelated shell script, 14 background papers not about Moray, web background on Le Bon's reception (L. Poincare 1907, Kragh 2012, a 2019 blog post) and the physics references behind the Q09 checks (Planck 2018, CNO neutrinos, helioseismology, bound-state decay, isotope tables). Four minor family and address notices in Utah newspapers are counted but not listed. Full catalogue: Morray-TH sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A power meter, spectrum analyser and oscilloscope on the antenna and ground leads, in a mains-isolated room wired by a sceptic, with a driven-rod ground, calorimetry on the box, a 24-hour run, an antenna-less run and a dummy-detector blank.
Deciding records: FBI file 917273 (released 2000); Shinkle's 1936 Army report (NARA RG 407); Wood's full 1939 report and REA files (RG 221, Carmody Papers); the Ottawa Bray fonds letters 1928-57; the 1932 Washoe County case file; Moray's notebooks; Foster's 1990 letter and press log; gamma spectroscopy of Perreault's surviving tubes for Pb-210 and radium daughters.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: it repeats Moray's own Appendix IV, compares it with cosmic rays and sunlight, shows resonance raises voltage but not power, and sizes the batteries for the 1926, 1928 and 1938 runs. By hand: 115 W for 157.9 h is about 18 kWh, about 500 kg of lead-acid.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter About 30 named people on about 25 dated occasions say they saw lamps lit with no visible source. That is strong evidence the effects occurred as seen. What it cannot settle, because no one metered the leads, is where the energy came from. arbiter.md, Claim 1
Arbiter The borrowed passages are evidence of what Moray read and chose to print, not of what he measured. A reader may not cite Radiant Energy pp.53-59 or Isotopes pp.4-6 and 20-25 as Moray's experiments or analysis; the provenance does not bear on the lamp demonstrations. arbiter.md, Investigator findings (2026-10-08), section 1
Contrarian The honest position: observed, partly checked, never measured, never replicated, never opened by a neutral party. The decisive test was never run by anyone, and the surviving record shows both sides declined to set it up. contrarian.md, Overall assessment
Physicist The 1938 capacitor test is the most informative single observation: 100 W through a lead carrying under 0.1 A needs over 1 kV. It matches Moray's 'high voltage, low current' description, and equally a hidden high-voltage source. It does not locate the energy source. physicist.md, Physics of the witness record
Investigator The Ottawa Arthur Bray fonds holds letters, witness accounts and drawings about Moray, 1928-1959, kept by Canadian government engineer Wilbert B. Smith outside the family's editing. Not digitised; copies must be ordered. sites.md, Lead 18
AI noteRadiant Energy's radioactivity pages, including its call to take up Rutherford's experiments again, are copied almost verbatim and uncredited from Gustave Le Bon's The Evolution of Matter (1905).
US government files on cold fusion, scalar waves, tachyons and space-time propulsion: an unreplicated heat-and-helium record sits beside claims refuted by one-line physics the reader can check.
Invention / theory background
Not one inventor but a folder of US government-held documents: a 1987 memo on Bearden-style scalar waves from a DIA science-and-technology office, held in CIA's STARGATE remote-viewing files; DIA report DIA-08-0911-003 (Beverly Barnhart, 2009) on low-energy nuclear reactions (cold fusion); Alan Holt's NASA TM-80961 (1979) on field-resonance propulsion; Feinberg's 1970 tachyon article, filed by CIA; and uncredited mind-control infographics.
Ranking explanation
Third. Below Morray-TH, whose witnessed box demonstrations are one inventor's sustained anomaly. Above TernionAG, whose untested resonance claim has no institutional record or heat-and-helium data behind it. Here the cold-fusion heat question is genuinely open (Never properly tested), with China Lake and ENEA data, a 2023 ARPA-E programme and a traced memo folder. Against it: most other claims fall to calculation, and DIA's sourcing leans on its own LENR contributors.
Key supporting elements
China Lake (Miles, Bush, Johnson 1996, a Navy report): up to 0.52 W and 30% excess heat; helium-4 matched heat in 30 of 33 runs at 1e11 to 1e12 atoms per second per watt, bracketing the 2.6e11 fusion value.
A third group, Italy's ENEA (De Ninno et al. 2002), reports heat and helium measured together over intervals under an hour; only its title page was read, and two authors had proposed a theory of the effect.
Fairness point kept by the arbiter: DIA says cells need several hundred hours of loading, so the fast 1989 replications were not a fair test. The 2004 DOE review split evenly; ARPA-E funded eight LENR projects in 2023.
The memo's own STARGATE folder holds a proponent's experiment: Glen Rein's 'Tesla watch' cut noradrenaline uptake in nerve cells by 19.5% (6 dishes per group). Field unmeasured, printed p-value not reproduced, no replication: Never properly tested.
Real physics sits beside each claim: microwave hearing (Frey effect) is Established and speech by pulse-timed microwaves (Sharp and Grove) Plausible, untested; laser megagauss fields are real; Feinberg ran his own tachyon search and reported the null.
Key contradictions
DIA has no data of its own: 16 of 54 endnotes trace to its five LENR-researcher contributors; per New Energy Times it grew from their 2009 SPAWAR workshop. Notes misstate Arata, Violante, the explosions and China Lake's first helium date.
Ordinary d+d fusion cannot carry the heat: 1 W needs 1.9e12 neutrons/s. CR-39 tracks are about 9 orders short; the authors' 2021 claim of 14.1 MeV neutrons needs tritium, which the abstract does not report.
Miles admits air helium leaks into Pyrex flasks at about the detection limit and 'we have not been able to solve the reproducibility problem'; helium held in untreated steel equals up to 31% of a one-hour 0.5 W signal.
The memo's scalar wave is pure gauge (E = B = 0, no energy). Bearden's two out-of-phase beams fail by linear superposition: cancelled beams carry nothing; partial ones are radio, damped to 5.5e-18 after 1 km of seawater.
Holt's flare premise fails on his own 3000 gauss figure (a 10,000 km cube holds the energy); his NASA abstracts to 2004 never define the space-time harmonic. A 10 Hz beam cannot focus on a head (30,000 km wavelength).
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 23 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Anomalous excess heat in some palladium/deuterium cells (DIA, China Lake)
Never properly testedno pre-registered, blind, multi-lab test of one fixed protocol
The heat is nuclear: helium-4 tracking heat, CR-39 particle tracks, transmutation
Never properly testedunknown mechanism; helium and tracks contested, transmutation papers unreadRefuted by calculationordinary d+d fusion at lattice temperature
DIA: LENR 'has begun to be accepted' as 'reproducible and legitimate'
Never properly testedreproducible (the excess-heat claim)Not testable as statedaccepted (a claim about people, not nature)
A scalar wave with E = 0 and B = 0 exists, carries energy, penetrates seawater and draws vacuum energy (1987 memo)
Establishedas mathematics only: pure gaugeRefuted by calculationcarrying energy or a signalNot testable as statednon-EM seawater carrier; vacuum or seawater energy
Proponents' material in the memo's folder: Bearden's two-beam scalar interferometry and Rein's 'Tesla watch' cell effect
Refuted by calculationtwo cancelling beams penetrating seawaterNot testable as stateddetection only at a 4-8 T magnet poleNever properly testedRein's nerve-cell effect
Laser megagauss fields tuned to a distant space-time point relocate a craft (Holt, NASA TM-80961)
Establishedlaser megagauss fields and reconnection, not at craft scaleRefuted by calculationpremise that reconnection cannot power flaresNot testable as statedEM-gravity resonance and relocation
Establishedimaginary-mass kinematics as consistent mathematicsTested, not supportedexistence of tachyonsHistorically superseded but instructivethe 1970 research programme
Microwave or ELF beams affect the body and mind at a distance (infographics)
Establishedmicrowave auditory (Frey) effectPlausible, untestedspeech by pulse-timed microwaves (Sharp-Grove, reported)Refuted by calculationfocused standoff ELF stimulation of a brain regionNot testable as statedthought insertion and radar ID by brain waves
Prepared the 2009 DIA report on low-energy nuclear reactions
DIA/DI, Defense Warning Office; prepared report DIA-08-0911-003 with five named LENR-researcher contributors. Education and career: not in the review files.
Dr. Jack Vorona
Addressee of the 1987 scalar-waves memo ('DT (Dr. Vorona)')
Named in a 1984 US Army INSCOM memo as Assistant Vice Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, DIA, heading DT and keeping overall DIA oversight of the psychoenergetic (remote-viewing) programme. Education: not in the review files.
Tom Bearden
Named in the memo as 'a chief proponent' of drawing energy from the vacuum; his 'Star Wars Now' is excerpted in the same folder · proponent of the scalar-wave claims the memo summarises
Lt Col (memo's title for him); known for his 'Fer-de-Lance' briefing on 'Soviet Scalar Weapons'; per the staff note, worked with Faretto, Dea and Bedini, funded by Josh Reynolds and Essentia Research. Reviewed in this series' Bearden project.
Glen Rein
Author of the 'Tesla watch' nerve-cell experiment filed in the memo's folder · supporter of the scalar principle reporting his own experiment
Proposed a 'Crystalline Transduction Theory' of scalar energy acting on cells; cites Puharich, Persinger and Bearden. Education and career: not in the review files.
Alan C. Holt
Author of NASA TM-80961, Field Resonance Propulsion Concept (1979)
NASA Johnson Space Center; 1979 University of Houston master's thesis on hydromagnetic waves and field-line merging; later in Space Station programme offices, proposing advanced EM and 'breakthrough' propulsion tests through 2004 (NTRS abstracts).
Gerald Feinberg
Author of the 1970 Scientific American tachyon article held in CIA files; ran one of the searches
Columbia University physicist who says he named the tachyon; with Ballay, Linsker and Yeh ran the bubble-chamber missing-mass search and reported its null result himself.
Pamela Mosier-Boss
DIA report contributor; first author of the CR-39 triple-track papers it cites · LENR researcher whose own work the DIA report cites as evidence
US Navy SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific, San Diego; Pd/D co-deposition work with Szpak; answered Kowalski's 2008 critique in print; with Forsley published the 2021 re-examination 'Nuclear Generated Tracks or Artifacts?'.
M. H. Miles
Lead author of the China Lake heat-and-helium report (1996), the best-sourced LENR evidence read in the review
Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake; ONR-funded programme from 1992, earlier work from 1989; first reported helium in March 1991. Education: not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (123 of 125 listed, 98%)
Government records (14)
1979-08Field Resonance Propulsion Concept (NASA TM-80961, JSC-16073, NTIS N80-19184) Alan C. Holt, NASA Johnson Space Center; private, unofficial research with a NASA disclaimer; presented June 1979 at the 15th AIAA/SAE/ASME Joint Propulsion Conference; 15 pp, no equations; read in full
1984-07-25US Army INSCOM memo "CENTER LANE Meeting with DIA - 20 July 1984" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001500100012-3) Names "Dr. Jack Vorona, Assistant Vice Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, DIA" and "DT (Dr. Vorona's office)"; signed by CENTER LANE Project Manager LTC Brian Buzby (OCR); STARGATE collection; found by the Investigator; places the memo's DT in DIA
1987-12-22Memo "Scalar Waves" (CIA-RDP96-00792R000500240001-6) From DT-ACO (name redacted) to DT (Dr. Vorona), a DIA science-and-technology intelligence office by inference from the office symbol; CONFIDENTIAL/NOFORN, redactions SG1B and SG1J, handwritten edits; released 2001-03-07 in CIA's STARGATE files; 3 pp, Gaussian-unit equations read from page images
1989US DOE Energy Research Advisory Board (ERAB) cold fusion panel report Found the 1989 results "did not present convincing evidence"; known here only from a Wikipedia summary· institutional reviewer
1996-09Anomalous Effects in Deuterated Systems (NAWCWPNS TP 8302) M. H. Miles, B. F. Bush, K. B. Johnson, Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake; ONR-funded; internally reviewed; DIA note 40; read from a copy on lenr-canr.org, an archive run by supporters of the field· the experimenters' own account of their results
2002Experimental evidence of 4He production in a cold fusion experiment (ENEA RT/2002/41/FUS) De Ninno, Frattolillo, Rizzo (ENEA Frascati), Del Giudice, Preparata; heat and helium measured together over intervals under one hour on a Pd stripe cathode; 26 pp; title page and snippets only, pp.2-26 unread· Del Giudice and Preparata proposed a coherence theory of the effect
2004US DOE Review of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions Paper review; reviewers split about evenly on excess heat; negative reviewers called helium "very close to background"; no federal programme recommended; known only from a Wikipedia summary
2009-11-13Technology Forecast: Worldwide Research on Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions Increasing and Gaining Acceptance (DIA-08-0911-003) Beverly Barnhart, DIA Defense Warning Office, with contributions from McDaniel, Mosier-Boss, McKubre, Forsley and DeChiaro; coordinated with DIA/DRI, CPT, DWO, DOE/IN, SPAWAR Pacific and NSWC Dahlgren; UNCLASSIFIED; 8 pp with 54 endnotes; read in full· written with five LENR researchers whose own work fills 16 of its 54 notes
2017-03-22California State Threat Assessment Center 24-Hour Report UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO open-source news digest (terrorism, crime); in the zip "EM effects on human body"; no physics or EM content
2017-06-26California State Threat Assessment Center 72-Hour Report Same format; in the zip; no physics or EM content
2017-09-05California State Threat Assessment Center 96-Hour Report Same format; in the zip; keyword search for electromagnetic, microwave, directed energy and mind control found nothing
2022-09ARPA-E Exploratory Topic on LENR and February 2023 awards $10 million to eight projects "to determine whether" LENR could underpin energy technology; known from search snippets only; arbiter's fetches failed; results not seen
–"Defense Technical Intelligence Report" signed Jack Vorona, DIA/DT-1A (NSA-RDP96X00790R000100020003-3) Google snippet only; not opened
–Memo from H. E. Puthoff to Dr. Jack Vorona (CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230021-2) Title only, via archive.org; not read
Government records: the memo's STARGATE folder (RDP96-00792R0005002400xx, 8 items) (6)
c.1984Staff note "TO: COL BUZBY FROM: (Sanitized)" (item 0002-5) 3 pp; excerpts of Bearden's "Star Wars Now" (24 April 1984) plus the writer's "logical extensions"; two out-of-phase beams, seawater penetration, 4-8 T magnet-pole detection, "at least 78" Soviet tests; SG1B/SG1J redactions; released 2003-09-09; OCR read in full· staff summary of the proponent's claims
–Canada Weekly "The Secret of Entebbe" (item 0003-4) Press clipping; title only
–Weekend Magazine "Weapon?" (item 0004-3) Press clipping; title only
–Saturday Review "Front Runners" (item 0005-2) Press clipping; title only
–Toronto Star "Metro man Israeli hero" (item 0006-1) Press clipping; title only
–Toronto Star "Hero of Entebbe..." (item 0007-0) Press clipping; title only
Own works and inventions (the documents' authors and the proponents they summarise) (13)
1967Feinberg, "Possibility of faster-than-light particles", Physical Review 159, 1089 Cited from memory in the review; not in the article itself
1970-02Feinberg, "Particles That Go Faster Than Light", Scientific American 222(2) Copy in CIA reading-room files (CIA-RDP96-00787R000100030001-9, released 2000-08-10); why CIA filed it is not stated; 9 pp read in full
1979Holt, University of Houston master's thesis on hydromagnetic waves and magnetic field line merging Holt's own earlier work, cited in TM-80961
1980Holt, "Prospects for a breakthrough in field-dependent 'propulsion'", 16th Joint Propulsion Conference Known from a search-result summary; not read
1982-05Holt, "Starcraft", Science Digest Popular version; known from a search-result summary; not read
1984-04-24Bearden, "STAR WARS NOW! The Bohm-Aharonov effect, scalar interferometry, and Soviet weaponization" Apparently held in the CIA reading room; seen in search results, not opened; known through the staff note to Col Buzby· proponent's own paper
1986-05Holt, "Space station support of manned Mars missions" (NTRS 19870008374) Conventional mission support; no field propulsion; abstract only
1988Bearden, "AIDS: Biological Warfare" Cited by Rein; not read· proponent's own work
1989-07Holt, "Space Station Freedom - Accommodation for technology R&D", AIAA 89-2858 (NTRS 19890059759) Proposes testing "a hypothetical advanced electromagnetic propulsion system utilizing high-temperature superconductivity materials" on the station; abstract only
1990-04Holt, "Spaceport operations for deep space missions", NASA Lewis Vision-21 (NTRS 19910012853) Calls for "breakthrough level propulsion research" to "be initiated now"; abstract only; full text public, unread
1993-12Holt, "Space Station technology testbed: 2010 deep space transport" (NTRS 19940022865) In-space "tuning" of micro-engineered materials; abstract only; full text public, unread
1999Holt, Davis and Puthoff, "Space testing of electromagnetically sensitive materials for breakthrough propulsion physics", AIAA 1999-2143 Title only; not read
2004Holt, "Space Test and Operations Port for Exploration Missions", Space 2004 (NTRS 20050217407) Mentions "an advanced space propulsion testbed"; abstract only
Experiments and replications by others: cold fusion (LENR) (38)
1989Fleischmann and Pons papers, Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry 261, 263, 287 The original excess-heat claims; DIA note 6; DIA says they did not show the expected radiation
1992Zhang et al., laboratory explosion report, ICCF-3, Nagoya Chinese 1991 explosion "not believed to be chemical"; DIA notes 25 and 27
1998Gozzi et al., heat-helium correlation report Named by a search snippet (Wikiversity mirror); not opened· proponent-side experimenters reporting their own results
1998Arata and Zhang, helium report Named by the same snippet; not opened· proponent-side experimenters reporting their own results
2002Iwamura et al., Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 41, 4642 Transmutation claim, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; DIA note 18; peer-reviewed; not read
2003Swartz et al., JET Thermal excess heat and optimal operating points, ICCF-9 Beijing (2002) DIA note 39; conference paper
2003Bockris, history of transmutation at Texas A&M, ICCF-10 DIA note 1; conference paper on an earlier transmutation programme
2004Szpak et al., Thermochimica Acta 410, 101 SPAWAR excess energy; DIA note 33; peer-reviewed; not read· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2005Szpak et al., Naturwissenschaften 92, 394 SPAWAR transmutation; DIA notes 32 and 35; peer-reviewed; not read· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2006Roussetski, "Correct identification of energetic alpha and proton tracks in CR-39 detection", Condensed Matter Nuclear Science Outside group; found by Crossref; conclusions not read
2007Mosier-Boss, Szpak, Gordon, Forsley, "Use of CR-39 in Pd/D co-deposition experiments", Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. The paper Kowalski commented on; title only· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2008ICCF-14 proceedings and abstracts, Washington Whole conference cited for heat, particles and India (DIA notes 2, 11, 14)
2008Iwamura, ICCF-14 talks Mitsubishi funding and transmutation; DIA notes 8 and 16
2008Hioki (Toyota), ICCF-14 Corporate interest; DIA note 9
2008Celani, ICCF-14 DIA note 10
2008Yamaguchi, ICCF-14 Transmutation; DIA note 17
2008Violante (ENEA), "On the Correlation of PdD Alloy Material Properties with the Occurrence of Excess Power", ICCF-14 DIA note 20; cited for transmutation although the title is about excess power
2008Lesin et al. (Energetics Technologies, Israel), pulsed currents and "superwaves", ICCF-14 DIA notes 28 and 47· company presenting its own technology
2008Mosier-Boss et al., ACS Symposium Series chapter on CR-39 tracks DOI 10.1021/bk-2008-0998.ch014; found by Crossref in the deep read; not read· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2008Kowalski, Comment on "The use of CR-39 in Pd/D co-deposition experiments", Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. (ap08217) Published critique, Montclair State University; snippet mentions "highly-localized regions of damaged material" and etching; site blocked by a bot check; argument unread
2008Mosier-Boss, Szpak, Gordon, Forsley, "Reply to comment ...: a response to Kowalski", Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 44, 291-295 Published reply; bibliographic only. A related "Comments on Co-deposition Electrolysis Results: A Response to Kowalski" is on Cambridge Core· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009Mosier-Boss et al., "Triple Tracks in CR-39 as the Result of Pd/D Co-deposition: Evidence of Energetic Neutrons", Naturwissenschaften 96, 135-142 DIA's only peer-reviewed particle source, cited three times (notes 12, 23, 34); Springer page behind a login, not obtained· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009Mosier-Boss et al., "Characterization of tracks in CR-39 detectors obtained as a result of Pd/D co-deposition", Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. DOI 10.1051/epjap/2009067; same group follow-up; found by Crossref; not read· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009"Arata" (probably Kitamura et al.), Physics Letters A 373, 3109 DIA note 19 credits it to Arata; authorship mismatch is [memory, medium]; not read
2009Biberian, Journal of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science 2, 1-6 French laboratory explosion, photo on DIA p.4; DIA notes 26 and 54; in-field LENR journal
2009Mizuno, "Neutron Emission ...", University of Missouri seminar DIA note 24
2009Prelas, University of Missouri seminar Transmutation claims from several countries; DIA note 21
2009-03Mosier-Boss, American Chemical Society meeting briefing SPAWAR "nuclear particles", probably nuclear reactions; DIA notes 13 and 37· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009-05McKubre (SRI), University of Missouri seminar Excess heat and helium production at SRI; DIA notes 31 and 38· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009-08SPAWAR Pacific LENR workshop briefings, San Diego, 4-5 August 2009 DIA note 22 (transmutation); per New Energy Times the report was based on this workshop; presenters Tanzella, McKubre, Swartz, Mosier-Boss, McDaniel, Forsley, Hagelstein, McGinnis· presenters are LENR researchers
2009-08Mosier-Boss, SPAWAR briefings Anomalous heat, particles, transmutation; DIA note 30· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2010Mosier-Boss et al., "Comparison of Pd/D co-deposition and DT neutron generated triple tracks observed in CR-39 detectors", Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 51, 20901 DOI 10.1051/epjap/2010087; compares tracks with 14.1 MeV DT-generator neutron tracks; author list includes "Jack Y. Dea" (identity unknown); not read· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2017Savrasov et al., "CR-39 Detector Track Characterization in Experiments with Pd/D Co-deposition", JCMNS DOI 10.70923/001c.72415; outside group; conclusions not read
2019Berlinguette et al., "Revisiting the cold case of cold fusion", Nature 570, 45 Google-funded multi-lab Pd-D attempt, described by Wikipedia as a failed replication; design and loading time not read
2021Mosier-Boss and Forsley, "Interpreting CR-39 Detectors used in Pd/D Co-deposition: Nuclear Generated Tracks or Artifacts?", JCMNS 34(1):32-58 Abstract read: "notably 14.1 MeV neutrons", damage controls, an SRI replication examined by NASA and Russian Academy CR-39 experts; answers alternative explanations; 27-page body unread· the claimants' own review, in the field's society journal; both are DIA contributors
2024-03Gillespie, Lin, Jones, Duncan (Texas Tech), "Helium Detection in Technical Materials", arXiv:2405.02307 Untreated 316 steel retains 15-240 pmol of He-4 and can reabsorb it from air; pretreatment needed when helium is nuclear evidence; abstract read by the arbiter; no heat measured
–De Ninno et al., "4He detection in a cold fusion experiment" Method for detecting small amounts of helium in gas mixtures; lenr-canr.org; snippet only
–"Characterization of Neutrons Emitted during Pd/D Co-deposition", JCMNS Found by Google; PDF not opened· SPAWAR co-deposition programme, the DIA contributors' own line of work
Experiments and replications by others: scalar-wave biology, tachyons and microwave hearing (11)
1961Frey, microwave auditory effect (Journal of Applied Physiology 17, 689, 1962) First report of hearing pulsed microwaves; thermoelastic mechanism; known here from Wikipedia
c.1968Alvager and Kreisler, Princeton charged-tachyon Cerenkov search Cesium gamma source, lead shield, vacuum field region, photomultiplier; pair rate below 1/10,000 of electron-positron pairs; described in Feinberg 1970 pp.7-8
c.1969Ballay, Linsker, Yeh and Feinberg, Columbia missing-mass search About 6,000 K- captures on Brookhaven bubble-chamber photographs; 101 candidates, 23 after the capture-in-flight cut, 0 after remeasurement; limit under 1/400 of pion production; Feinberg 1970 p.8
c.1969Columbia antiproton-proton annihilation tachyon search Same group; no tachyons, no counts given; Feinberg 1970 p.9
1974Sharp, Grove and Gandhi, "Generation of acoustic signals by pulsed microwave energy", IEEE Trans. MTT 22(5):583-584 Walter Reed; about the mechanism of microwave hearing, not speech; bibliographic only
c.1975A. W. Guy (University of Washington), Morse-code microwave-hearing demonstration Reported in Justesen 1975, per Broughton
c.1988Rein, "Interactions with scalar energy - cellular mechanisms of action" (CIA-RDP96-00792R000500240008-9) Item 0008 of the memo's folder; 6 pp; "Tesla watch" cut noradrenaline uptake in PC12 nerve cells 19.5% at 30 min (n = 6 per group, printed p < 0.01, not reproduced); field not measured; Crystalline Transduction Theory; OCR read· a supporter of the scalar principle reporting his own experiment
2011OPERA superluminal neutrino result Traced to an instrument fault; Wikipedia, as cited by the reviewers
–Byrd, EEG recordings with the Tesla watch Cited by Rein; not read
–Persinger, mast-cell degranulation under two cancelling 0.5 Hz, 10 uT fields Cited by Rein, who says the scalar field was not measured; not read
–Puharich / Max Planck, E. coli gene activation Cited by Rein; not read
Theory and reference papers cited (14)
1962Bilaniuk, Deshpande and Sudarshan, "Meta" relativity, American Journal of Physics 30, 718 Reinterpretation of negative-energy tachyon states (Rochester); described in Feinberg p.5
1963Grief and Tolhurst, wind-tunnel tests of a circular plan-form aircraft with peripheral jet Holt's source for the winged-disc craft
1976Nishihara and Ohsawa, magnetic field generation from resonance absorption (Physics of Fluids) Holt reference; real laser-plasma physics per the reviewers
1977Kruer and Estabrook, laser light and self-generated magnetic fields (Physics of Fluids) Holt reference
1978Max et al., enhanced magnetic field generation (Physics of Fluids) Holt reference
1979Rachman and Dutheil, special relativity in a "superliminal world" Holt says the mathematical relationships are there; none shown
1982PACE newsletter Cited by Rein; not read
2003Tsvetkov, ICCF-10 Waste transmutation and weapons-of-mass-destruction uses; DIA note 48
2006Sinha and Meulenberg, Current Science 91, 907 LENR stimuli theory; DIA note 46; peer-reviewed
2008Srivastava, Panella and Widom, arXiv:0811.3293 LENR theory preprint; DIA note 43
2009Hagelstein and Chaudhary, LENR theory briefing DIA note 41
2009-08Hagelstein, SPAWAR briefing DIA note 44
2009-08McDaniel, SPAWAR briefing DIA note 45· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
–Olenik and Arepjev, Kiev Polytechnic LENR theory; DIA note 42 gives no venue or date
Witness accounts and correspondence (6)
1973-09-28Sharp and Grove (Walter Reed), personal communication to D. R. Justesen The source Justesen 1975 gives for speech conveyed by pulse-timed microwaves ("recognizable words were reportedly perceived"), per Broughton; citation page not seen
2009-05Forsley, Louvain colloquium talk Briefings to institutes abroad; DIA note 51· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009-08-28DeChiaro, briefing for DDR&E Corporate and state funding; DIA note 7· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009-10Personal correspondence, Dr. Michael McKubre, SRI International DIA note 50· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009-10Personal correspondence, Mr. Lawrence Forsley, JWK International DIA note 52· contributor to the DIA report (LENR researcher); the report cites this as evidence
2009-11-23DIA Public Affairs email: "This is a DIA document." Reply to a Wikipedia editor asking whether DIA-08-0911-003 was real; as posted by New Energy Times, not independently verified
Later accounts and media (12)
1975-03Justesen, "Microwaves and Behavior", American Psychologist 30(3):391-401 VA Hospital, Kansas City; the published account of the Sharp-Grove speech result; scan located (zoryglaser.com), p.1 read only
1991Mallove, Fire from Ice Proponent's history of cold fusion; primer further reading
1992Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century Sceptical account by the 1989 DOE panel co-chair; primer further reading
2007Storms, The Science of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction Proponent's review of the experimental literature; primer further reading
2008-01-17Jayaraman, Nature India news item on India's LENR restart DIA note 29, via lenr-canr.org
2009New Energy Times, HTML copy of the DIA report with its origin and coordination line Steven Krivit's site; says the report was based on the 4-5 August 2009 SPAWAR workshop; lists presenters; read· a party with an interest in the field's coverage
2009-04CBS 60 Minutes cold fusion segment DIA note 49
2017Infographic "Bio-Electromagnetic field" (2RNM.jpg) Credited to Supratik Saha; brain-wave bands and radar identification of a person; cites no sources
2017Diagram "Remote Mind Control / Remote Brain Mapping" (9RNM.jpg) Uncredited; "ELF brain stimulation" frequency table (motor cortex 10 Hz, auditory 15 Hz ...); cites no sources; read from the image
2017Chart "Psycho-Electronic Weapon Effects" (EM effects on human body.gif) Watermark raven1.net; effects list from microwave hearing to forced speech, Gulf War shocks and break-ins; the Sharp 1974 note; cites no sources
–AFCEA SIGNAL article on the DIA report Seen in search results for "DIA-08-0911-003"; not opened
–Martin Broughton Research & Analysis, "Encoded communication: Morse code, speech" Secondary analysis of the Justesen and Sharp-Grove-Gandhi records; read
Records named but not yet examined (9)
1986IEEE-sponsored Tesla conference proceedings named in the memo Not named in the memo; probably the 1986 International Tesla Symposium [memory, medium]
2021Coordinated LENR study planned after the 2019 Nature paper Known from a secondary source only
–Bearden, "Fer-de-Lance" briefing on "Soviet Scalar Weapons" Named in the memo p.2; not read in this review· proponent's own briefing
–Redacted SG1B/SG1J portions of items 0001-0002, unreleased CENTER LANE/DT files and any DT response on scalar waves Would decide between "collecting proponents' material" (best fit to the released folder) and "work done and withheld"
–Records of any test flown or run on Holt's proposals None found in a one-site NTRS search
–SRI replication of the CR-39 work and the NASA and Russian Academy examiners' own reports Named in the 2021 JCMNS abstract; tritium measurement unknown; not seen
–Walter Reed report of the Sharp-Grove speech trial with power, pulse width and repetition rate Not found
–ARPA-E LENR project results Eight projects funded 2023; no results seen
–Independent blind replication of the heat-to-helium ratio Searched; none found
Left out: two background works cited by DIA for energy per mass (a nuclear engineering textbook and a Los Alamos note), four DIA explanatory notes with no source, other copies of the DIA report, Wikipedia pages used as secondary sources, and macOS junk in the zip. Full catalogue: Government sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A pre-registered, blinded, multi-lab run of one fixed Pd/D loading protocol for 500+ hours, with about 0.1% calorimetry, helium-4 measured against heat (2.6e11 atoms per joule) in pretreated, helium-blanked metal hardware, a light-water null cell, and an independent neutron counter beside any CR-39.
Deciding records: ENEA RT/2002/41/FUS pages 2-26; the 2021 JCMNS body and the NASA and Russian CR-39 examiners' reports; Kowalski's 2008 comment; Naturwissenschaften 2009; ARPA-E project results; the redacted and unreleased CENTER LANE/DT files; Bearden's full STAR WARS NOW!; Holt's NTRS full texts; the Justesen page citing Sharp and Grove.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: it shows the memo's scalar wave gives E = B = 0 for any S, then computes seawater skin depth, Bearden's cancelled beams, 2.6e11 helium atoms per joule, the steel helium background, Rein's t-test and Holt's flare cube. Primer question 3 does the cold-fusion ash count by hand.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter An effect that explains away failures by unspecified incubation is close to unfalsifiable until the protocol is fixed in advance. Neither side has supplied a pre-registered protocol run blind by independent labs; that is why 'never properly tested' fits the heat claim better than 'tested, not supported'. arbiter.md, Claim 2, Arbitration point 2
Arbiter The proponents offer the CR-39 tracks as evidence that something nuclear happens, not as the heat channel, so the rate argument bears on the heat budget, not on whether the tracks are nuclear. The 7.9 MeV threshold rules out primary d+d neutrons, not 14.1 MeV d+t ones. arbiter.md, Investigator findings, F2.2
Arbiter The memo's released folder holds a proponent's summary, a proponent's experiment and five unrelated clippings, with no test, tasking or assessment. 'Collecting proponents' material' now fits best; 'work done and withheld' cannot be excluded while the redacted parts are unseen. arbiter.md, Investigator findings, F1.3
Contrarian Nothing in the new record shows suppression of any claim in the folder. Holt kept proposing tests inside NASA for 25 years; the DIA report was fed by a proponents' workshop; a DOE agency is now funding a neutral look at LENR. Only LENR has a rejection history. contrarian.md, Investigator findings, Cross-cutting update
Primer The authority trap, both ways: a CIA or DIA file stamp does not make a claim true, and dismissal by a panel does not make it false. Checking a report's footnotes is the first test of an official-looking claim. primer.md, section 7, Wrong, and why the mistake is instructive
AI noteThe scalar-weapons note in the memo's folder is addressed to 'Col Buzby', very probably the Army's CENTER LANE remote-viewing project manager, and is filed beside five press clippings, two titled on Entebbe.
A Swiss-funded 1930s inventor patented sharp 'natural frequencies' that change food and chemicals beyond heating; never tested, cited by microwave pioneers, and the research record vanished.
Invention / theory background
Ernst E. W. Kassner, a German engineer, patented in 1931-36 the idea that dipolar substances such as water, juice and serum have sharp 'natural frequencies' at which a concentrated field, chiefly a standing field with the substance as a resonator's dielectric, changes them beyond heating: preserving food, altering colloids, curing rubber. Ternion AG of Glarus (1932, Max Stoffel) carried CHF 1.12 million of loan-financed research and liquidated in 1937. Kassner died in Munich by 1962.
Ranking explanation
Criteria A, B and C. Like Morray-TH, its central claim was never properly tested and its record goes quiet, but Ternion's evidence is patent text, not witnessed demonstrations. It ranks above SilverTooth because its deciding test is still open and cheap, while Silvertooth's derivation fails on its own premises. A money trail, a 1945 patent sale and named, unread archives make its history concrete; owner follow-ups A03 and A05 find field-assisted electrolysis measured at catalysts, never with Kassner's own fields.
Key supporting elements
Kassner's 1936 disc-resonator theory is correct: his own worked example reproduces within about 1 percent (100.8 ohms against his printed 102), and his water band near 1.5 cm is real Debye relaxation.
The patents were noticed: abstracted in Chemical Abstracts (1935), cited in chemistry references and The Botanical Review (1944), and listed as references in Spencer's 1945 Raytheon microwave-cooking patent and Raytheon's 1954 fruit-juice patent.
Goodrich and Firestone announced in January 1945 that they had bought basic electronic-vulcanisation patents based on discoveries of Dufour, Le Duc and Kassner; a 1950 Goodrich paper names US 2,089,966 and 2,109,843 in the portfolio.
Others later claimed similar effects: Arnold (refused as 'too broad and indefinite', not on the physics) and Heller (Nature 1959, 'No temperature increase'); and high-frequency fields measurably cut electrolysis overpotential at a heated catalyst (Niether 2018).
The deciding test is cheap and was never recorded as done. The contrarian calls this the signature of 'never properly tested', not 'tested and failed'; Kassner reported heating beside his claimed effects rather than hiding it.
Key contradictions
A Debye band is broad (Q about 0.3; water at its own band has Q about 1); the claimed 2 percent band is about 170 times narrower, and Kassner's 1934 French patents describe his natural frequencies as Debye relaxation frequencies.
His 1932 tuning figures (10 cm disc at 30 cm, 6.2 cm at 18.6 cm, 39 cm at 116 cm) all follow wavelength = 3 x diameter, which matches no root of his own correct 1936 Bessel theory.
Every food, colloid and seed result is a single patentee run with no sample count or heat-matched control; foods warmed 2.5 to 4.5 K, and Kassner himself wrote that absorption is 'especially great in the case of resonance'.
Analogue sharp-line claims in cells at 26-90 GHz were looked for and not found (Gandhi 1980 swept spectra; Gos 1997 controlled repeat); these test the class of claim, not Kassner's own bands.
The buyers described the 1945 process as uniform heating, and Ternion's 1937 minutes give a financial end ('complete lack of further funds', patents lapsed for unpaid fees); both are interested parties' own accounts.
User follow-ups (2)
Q03AnsweredCould Ternion's resonant method lower the energy needed to split water? Not the 237 kJ/mol floor; at most the overpotential loss, which is untested for Kassner's standing field.
Could resonant anomalous dispersion lower the binding energy of water? For example, could the Ternion technique (irradiating a substance at its natural frequency, in its anomalous-dispersion band) weaken the bonds in water, either the hydrogen bonds between molecules or the O-H bonds within them, enough to make splitting water by electrolysis more economical? What did Kassner and Ternion write on this, and what later work exists on RF- or microwave-assisted electrolysis and resonant weakening of water's bonds?
Asked 2026-10-06 · answered 2026-10-06 · 5 min web search
A03Kassner's principle covers water, but a field cannot lower the 237 kJ/mol floor; what it could reduce is the overpotential loss, and that is untested for his standing field.
Known
Water is a dipolar substance, so Kassner's principle covers it directly. GB 417,501 names water's natural frequency, an anomalous-dispersion band near 1.5 cm (1.28 cm for pure water; pp.2, 4, 10), and claims a resonant field can drive reactions that otherwise need heat or catalysts (p.4).
Neither Kassner nor Ternion applied it to electrolysis; that step is an extension of his principle put to the review.
Splitting water needs at least 237 kJ/mol of work (1.23 V) by any path; field energy put into the bonds counts toward it.
Practical cells run near 1.8-2.0 V; the excess (overpotential and resistance, a rate loss) is about a third of the input. That is what a Ternion-type effect would have to reduce.
Fields do cut that loss at the electrode: Niether et al. (Nature Energy 2018) cut overpotentials by 100-200 mV by RF heating of catalyst nanoparticles; infra-red O-H excitation weakens the bond on nickel (Hundt, Science 2014).
Roy, Rao and Kanzius (2008) report RF releasing burnable gas from salt water, not independently replicated.
Open
Whether water in Kassner's standing field at its own band (between resonator plates, energy entering by displacement current) lowers overpotential.
Whether that saving exceeds the field power.
Note
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): Bears on claim 11: the arbiter rates RF-assisted electrolysis as a rate effect Plausible, untested, with the RF power counted as input.
Key equations
Quantity
Value
Meaning
Minimum work to split water
237 kJ/mol = 1.23 V
floor by any path; depends only on start and end states
Practical cell voltage
1.8-2.0 V
the excess over 1.23 V is the rate loss a field could reduce
Q05AnsweredCan a resonant tank circuit lower the work of splitting water, with the environment paying the difference? The heat-pump gain is only heat; a real asymmetry needs a second reservoir, and the overpotential question is untested.
Can the Ternion method create an energy asymmetry in splitting water? Hypothesis: 237 kJ/mol is the work needed to split water under ordinary conditions, but water exposed to the Ternion method and pumped at its resonant frequency, by a lightly loaded tank circuit costing very little energy, might have that figure temporarily lowered. The gases are then burned under normal atmospheric conditions, returning more energy than the operator put in. Nothing is created from nothing: the difference is paid by the environment, somewhat like air conditioning (though not exactly). Set out what is known and what is not: the supporting details (Kassner's dipolar-substance principle and water's band; the established part, a heat-pump-like gain of up to 1.2 from 48.7 kJ/mol of ambient heat at 1.23 V; any published field effects on water's free energy or on electrolysis energy); the issues (237 kJ/mol as the second-law minimum with one surrounding temperature; what a second reservoir, such as a temperature difference or ambient electromagnetic energy, would have to be; water's high loss at its own Debye band against a lightly loaded tank; whether a lowered cost per split molecule must appear as load on the tank); and what remains untested. Keep experimental design brief: name the deciding measurement, but do not design the apparatus.
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-07 · 2 min web search
A05The heat-pump gain is real but it is heat; a true energy asymmetry needs a second reservoir out of equilibrium with the room. Whether the standing field lowers overpotential by more than its own power is untested.
Known
Water is dipolar, so Kassner's principle covers it; his standing field makes the water the dielectric of a plate or tube resonator, energy entering by displacement current (US 2,089,966 p.3).
A cell at 1.23 V takes 237.1 kJ/mol of work plus 48.7 kJ/mol of room heat, and burning returns 285.8 kJ/mol of heat, up to 1.2 times the work, like air conditioning.
Turning that heat back into work with one surrounding temperature returns at most 237.1 kJ/mol.
237.1 kJ/mol is the minimum total work by any path, so a field that loosens water pays that share itself.
At water's own band (about 19-23 GHz) its loss tangent is near 1, so a water-filled resonator has Q about 1; Kassner himself wrote that absorption is greatest at resonance.
Published field effects (second Wien effect, RF-heated catalysts) change rates and overpotential, not the 237.1 floor.
Inferred
A real gain needs a second reservoir: a temperature difference (thermally regenerative cycles, Carnot-bounded) or radiation such as sunlight; ambient radio is microwatts per cm2.
Any lowered electrical cost per molecule must appear as at least equal real power drawn from the tank.
Open
Whether the standing field lowers overpotential by more than its own power.
Deciding measurement: total work in (DC plus the tank's real power) per mole of hydrogen at constant temperature, against 237.1 kJ/mol.
Notes
Context recorded with the question (moved here 2026-10-10): Ternion's method applies energy by displacement current: the substance is the dielectric between the plates (or concentric tubes) of a resonator set into its natural oscillation, Kassner's "standing field" (US 2,089,966; disc resonator theory in GB 483,062). Frame the tank-circuit hypothesis in those terms.
Context, continued: Kassner also used radiated RF, a "radiating field" focused by reflectors and applied with a wand-type applicator; treat it as the second method. The hypothesis put to the review, extending A03; bears on claims 1 and 11. Claim 11 has the closed cycle as Refuted by calculation and the COP-1.2 heat gain as Established.
Key equations
Quantity
Value (kJ/mol)
Meaning
Electrical work at 1.23 V
237.1
minimum work by any path
Room heat drawn in
48.7
the heat-pump part
Heat returned on burning
285.8
up to 1.2 times the work, but as heat
Key point: Can the Ternion method create an energy asymmetry?
Supports
The heat-pump gain is established: 285.8 kJ/mol of heat back for 237.1 kJ/mol of work.
A second reservoir (temperature difference or radiation) can supply real work.
Contradicts
With one surrounding temperature the heat returns at most 237.1 kJ/mol of work.
Field energy put into the water counts toward the 237.1 floor.
Water absorbs strongly at its own band, so the resonator cannot be lightly loaded.
Kassner, US 2,089,966 (Process for altering the energy content of dipolar substances), p.3: standing and radiating fields; absorption greatest at resonance (project _text)
Dipolar substances have sharp natural frequencies (electrolytes about 2 percent wide, serum near 90 cm, water near 1.5 cm)
Establishedwater's broad Debye band near 1.5 cmNever properly testedKassner's sharp resonance bands in electrolytes, serum, colloidsTested, not supportedanalogue sharp-line claims in cells at 26-90 GHz (class evidence only)
A resonant field permanently alters 'energy content'; a frozen-in oriented substance re-radiates on thawing
Establishedconventional electret storage, about a microjoule per cm^2Not testable as stated'energy content' gain and same-wavelength re-radiationNever properly testeda controlled, resonance-specific version
Practical effects: food preservation, colloid changes, catalyst-free curing, seed growth, effects on men and animals
Establishedthermal RF curing, drying, vulcanisationNever properly testedresonance-specific preservation, colloid, seed and chemistry effectsNot testable as statedeffects 'in men and animals'
A plate pair is a tunable resonator following Bessel-zero theory
Establishedthe 1934-36 Bessel mode theoryInternally inconsistentthe 1932 tuning rule for the stated geometryNever properly testedthat the sample, not the apparatus, resonates
Valves, coaxial resonators, wavemeter and polarimeter with tuning tables and 'about 40 percent' efficiency
Commercial significance: the 1945 Goodrich/Firestone purchase and Voss's 'foresaw the microwave oven'
Establishedthe purchase, as a press and trade recordNot testable as statedthat the purchase validates the resonance mechanismHistorically superseded but instructiveVoss's 'foresaw the microwave oven'
Never properly testedsuppression, as history: deciding records unreadRefuted by calculationsingle-photon or weak-field change of bond energy
Essay's claim: net energy from a closed electrolysis cycle, or from electrolysis assisted by a resonant standing field or radiated RF
Refuted by calculationclosed cycle, or total work below dG = 237.1 kJ/molEstablishedfield-assisted overpotential cut of 100-200 mV at a heated catalyst (abstracts only)Plausible, untestednet energy gain with the field power countedNever properly testedKassner's standing field or radiating field applied to electrolysis
Inventor: author of the Ternion patents and of later Vibranic, Universal Inventions and General Infra work
German national (no education recorded in the review files). Addresses: Berlin 1931, Arbon 1932, London 1934-36, Bern 1938, Zürich 1943 (engineer, board member of General Infra Co AG, Chur), Montana-Vermala by 1951. Patents from about 1921 (identity of the earliest unproven) to 1960; named as deceased ('†, München') on the 1962 print of DE 1,128,930.
Max Stoffel
Founder, sole director and liquidator of Ternion AG; founder of Dipol A.-G.; chairman of Vibranic Ltd (1945) · Ternion's principal shareholder (60 of 100 shares at founding) and later buyer of patent rights through Vibranic
Entered in the register as a merchant (Kaufmann) of Arbon, resident in St. Gallen. A Swiss federal judge of the same name, born in Arbon in 1911, is documented; whether he is the same man is unresolved and must not be assumed.
Friedrich Wilhelm Otto (F. W. O.) Bauch
Physicist said by his 1996 obituary to have worked on a Ternion UHF project while seconded to the GEC Research Laboratories in 1934-35
Born about 1903-04 in Berlin; physics in Berlin; 1928 steel-tape recorder patents; Heinrich Hertz Institute from 1930; GEC Wembley about 1934-35; later Philips in Berlin, technical director of RIAS (1946), back in Britain from 1947, UK agent for Studer through F.W.O. Bauch Ltd; died in Brighton 1996.
H. H. Giodvad Grell
New York agent who licensed the Dufour/Leduc heating patents outside rubber and in Nov 1945 sold 'patent rights' for Fr. 200,000 to Stoffel's Vibranic Ltd · Option holder and licensing agent in the 1945 patent chain; co-inventor of a heating patent assigned to Firestone and Goodrich
US citizen, New York; held a 1941 option on the Dufour/Leduc patents; co-inventor with Harry W. Richards of US 2,415,025; held an international high-frequency heating portfolio in 1943-49; vice-president of Vibranic; described in the 1943 Congressional Record as a promoter of the 'giro' barter-bank system.
Geoffrey Voss
Editor who in 1987 wrote that Kassner 'foresaw both the microwave oven and the industrial electromagnetic energy applicators' and asked 'Who was Ernst Kassner?'
Editor of the Journal of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy in 1987. Nothing more is in the review files.
Orlan M. Arnold
Later inventor who claimed a sub-thermal effect at the centre of the anomalous-dispersion range; Kassner's US 2,089,966 was cited against him
Orlan McGrew Arnold (1904-1989), dielectric physical chemist: papers on electrolyte and resin dielectric dispersion (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1936; J. Electrochem. Soc. 1938); later Chrysler research. US 2,522,082 (filed 1945). Lost In re Arnold (1950) and Arnold v. Watson (1955, affirmed 1956) on breadth, not physics.
John H. Heller
Later claimant of frequency-specific, non-thermal biological effects whose 1959 patent cites US 2,089,966
New England Institute for Medical Research; with Teixeira-Pinto, Nature 183:905 (1959) on chromosome aberrations in garlic root tips at 27 MHz; US 3,095,359; known for pearl-chain work. Nothing more is in the review files.
R. F. Miller and W. L. Wittig
Authors of the 1950 B. F. Goodrich Research Center paper that names the Kassner patents in the portfolio and calls them marginal ('touch on this problem somewhat') · Staff of the buyer of the 1945 package and licensor of the rubber field; a heating-only reading suits that position
Not in the review files beyond their authorship of 'Radio-Frequency Heat in the Rubber Industry', Rubber World, Oct 1950.
Evidence / artifacts (211 of 210 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (27)
1921Adding-machine and gear patents of an 'Ernst Kassner' (Königsberg, then Berlin) CH 100,984, FR 551,455, AT 97,814, US 1,609,119, US 1,676,559-560, 1,679,905, 1,692,411 (1921-28). Identity with E. E. W. Kassner unknown.
c.1925Other Kassner-name patents not yet identified GB 357,534 / FR 697,547 (glow-discharge chemistry), FR 693,641 (gas syntheses), GB 262,829 / FR 626,217, GB 302,585, plug connectors, a sound scarecrow (FR 822,220, DE 686,126); listed by DEPATISnet, inventors not opened.
1929Electro-optical patents of 'Ernst Kassner', Elektro-Physikalische Gesellschaft m.b.H. FR 672,132, GR 2381 / AU 21499/29, GB 340,964 / FR 678,190, ES 113,192, ES 111,807 (light-image microphone; making oscillations visible). Identity likely, not proven.
1932GB 383,508: production of ultra-short-wave radiation for medical and other purposes Kassner, Berlin, sole applicant; convention 9 Mar 1931; Tesla spark-gap applicator radiating 'from 0.5 mm wavelength upwards'; no dose, spectrum or disease named.
1933-09-26FR 732,805: Diffuseur à oscillateurs pour usages électro-médicaux et autres Kassner's own name, filed Paris 8 Mar 1932; the French member of the applicator family.
1933-12GB 435,643: relay converting light variations into electric oscillations J. Y. Johnson for Ternion AG, application 15 Dec 1933, divided out of GB 417,501; a plate-resonator light detector. Abstract only.
1934CH 169,177 and other members of the 1931 applicator family Swiss patent (SHAB 1934; agent Fritz Isler, Zürich; Kassner at Düsseldorferstrasse 35a, Berlin); DK 47,803, AT 132,868, CA 336,875, ES 125,879. NL and BE members on the Google Patents page of FR 732,805.
1934FR 786,294: ultra-short-wave emitter to act on dipolar substances Kassner resident in England; p.1 ties the natural frequencies to Debye relaxation. Pages 1-2, 15, 17-20 read on DEPATISnet.
1934French and Austrian valve patents of the 1933 family FR 786,295, 786,296, 786,297 (ball and multi-grid oscillator tubes); AT 148,300, AT 148,784.
1934-03-20US 1,951,731: Oscillator-radiator Filed 8 Mar 1932, 'assignor to Ternion A.-G., Glarus': the only Ternion assignment on a US patent.
1934-09-28GB 417,501: Process for altering the energy content of dipolar substances J. Y. Johnson for Ternion AG; application 32,555/32; 24 claims. The anchor patent: natural frequencies, electrets, milk, veal, juice, gold sol, agar, seed examples with powers and temperatures; hydrogen fine-structure wavelengths.
1934-09-29GB 417,564: plate resonator (devices for fields at quasi-optical frequencies) Divided out of GB 417,501; 1932 provisional (10 cm disc at about 30 cm) and a correct Bessel-mode complete specification (R = 10 cm at 26.2 cm).
c.1935ES 135,727: Spanish member of the energy-content patent 'Un procedimiento para alterar el contenido de energía de una sustancia dipolar'; found on DEPATISnet, not read.
1935DE 661,695: German member of the 1935 lamp family Assignee Universal Inventions Ltd, London (priority 9 Jul 1935).
1935-10-10FR 788,428: dielectric polarisation by electric molecular resonance of 'dipole' substances Filed Paris 27 Sep 1934; French member of the energy-content patent, same examples; first natural frequency 'given by the relaxation time'. Pages 1 and 6 of about 10 read.
1936GB 448,418: electric discharge devices and circuits for short waves Convention 31 Aug 1933; ellipsoidal-reflector applicator with the liquid circulated through a glass sphere. Abstract only; full scan on DEPATISnet.
1936-06-02GB 448,417: apparatus for generating and applying ultra-short waves Convention 31 Aug 1933; coaxial resonators, tunable dipole, differential Lecher wavemeter; Kassner of London.
1936-06-02GB 448,494: apparatus for investigating the properties of dipole substances Polarimeter in a coaxial resonator: the method for finding a substance's 'natural frequency' by induced double refraction.
1936-07-02GB 483,062: plate circuit element systems and plate oscillators Void application (not accepted). Bessel-mode theory, energy and load-resistance formulas, verified correct; 40 cm disc at 32.7 cm.
1937GB 448,419: apparatus for generating short electromagnetic waves Double-ended multiple-system valves; six tuning tables 0.33-4.9 m; 'about 40 percent' efficiency for one push-pull circuit, unmeasured.
1937-08-17US 2,089,966: Process for altering the energy content of dipolar substances Kassner, Arbon; filed 5 Dec 1932, German priority 9 Dec 1931; 16 claims; the US twin of GB 417,501, qualitative; the patent Voss and the courts cited. p.3 defines his two methods, the 'standing field' (sample as a resonator's dielectric) and the 'radiating field', and says absorption is 'especially great in the case of resonance'.
1937-10-05US 2,094,602: Apparatus for the generation of short electromagnetic waves Twin of GB 448,418; ellipsoid applicator; cited in Spencer's microwave-cooking patent.
1937-10-19US 2,096,459: Ultra short wave oscillation generator Twin of GB 448,419; repeats 'about 40 percent' with no method.
1938-01-04US 2,104,697: Electric lamp Assigned to Universal Inventions Ltd, London; 0.3-1 mm discharge path said to excite ultra-short oscillations; no spectrum.
1938-03-01US 2,109,843: Apparatus for generating and applying ultrashort electromagnetic waves US member of the GB 448,417/448,494/448,419 family; 12 claims; named by Goodrich in 1950; cited by 32 later UHF-tube patents.
1951-06-26US 2,558,568: Device for producing infra-red rays Kassner of Montana-Vermala, assignor to Vibranic Ltd; filament-and-rod lamp said to emit infra-red plus 0.3 mm to 50 cm waves.
1962-05-03DE 1,128,930: UHF resonance rotating fields Filed 14 Apr 1960; inventor 'Ernst E. W. Kassner †, München'; applicant Wilma Hencke, Munich; plate resonators for acceleration, plasma, fusion research.
Patents and patent office (23)
1928US Index of Patents entries for Kassner, 1928-1951 Annual indexes (Internet Archive) listing his US grants, the Ternion assignment (1934) and Vibranic (1951).
1934US Patent Office Official Gazette, 1934: Ternion entries HathiTrust full-text hit for 'Ternion A.-G.'; search-only.
1934-10-11Liebesny and Wertheim, GB 417,863: influencing micro-organisms and ferments Austrian priority 1932; frequencies 1.8 mm to 120 m chosen per organism; cited with Ternion in The Botanical Review 1944.
c.1938Dufour and Leduc high-frequency vulcanisation patents US 2,129,203, 2,163,993, 2,188,625, 2,261,847, 2,280,771, 2,303,341; the 'basic' patents of the 1945 purchase.
194132 UHF-tube and resonator patents citing US 2,109,843 RCA, Bell Labs, Western Electric, GE, Westinghouse, Sperry, Stanford (1941-56).
1943C. G. Smith (Raytheon), US 2,463,569: apparatus for treating gaseous media Cites US 2,089,966, GB 417,501 and GB 417,564.
1943Grell's international high-frequency heating portfolio GB 624,409, GB 599,193, FR 911,170/1, FR 1,004,277, CA 437,066, CA 451,395, Spanish and Australian patents, Argentine filing 1947.
1945-05-04Grell, CH 254,655 Shares its priority date with Vibranic's CH 250,508.
1945-05-04Vibranic Ltd, CH 250,508: ultra-short-wave treatment Quasi-optical waves radiated into a reflecting chamber for heating, ageing and vulcanising.
1945-11-22Grell, CH 264,736: heat treatment of materials in a high-frequency capacitor field Filed one week after Vibranic was founded; agent Fritz Isler, Kassner's agent in 1932 (SHAB 1949).
1946Vibranic Ltd, FR 926,351 Filed 6 May 1946; same priority (22 Apr 1943) as Grell and Richards US 2,415,025.
1946Westinghouse US 2,650,291 and RCA, Philco, Girdler, Deering Milliken heating patents Dielectric and microwave heating patents (1944-48) citing GB 417,564.
1947-01-28Grell and Richards, US 2,415,025: treating matter in a high-frequency electric field Application 22 Apr 1943; text about uniform heating.· Assigned to Firestone and Goodrich, the 1945 buyers
1950Arnold, US 2,522,082: critical frequency at the centre of anomalous dispersion Filed 1945; selective surface activation 'without' destructive heating; frequency must be tracked with temperature; examiner cited US 2,089,966.
1950Arnold, US 2,575,251 Cites US 2,089,966 and GB 417,501.
1950Jonas, US 2,712,713: seed treatment by high-frequency fields Cites GB 417,501; bears on the seed claim; no reviewer has read it.
1950-01-24Spencer (Raytheon), US 2,495,429: Method of treating foodstuffs The microwave-cooking patent, filed 8 Oct 1945; lists '2,094,602 Kassner' among references cited; framed as heating.
1954Copson (Raytheon), US 2,833,657: microwave irradiation of fruit juices Cites US 2,089,966; same application Kassner claimed, framed as thermal.
c.1958DE 1,027,745 B and DE 1,045,495 B, cited against DE 1,128,930 Citations in the search report of Kassner's last patent; not looked up.
1959Heller, US 3,095,359: high-frequency treatment of matter 'Each organism is responsive to a critical frequency and voltage'; pulsed 'to minimize adverse thermal effects'; cites US 2,089,966.
1983US Department of Energy, GB 2,120,008: Emitron, a microwave diode Craig, Pettibone, Drobot; cites GB 483,062.
2019Serra group, ES 2,726,028 B2: microwave-driven water splitting Joint university patent application named in the competing-interests note of Serra et al. 2020 (follow-up Q03); not read.· Patent applicants; the paper's authors hold the interest
Court and state records (5)
1948Grell v. Insurance Co. of North America (N.Y. App. Div.) Noted via CourtListener; not on the claims.
1950-12-05In re Arnold, 185 F.2d 686 (CCPA) Kassner's US 2,089,966 used as prior art; the court summarises it ('excitation is especially strong ... under conditions of resonance'); ruled on patentability only.
1955-09-13Arnold v. Watson, 144 F. Supp. 282 (D.D.C.) Tried on 'evidence'; Arnold 'exposed the error of certain assumptions ... by predecessors'; judgment for the Commissioner.
1956-09-27Arnold v. Watson, 237 F.2d 584 (D.C. Cir.) Affirmed; claims 'too broad and indefinite'; Serial Nos. 110,469 and 576,245.
1996Ohio court finding on Stanley Meyer's 'water fuel cell' After experts testified it 'was simply using conventional electrolysis', the court found 'gross and egregious fraud' and ordered repayment to two investors; the court's characterization, from a Wikipedia snippet (follow-up Q03).
Company and business records (13)
1930Alfred Wiegner: ETH dissertation and dossiers Dipol's signing chemist (b. 1905): dissertation on carbides and silicides in alloys; ETH Hochschularchiv EZ-2.4/00630 and biographical dossier. Catalogue records only.
1932SHAB notices for Ternion A.-G., 1932-1952 Founding (23 Apr 1932), dissolution (29 Dec 1937), three creditor calls (May 1938), deletion (29 Aug 1952); liquidator Stoffel, Rosenbergstrasse 20, St. Gallen.
1932SHAB notices for Dipol A.-G., Arbon, 1932-1938 Founded the same day by Stoffel to run a laboratory; Philosophenweg factory; signatories Anton Lanter and Dr. Alfred Wiegner; trademark 79010 'Elektrische Apparate'; dissolved 1938.
1932-04-18Ternion AG founding file, Glarus commercial register Constituent meeting in Glarus before Dr. H. Trumpy; CHF 100,000; Stoffel 60 shares, Dr. Hans Hoffmann 40; certified copies of 2017 with OCR and translation.
1932-04-18Ternion AG statutes Purpose 'participation in electro-physical enterprises and laboratories'; no patents, inventors or Kassner named.
1937Phono-Vision, Ernst E. W. Kassner: 'photos and confidential company documents' Kantonsbibliothek Appenzell Ausserrhoden CMO-59-01-A-13 (Albin Grau papers); material for an advertisement; a digital copy exists, not obtained.
1937-12-20Ternion AG liquidation minutes and 1936 balance sheet 54 of 100 shares represented; research account CHF 1,120,380.15 on loans of CHF 1,096,535.05; 'complete lack of further funds', patents lapsed. Two identical certified copies.· The board's own account to its shareholders
1943SHAB notices for General Infra Company AG, Chur, 1943-1953 'Ingenieur Ernst E. W. Kassner, deutscher Staatsangehöriger, in Zürich' on the board; infra-red emitters on 'a new physical principle'; in-kind rights returned 1944; deleted 1953.
1944Philips Electro Spezial GmbH, Berlin: letterhead clip 'Deliverable only for war-important purposes'; an image in the essay's folder, date from filename; Bauch later worked for Philips in Berlin.
1945SHAB notices for Vibranic Ltd, Glarus, 1945-1952 Founded 17 Nov 1945; buys Grell's patent rights for Fr. 200,000; Stoffel president, Grell vice-president; Ternion's old domicile; dissolved 1949, deleted 1952.
1945-08Industry Inventions, Inc. (Ohio): incorporation and officers Goodrich-Firestone licensing company for the 'Leduc and Dufour' patents; officers listed in Rubber Age and Chemical Week 1945; Kassner not named.· Joint licensing company of the buyers
1952-08-12Ternion AG deletion papers Liquidation complete with no assets or liabilities; Stoffel to keep the books 10 years; lawyer Dr. W. Keller-Staub.
1960F.W.O. Bauch Ltd company record, 1960-1991 Company 00652326, incorporated 11 Mar 1960, liquidation noted 26 Jul 1991; directors F. W. O. and Helen Bauch, Brighton; notes of the register entry.
Government records (13)
1924NARA: 'Ernst Kassner' in a New York passenger-list index One of two catalog hits for the name; identity with E. E. W. Kassner unknown; not opened.
1939Swiss Federal Archives E4264#2000/63#1515: 'Kassner, Ernst (20.11.1900)' Federal police enquiries about foreigners; open; identity with E. E. W. Kassner unconfirmed.
1940NARA matches for 'Giodvad' (Grell) State Department purport lists 1940-44 (NAID 88008358); Army Secretary decimal sheets 1949-50 (NAIDs 222879108, 222877607, 222874556); context unread.
1943-01-16US Alien Property Custodian, Vesting Order 201 Vested the 1926-28 'Ernst Kassner, Berlin' adding-machine patents.
1943-01-18US Alien Property Custodian, Vesting Order 679 Vested the Dufour/Leduc patents and the French owners' interest in Grell's 1941 option; Kassner not named.
1946Swiss Federal Archives E4264#1988/2#24190: 'KASSNER, ERNST, 20.11.1900' Identity papers and passports for foreigners, 1946-47; open; identity unconfirmed.
1946Swiss Federal Archives E2001E#1968/78#9311: 'General Infra Co AG, Chur' 1946-48, filed under B.51.322 'Schwarze Liste'; the title alone does not show the firm was blacklisted; open, owner must order.
1947-01-02JIOA Objective List of German and Austrian scientists About 1,600 names; no E. E. W. Kassner, Bauch or Hoffmann (only Rudolf Kassner, jet engines).
1947-05-06UK naturalisation of Helen I. A. Bauch (HO 334/246/3669) UK National Archives catalogue; with an HO 405 reference.
1962NARA Guide No. 36, Miscellaneous German Records (T-84) Finding aid to 83 microfilm rolls; nothing on Kassner, Ternion or Bauch in the digests or text search.
1971PSCRL-1: Armed Services Patent Advisory Board security category list Routing list for patent secrecy referrals (directed energy, microwave emitters); dielectric heating not listed; not a record of secrecy orders.
2010NARA Foreign Scientist Case Files 1945-1958, name index No E. E. W. Kassner, Bauch, Hoffmann or Stoffel; only 'KASSNER RUDOLF, box 083'.
–NARA: 'Ernst Kassner' in seized German records (NAID 401666746) Captured German records, 'Number 518'; not opened.
Witness accounts and correspondence (7)
1938-11-05Kassner to Hans Kayser (Swiss Literary Archives SLA-Kayser-B-2-307a) Visiting card '(z. Zt. Hotel Schweizerhof Bern)' with a Herbert Lang & Cie letter to the harmonics theorist; content not catalogued.
1953-02Wireless World 'Our Authors' note on Bauch Hertz Institute work on 'supersonics', then 'a short spell at the G.E.C. Research Laboratories, Wembley'; no mention of Ternion.
1983-03Swiss Sound 1/83: portrait of F.W.O. Bauch Ltd Bauch's 1928 recorder, Hertz Institute, 'a first visit to England in 1934', RIAS, Studer agency; silent on Ternion.· Studer Revox house magazine: promotional history of its UK agent
1990-01-18Imperial War Museum interview with F. W. O. Bauch (4 reels) Interviewer Conrad Wood; 'I left in 1934 for England ... one and a half years ... the North Wembley Laboratories'; machine transcripts; reel 4 short.
1996-06F.W.O. Bauch, In Memoriam, J. Audio Eng. Soc. 44(6) At GEC 'he worked on a project for the Swiss Ternion company investigating UHF and decimeter techniques'; sold a radiation-therapy method to Marconi for 80 pounds. The only source for the Ternion project; its own source unstated.
–Imperial War Museum interview with Helen Irene Alexandra Bauch (3 reels) Met her husband in 1935; Berlin 1937-45; machine transcripts, reel 3 short; silent on Ternion.
–Bodleian, MS. S.P.S.L. 508/1-4, 'W Kaeser - E Kassner' Refugee-correspondence files of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning; which E. Kassner is unknown.
Experiments and replications by others (15)
1927Muth, pearl-chain formation in high-frequency fields (Kolloid-Z. 41) Mainstream orientation effect, cited by the 1960 Navy survey.
1933Schliephake and Compère, 'Spezifische Wirkung des Ultrakurzwellenfeldes' (Klin. Wschr.) 1930s claim of a specific (non-thermal) short-wave effect.
c.1935Archangelsky, 'Über die spezifische Wirkung des Ultrakurzwellenfeldes' Another 1930s specific-effect claimant; bibliographic record only.
c.1935Benedetti, yeast fermentation rising or falling with frequency Reported in The Botanical Review 1944; no data seen.
1936Kowarschik, Kurzwellentherapie (Wien), chapter on biological effects Snippets say no specific short-wave effect on bacteria was proven; paywalled.
1936Krasny-Ergen, theory of particle forces in HF fields (Hochfrequenztechnik und Elektroakustik 48, 49) Mainstream (induced polarisation) theory for pearl chains.
1936Arnold's dielectric-dispersion papers Arnold and Williams, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1936; Gross, Ott and Arnold, J. Electrochem. Soc. 1938.
1959Heller and Teixeira-Pinto, Nature 183:905 27 MHz pulsed field, garlic root tips: 'No temperature increase in the water was noted'; frequency-dependent chromosome aberrations; no counts or controls.
1960-06-14Midwest Research Institute, Survey of Radio Frequency Radiation Hazards (Navy NObs-77142) Reports Heller's effects as 'frequency and species specific' and 'A new specific nonthermal effect'; offers Maxwell-Wagner polarisation as mechanism.· Government contractor in a hazard-standards programme
1969Webb and Booth, 'Absorption of Microwaves by Microorganisms', Nature 222:1199 Sharp millimetre-wave absorption reported.
1976Mittler, 'Failure of 2- and 10-meter radio waves to induce genetic damage in Drosophila' Environ. Res. 11:326; title only; different organism from Heller.
1980Gandhi et al., 'Millimeter wave absorption spectra of biological samples', Bioelectromagnetics 1:285 26.5-90 GHz on cells, DNA, RNA, frozen samples: 'Sharp spectra reported by other workers were not observed'. Abstract.
1983Grundler and Keilmann, 'Sharp Resonances in Yeast Growth Prove Nonthermal Sensitivity to Microwaves', Phys. Rev. Lett. 51:1214 The positive sharp-line report near 42 GHz.
1997Gos et al., Bioelectromagnetics 18:142 Controlled repeat at 41.68-41.71 GHz: 'no consistently significant differences'. Abstract.
2013Kappe, Pieber and Dallinger, 'Microwave Effects in Organic Synthesis: Myth or Reality?' Angew. Chem.; non-thermal microwave chemistry still disputed, with a published reply.
Later accounts and media (40)
1933-12-30Thurgauer Zeitung on Arbon's 1933 tax shortfall (and two reprints) Names 'die Aufhebung der Dipol A.G.' as a cause; read as the lab closing in 1933, an inference. Reprints: Bote vom Untersee und Rhein, Der Landbote (Jan 1934).
1935Chemical Abstracts 29:1178 abstract of GB 417,501 Cited by Weissberger and Ellis; abstract not read.
1935Annales des Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones, vol. 24: Kassner French patents Lists FR 786,294, 786,296, 786,297.
1935-03-01Rubber World: new British patents, '417,501. Vulcanization' J. Y. Johnson (Ternion A. G.).
1936Science et industries photographiques and Photographic Abstracts (1936) on the Ternion light relay HathiTrust full-text hits for 'Ternion A.-G.', probably GB 435,643; search-only.
1936Electronic Technology (1936): Ternion abstract HathiTrust hit for 'Ternion A.-G.' beside The Wireless Engineer; search-only.
1936-02The Wireless Engineer: abstract of the Ternion light valve Read in OCR as GB 435,043; corrected to GB 435,643.
1936-07-10The Electrical Review: published specifications 448,417-448,419 Gives the title of GB 448,418.
1937Radio Daily: US 2,096,459 listing 'Ernst E. W. Kassner, London, England'.
1937Thorpe's Dictionary of Applied Chemistry (1937, 1945) Cites GB 417,501 for acetylene to acetic acid.
1943Congressional Record appendix on Grell Grell as promoter of the Scandinavian 'giro' barter-bank system.
19441944 licence notices for the Dufour/Leduc patents Rubber Age, Rubber World, Modern Plastics, Aviation, Power: Goodrich licenses rubber, Grell 'all other fields'.
1944-07Weintraub, 'Radiation and Plant Respiration', The Botanical Review 10(7) 'Claim of stimulation of bacterial fermentation is made in a patent issued to Ternion A.-G.'; reported, not tested.
1945Other 1945 trade-press reprints of the purchase release Science News Letter, Electronic Industries, Chemistry, Rubber Age, The Paper Industry, Ordnance ('creating uniform heat'), Coal Age, Fleet Owner and others; one release, heating described.· Buyers' announcement
1945-01Electronics, Jan 1945, on Grell 'The U.S. issuing agent for licenses relating to h-f heating of dielectric materials under the patents of Leduc and Dufour'.
1945-01-24Del Rio News-Herald, p.4 (AP, Akron) Goodrich and Firestone buy basic electronic-vulcanisation patents on discoveries of Dufour, Le Duc and 'E. E. W. Kassner of Switzerland'.· Buyers' announcement
1945-02-10Business Week, p.53, on the purchase Adds that Leduc and Dufour's research, 'dating back to 1920, was underwritten by the French government'.· Buyers' announcement
1945-04Rubber World, Apr 1945, on electronic vulcanisation 'Due not only to rapid uniform heating, but also may be connected in some way with electronic power itself'; no data.
1945-05-14The Record: electronic vulcanisation may become common Patents to be licensed 'on a reasonable basis'.
1945-05-21Valley Evening Monitor: sponge-rubber mattresses cured in one-eighth the time Heating account of the process.
1945-11Rubber World, Nov 1945: Smithers's talk to the Chicago Rubber Group Benefits of electronic curing; foam mattress cure 30 to 5 minutes.· General manager of the buyers' licensing company
1949Weissberger, Technique of Organic Chemistry (1949, 1956) Cites GB 417,501 and Chem. Abs. 29:1178.
1950-10Miller and Wittig, 'Radio-Frequency Heat in the Rubber Industry', Rubber World B. F. Goodrich Research Center; names US 2,089,966 and 2,109,843; they 'touch on this problem somewhat ... about 150 million cycles per second'.· Staff of the buyer and rubber-field licensor
1954van Went, Ultrasonic and Ultrashort Waves in Medicine (Elsevier) Found on the Internet Archive; text file could not be fetched; not read.
1987Voss, Electromagnetic Energy column, J. Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy 22:49-57 Kassner 'did some remarkable experiments', 'sketched' the subject, 'foresaw both the microwave oven and the industrial electromagnetic energy applicators'; 'Who was Ernst Kassner?'
2008C&EN, 'Water Fire Makes Scientists Burn' (cen.acs.org, vol. 86 no. 12) Press account of the Kanzius salt-water burning; error page in Chrome (follow-up Q03).
2008-03-26Philip Ball, Chemistry World, on Kanzius's radio-split sea water Snippet: Roy et al. 'stress that Kanzius never claimed he could get out more energy than was put in' (follow-up Q03).
2009Mae-Wan Ho, 'Can Water Burn?' (Institute of Science in Society) Summary of Roy, Rao and Kanzius: 13.56 MHz, about 300 W; flame only while the field is on; 'The phenomenon is real, but the mechanism is entirely unknown'; a reader comment found no replication (follow-up Q03).
2010-06AIChE ChEnected on the Kanzius process Snippet: Kanzius 'admitted that this process could not be considered an energy source, as more energy is used to produce the RF signal than can be obtained' (follow-up Q03).
2012Resonance: Beings of Frequency (documentary) Schumann resonance and RF bio-effects; not UHF dielectric resonance.
2014Jacobsen, Operation Paperclip No Kassner, Ternion or Bauch in digests or full-text search.
2014Putney, The Geyser Reactor Self-published transmutation-by-resonance booklet; no measurements.
2016Wikipedia: General Electric Company plc Shows BAE Systems is not owned by American GE (an essay in the project folder says it is).
2016Wikipedia: GEC-Marconi scientist deaths conspiracy theory Stub; references hint at open verdicts and an official 'not a plot'.
2017-08-25The Guardian: how could the 'sonic attack' on US diplomats in Cuba have been carried out? Expert opinion on ultrasound; no Ternion, Kassner or RF.
–Ellis, The Chemistry of Synthetic Resins Cites GB 417,501 and Chem. Abs. 29:1178.
–Max Stoffel (1911-2002), Swiss Federal Supreme Court biography Judge born in Arbon; identity with Ternion's founder unresolved.
–Max Stoffel, encyclopedia-style entry Born 28 Aug 1911 Arbon, died 2002 Morges; cites NZZ 19 Jun 1981.
–'Dead Scientists: The Marconi Murders' (The Unredacted) 1982-90 deaths of British defence scientists; mostly unsourced; no Ternion or Bauch link.
2016-2019Private documents of the project owner (34), used in the review, not listed
Related later patents (the essay's weapon theme) (17)
1976US 3,951,134: remotely monitoring and altering brain waves Malech (Dome and Margolin).
1989US 4,883,067: translating the EEG into music Knispel and Wright.
1991US 5,036,858: binaural beats and voice Carter and Russell.
1992US 5,135,468: binaural-beat method of varying brain state Digest only.
1992US 5,151,080: changed state of consciousness by electroacoustics Bick.
1992US 5,159,703: silent subliminal presentation system Oliver M. Imvery (as read).
1993US 5,213,562: inducing mental, emotional and physical states Monroe.
1994US 5,356,368: inducing desired states of consciousness Monroe.
1996US 5,507,291: remotely determining a person's emotional state Stirbl et al.
2000US 6,011,991: communication system with brain-wave analysis Mardirossian.
2000US 6,081,744: electric fringe field generator for the nervous system Loos.
2000US 6,091,994: nervous system manipulation by subliminal pulsative fields Loos.
2002US 6,488,617: producing a desired brain state Katz.
2003US 6,506,148: nervous system manipulation by fields from monitors Loos.
2003US 6,587,729: speech by the radio-frequency hearing effect O'Loughlin and Loree (US Air Force); thermoelastic mechanism; no power or measurement given.
2009US 7,629,918: multifunctional RF directed energy system Brown, Canich, Berg (Raytheon); no frequency, power or biological mechanism.
2011US 8,049,173: dual use RF directed energy weapon and imager Brown (Raytheon); W-band.
Related work on fields and water splitting (follow-ups Q03, Q05) (29)
1934Onsager, theory of the second Wien effect Field-enhanced dissociation of weak electrolytes, water among them; the mainstream frame for field-assisted water dissociation (follow-up Q05).
1934Cleeton and Williams, microwave absorption of ammonia, Phys. Rev. 45:234 Absorption maximum at 1.25 cm, 2 percent from Kassner's 1.28 cm, but later than his 1932 patent and not about water; found by the arbiter's web check (abstract).
1937Bell Labs US 2,147,689: radio-frequency heating of dielectrics at 10-20 MHz Cited by the arbiter (via Wikipedia, Dielectric heating) to show RF dielectric heating was proposed independently in the 1930s.
1946Becker and Autler, 'Water Vapor Absorption of Electromagnetic Radiation in the Centimeter Wave-Length Range', Phys. Rev. 70:300 The earliest water-vapour line measurement found by the contrarian; priority unverified.
1946Townes and Merritt, water spectrum near 1 cm, Phys. Rev. 70:558 Second 1946 measurement found by the contrarian.
1969Liebe et al., J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf. 9: the 22.235 GHz water-vapour transition Gives the line frequency used to compare with Kassner's 1.28 cm (contrarian web check).
1981Chum, Review of Thermally Regenerative Electrochemical Systems Split hot, recombine cold: a heat engine with a second reservoir, Carnot-bounded; Google Scholar listing and a PDF snippet; year from the search query (follow-up Q05).
1983Puharich, US 4,394,230: method and apparatus for splitting water molecules 'Complex electrical wave form' applied to water, discussed with the Gibbs free energy; a later resonance-electrolysis claim; text not read (follow-up Q03).
1986Morehouse (NASA), thermally regenerative hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell power cycles Electrolyser at 1300 K, recombination cold; shows what an 'environment pays' gain would require; NTRS snippet (follow-up Q05).
c.1987Puharich compilation naming '22.3 GHz' as a water resonance 22.235 GHz is water vapour's rotational line (1.35 cm), about 5 percent from Kassner's 1.28 cm; the earliest vapour-line measurement found is 1946, so it cannot be what Kassner copied in 1932 (follow-ups Q03, sites.md lead 31).
1998Mafé et al., 'Electric field-assisted proton transfer and water dissociation' Second Wien effect in bipolar membranes; listing only (follow-up Q05).
2004Marken, Compton and co-workers, 'Microwave enhanced electrochemistry: mass transport effects and steady state voltammetry' Title names the mechanism as mass transport; not read (follow-up Q03).
2005Kaatze, water's Debye relaxation near 19 GHz (with the 2017 J. Chem. Phys. paper) Relaxation time about 8.3 ps; the basis for a water-filled resonator at its band having Q about 1, loss tangent 0.88-1.03 (follow-up Q05, sites.md lead 40).
2008Roy, Rao and Kanzius, polarised RF 'catalysis of dissociation' of H2O-NaCl solutions, Materials Research Innovations 12:3-6 13.56 MHz, about 300 W; gas burns only while the field is on; Raman change in the O-H region; claimants propose 'resonant coupling' and claim no net energy; no independent replication found (follow-up Q03).
2008Marken, 'Chemical and electro-chemical applications of in situ microwave heating', Annu. Rep. Prog. Chem. C Review; mechanism named as local superheating; not read (follow-up Q03).
2009Rassaei, Compton, Marken et al., microwave-enhanced electrochemistry in locally superheated electrolytes Title only; not read (follow-up Q03).
2010Rao, Sedlmayr, Roy and Kanzius, Current Science 98:1500-1504 Polarised microwave and RF effects on the structure of liquid water; not read (bot check) (follow-up Q03).
2012Saitta, Saija and Giaquinta, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108:207801 Ab initio simulation: water dissociates in fields beyond about 0.35 V per angstrom (follow-up Q05).
2013Pinuela et al., 'Ambient RF Energy Harvesting in Urban and Semi-Urban Environments' Primary survey behind urban RF levels of about 0.1-10 microwatts per cm2, too small to pay for splitting water; not read (follow-up Q05).
2014Hundt et al., 'Vibrationally Promoted Dissociation of Water on Ni(111)', Science 344:504 Established resonant bond weakening of water: infra-red excitation of the stretch, at a nickel surface; photon 3,400-4,700 times a 1.28 cm photon (an earlier '35,000' was corrected 2026-10-08) (follow-up Q03).
2018Bond-selective dissociation of HOD on nickel, J. Chem. Phys. Exciting O-H gives mainly H + OD, O-D mainly D + OH; snippet only (follow-up Q03).
2018Niether et al., 'Improved water electrolysis using magnetic heating of FeC-Ni core-shell nanoparticles', Nature Energy 3:476 RF magnetic heating of catalyst cut overpotentials by 200 mV (oxygen) and 100 mV (hydrogen) with a 5 C bulk rise; field power not stated in the abstract (follow-ups Q03, Q05).
2020Serra et al., 'Hydrogen production via microwave-induced water splitting at low temperature', Nature Energy 5:910 Microwaves reduce Gd-doped ceria, which then splits water below 250 C; microwave power counted in efficiency (follow-up Q03).· Authors' universities applied for a patent on the method
2021Gatard, 'Alkaline water electrolysis enhanced by radio frequency alternating magnetic field', PhD thesis, Grenoble Follow-on to Niether 2018; not read (blocked) (follow-up Q03).
2021Bui, Corpus, Bell and Weber, 'On the Nature of Field-Enhanced Water Dissociation in Bipolar Membranes', J. Phys. Chem. C 125 Water molecules orient in a large field, speeding dissociation; a DC rate effect, not a resonance; snippet (follow-up Q05).
2022Gatard et al., ACS Appl. Energy Mater., durability of FeNi3@Ni for RF-heated electrolysis Snippet only (follow-up Q03).
2025Yamamoto et al., second Wien effect enhancing water dissociation PubMed snippet: field effects 'have been demonstrated to enhance the rate' of water dissociation (follow-up Q05).
2026Stovall et al., EES Catalysis, questioning the second-Wien model Snippet only (follow-up Q05).
2026'A Systematic Guide to Experimental Designs in Magnetic Electrocatalysis', ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 9(16):10362 Abstract and snippet: one field-assisted method a 'negative energy balance' once coil losses are counted, one a 'net energy saving of 215.6 kWh'; context paywalled (follow-up Q05).
Records named but not yet examined (22)
1931German priority applications of 9 Mar 1931 and 9 Dec 1931 The first filings of the applicator and energy-content families.
1932Dipol A.-G. register file, balance sheets and liquidation report Staatsarchiv Thurgau; not catalogued online; would show where the research and money went.
1932Arbon municipal tax rolls 1932-34 Stadtarchiv Arbon; would date the laboratory's closure.
1934GEC Research Laboratories reports and project lists 1934-35 Hirst archive; would confirm or not Bauch's Ternion project and any Ternion contract.
1934Bauch's 'Improved Method of Radiation Therapy' sold to Marconi British patents of 1934-36 not yet searched.
1934UK files on Kassner as a German national in London 1934-36 Home Office/MI5 aliens files and any patent secrecy directions on his British applications (Kew).
1936Universal Inventions Ltd, London: company file (BT 31) Kew; assignee of Kassner's lamp patents.
1936-07-17Ternion minutes of general meetings 1-4, share register and lenders Landesarchiv Glarus; who held the 46 unrepresented shares, who lent CHF 1.1 million, 1938 creditor filings.
1943General Infra Co AG register file Staatsarchiv Graubünden.
1944Bücherverzeichnis, Bücherei des Flugfunk-Forschungsinstituts Oberpfaffenhofen (HathiTrust uc1.$b560612) Library catalogue of the German aviation-radio institute; a search-only hit for 'Kassner Ultrakurzwellen'; whether it is E. E. W. Kassner is unknown.
1945USPTO assignment records for US 2,089,966 and 2,109,843 Would show who sold Kassner's patents in 1945.
1945Goodrich and Firestone purchase files and test data; Goodrich Series VII B.F. Goodrich Company Records, University of Akron (OhAkUAS0037), Series VII Research and Development; finding aid blocked.
1945Industry Inventions, Inc. charter and licence schedules Ohio Secretary of State; Goodrich records.
1945-11-15Vibranic Kauf- und Abtretungsvertrag with Grell Landesarchiv Glarus; would say whether any Kassner patent was in the Fr. 200,000 package.
1946BIOS Final Report No. 866, 'High Frequency Heating' Allied report on German HF heating; no online copy.
1952Stoffel's retained Ternion books (kept to about 1962) Family or St. Gallen archives, location unknown.
1953Arnold v. Watson trial exhibits and file wrappers (Serial 110,469 and 576,245) NARA RG 21, RG 276: the only known place an evidential test of a Kassner-type principle may be on file.
1960DPMA file K 40449, Munich death record and the Wilma Hencke link Kassner's last patent file; who Hencke was; where his later papers went.
–Bauch's HO 405 naturalisation file and the source of the 1996 memoriam Kew; AES archives.
–Clayton and Algar, history of the GEC Research Laboratories Named in the source-gap note; not obtained.
–Der Balneologe (HathiTrust umn.31951002733267b) Physical-therapy journal; a search-only hit for 'Kassner Ultrakurzwellen'; search inside did not render.
–Hochfrequenztechnik und Elektroakustik volumes (HathiTrust mdp.39015082273890, nyp.33433109987119, mdp.39015013786713) Search-only hits for 'Kassner Ultrakurzwellen'; not opened.
Left out: three earlier AI analyses, OCR and translated copies of the register papers, duplicate files and a Scribd copy, a misfiled 2002 obituary (Thiele) and a generic Swiss company-law page. Full catalogue: TernionAG sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A thermostatted 0.1-3 GHz permittivity sweep of water, 1 percent salt, milk, juice and serum with an empty-cell control, plus a rebuilt crossed-Nicols detector; then a four-arm blind food test (resonant, off-resonant at equal absorbed power, heat-matched, untreated), at least 20 samples per arm, over 28 days.
Deciding records: The Arnold v. Watson trial exhibits (NARA); Ternion's 1936 minutes, share register and lenders (Landesarchiv Glarus); the Dipol A.-G. file (Staatsarchiv Thurgau); the Vibranic purchase contract of 15 Nov 1945; Goodrich R&D records (Akron); GEC laboratory reports 1934-35; three open Swiss Federal Archives files.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: with Kassner's own 1936 disc formula, wavelength = 2 pi R / x, check whether a 6.2 cm disc pair can resonate at his stated 18.6 cm. The lowest mode gives 10.6 cm; step 9 then checks the water-splitting energy books (237.1 kJ/mol floor, 6.7 W field cost).
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Claim 1 is ruled Never properly tested, not Refuted: a calculation refutes a stated mechanism, and the patent states none; it claims an optical readout with no spectrum. The Q argument shows the two kinds of band differ, not that the sharp one is absent. arbiter.md, Where the reviewers agreed, disagreed, ruling 1
Contrarian Strongest honest case: the theory starts from correct science, reported heating matches stated power, and he reports it rather than hiding it. The decisive experiment is cheap and was never recorded as done: the signature of never properly tested, not tested and failed. contrarian.md, Strongest honest case for Kassner
Investigator Kassner's own words tie his natural frequencies to Debye relaxation: FR 786,294 places them 'En conformité avec la théorie des dipôles de Debye'. In these texts they are relaxation frequencies, which mainstream physics accepts but which are broad. sites.md, Leads for review, lead 21
Arbiter Commercial failure best explains the end of Ternion itself, and the people continued under other company names; neither explains why five funded years left no technical report. Classification and suppression are neither shown nor excluded; the deciding records are named and unread. arbiter.md, The record goes dark, Weighing
Arbiter Field-assisted electrolysis at a catalyst shows an applied field can lower the voltage cost of splitting water; it is not a test of a Kassner standing or radiating field, and an earlier '35,000 times' photon ratio is corrected to about 3,400-4,700. arbiter.md, Investigator findings (2026-10-08), rulings 2 and 4
AI noteKassner's 'most effective' chemistry wavelengths, 2.74, 9.25 and 27.75 cm, match hydrogen's fine-structure intervals to 0.3 percent: they were calculated from atomic theory, not measured.
A professional optical engineer reported a bench-top ether drift of 378 km/s toward Leo, near the cosmic background dipole; one replicator saw the signal, then traced it to temperature.
Invention / theory background
Ernest Wilbur "Bud" Silvertooth (1916-2000), Caltech physics graduate, Paramount optical engineer and 1941 Academy technical award winner, argued from 1972 to 1992 that light's one-way wavelength reveals absolute motion. His 1986 paper slid a two-beam standing-wave interferometer 0.25 mm, saw a 180 degree phase reversal and computed 378 km/s with Leo on the horizon. It names partial sponsorship by the Air Force Rome Air Development Center and DARPA.
Ranking explanation
Below TernionAG because its central derivation fails on its own premises and the best replication found a thermal cause, while Kassner's claims were never tested at all and his record goes darker. Above Sigma-Ro because its open question is sharper and cheap to settle: why independent builds showed a sidereal, CMB-sized signal if the apparatus should be blind. A rotating-table, lock-in, temperature-controlled run has never been done.
Key supporting elements
The reported 378 km/s toward Leo lies within about 2% of the measured cosmic microwave background (CMB) dipole, 369.82 km/s toward Leo [web, arbiter].
Doug Marett (2011-12), who hoped for a positive result, reproduced a 12-hour signal peaking near 5 h and 17 h sidereal time, of about CMB size after removing offsets (Investigator's reading of his web page).
Marinov (January 1987, different arrangement) reported 386 +/- 38 km/s; Wesley (1987) reported 378 +/- 8 km/s, right ascension 11 +/- 2 h. Both known only from abstracts; both authors have their own absolute-motion programmes.
Laser frequency drift (about 1e-6) is a thousand times too small to fake the 1.3e-3 wavelength mismatch, a point in the inventor's favour [calc, Contrarian and arbiter].
Silvertooth was a competent instrument maker: his 1983 standing-wave sensor with S. F. Jacobs (Arizona) reached a 20,000:1 node/antinode ratio, and in 1989 he stated all values lay within +/-5% over several years.
Key contradictions
Under the paper's own eq. (5), two opposed beams on a slide add their wavenumbers (k1 + k2 = 4 pi / lambda), so the first-order signal cancels; the alternative geometry gives lambda/(4b), not eq. (9)'s lambda/(2b).
Marett found a large offset, day-to-day scatter, the opposite sign to Silvertooth's prediction and the same 12 h pattern in solar time, tracking room temperature: "a very elaborate thermometer".
The inventor's own earlier one-way tests were nulls: 1972 JOSA (as recorded by Roberts and Schleif) and a 1976 two-laser test where 79 cycles were expected and "No phase shift was observed".
In 1976 he wrote that frequency and velocity change, wavelength being "a resultant effect"; in 1986 frequency "cannot change". The 1986 paper does not mention the earlier experiment.
The 1986 paper gives one value with no data, error bars, run count, dates or place; phase reversal was judged by eye on an oscilloscope. Krisher et al. 1990 set a 100 m/s one-way limit (conventionality caveat kept).
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (5)
Claim
Verdict
Round-trip (Michelson-Morley) tests cannot fix a one-way speed or wavelength; the null needs no isotropic c or contraction
Establishedweak form, as conventionality of the one-way speedNot testable as statedstrong form; circular as a rebuttal of contraction
The Sagnac shift of a straight segment survives in pure translation, giving lambda/(1 +/- v/c)
Internally inconsistentderivation (his 1976 paper says it cancels on a closed path)Establishedformula only as a synchronisation conventionTested, not supportedphysical measurability in translation
A slide-mounted standing-wave interferometer reads v/c = lambda/(2 Delta)
Internally inconsistentas stated; reverts to Never properly tested if a correct derivation from the real geometry appears
Delta = 0.25 mm east-west with Leo on the horizon gives 378 km/s; null north-south and at Leo 6 or 18 h away
Never properly testedthe original run (no data; not dismissed without testing)Never properly testedcause of the sidereal signal Marett reproducedTested, not supportedreading as a 378 km/s absolute velocity
A velocity-dependent wavelength count adds an L a/c^2 Doppler term explaining the accelerating universe, quasar redshifts and GPS errors
Internally inconsistenteq. (10) as printed in 1986Refuted by calculationrotating-quasar example (source orbits several times during light flight)Not testable as statedaccelerating universe and GPS (1990 GPS paper not read)
Associated scientists / relevant people (8)
Name
Role in the story
Background and contribution
Ernest Wilbur "Bud" Silvertooth
Inventor and experimenter; author of the 1986 paper
Born 1916 Portland, died 2000 Bellingham WA. Caltech B.S. in physics; Paramount optical engineer (1941 Academy Class III technical award, relay condenser system); optics papers 1940-1971 and a 1965 catoptric patent; Pasadena, later Olga, Orcas Island. Natural Philosophy Wiki (unsourced) says he later did classified Air Force think-tank work linked to the Aerospace Corporation.
S. F. Jacobs
Co-author of the 1983 standing-wave sensor paper
University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center. The 1976 paper says an east-west two-oscillator ether experiment was under way there; no outcome found.
Doug Marett
Replicator (2011-12) and author of a single-laser one-way null (2011) · Proposes the thermal explanation; says he hoped the effect was real
Toronto dissident-physics experimenter (site conspiracyoflight.com, "The search for new physics"); used a Juelich thin-film standing-wave sensor and a stabilised HeNe laser over 18 months, logging room temperature and laser lock voltage.
Stefan Marinov
Reported a repetition in January 1987 (386 +/- 38 km/s); wrote to Silvertooth 1 Nov 1986 · Claimant of absolute-motion detection with his own coupled-mirrors and toothed-wheel experiments
Not in the review files beyond his own absolute-motion experiments.
Paul Wesley
Reported 378 +/- 8 km/s, right ascension 11 +/- 2 h (1987) · Has his own absolute-motion programme (Contrarian)
Not in the review files.
C. K. Whitney
Co-author of the 1992 Physics Essays nodal-spacing experiment; 1993 discussion with Marinov · Has her own absolute-motion programme (Contrarian)
Not in the review files.
Chalmers W. Sherwin
Critic (Physics Essays 1989): AC coupling and a lambda/4 twist over about 500 wavelengths could fake the phase reversal
Not in the review files.
R. G. Newburgh
Critic of the 1976 paper in Applied Optics (1977)
Physicist at the Air Force Rome Air Development Center, Deputy for Electronic Technology, Hanscom AFB: the same agency the 1986 paper names as a sponsor.
Evidence / artifacts (56 of 64 listed, 88%)
Own works and inventions (19)
1940A Modification of the Hindle Test for Cassegrain Secondaries JOSA 30(3) 140; optical testing
1941Relay condenser system for transparency process projection With the Paramount Studio Engineering Department; 14th Academy Awards, Class III Scientific or Technical award (atogt.com)
1942Stop calibration of photographic objectives J. SMPE; Paramount period
1965Optically compensated zoom lens With G. Wooters; JOSA 55(4) 347
1966Aspheric mirrors by selective evaporation Applied Optics 5(5) 868
1968Correction of chromatic aberrations with single-element lenses Glamkowski, Nicholson, Silvertooth; Applied Optics 7(9) 1865
1972Isotropy of C JOSA 62(11) 1330-1331; one-way test with frequency-doubling crystals, recorded by Roberts and Schleif as a null consistent with special relativity; paper not read
1976-05Electromagnetic radiation, relativity, and anomalous red-shifts Applied Optics 15(5) 1100-1102; received 23 May 1975, endorsed by John Strong; Sagnac-segment argument, two-laser null (79 cycles expected), origin of the eq. (10) acceleration term, Newcomb 1881 quoted; saved in research/files
1977Author's reply to comments (Groen) Applied Optics 16(3) 543-544
1983Standing wave sensor With S. F. Jacobs, Univ. Arizona OSC; Applied Optics 22(9) 1274; node/antinode about 20,000:1, thickness under lambda/100; GE Syracuse photomultiplier; saved in research/files
1986-05Experimental detection of the ether The project document, 5 pp., modern retyping; Speculations in Science and Technology 10(1) 3-11 (journal per Marett's page); Delta 0.25 mm, 378 km/s; RADC and DARPA named as sponsors in part; the rexresearch PDF may be a scan of the original print, not reached
1986-08-14Special relativity (letter) Nature 322, 590, doi 10.1038/322590b0; possibly a reply to Aspden; promised details
1987Silvertooth paper in Speculations in Science and Technology 10(3) Listed in the 1989 article's further reading; content unknown
1988-06Letter to Electronics and Wireless World EWW June 1988 p.542
1989-05Motion through the ether Electronics and Wireless World 95, 437-438; +/-5% repeatability over several years, three GE-made sensors, Leo alignment; unsigned "Ether Challenge" suppression sidebar; read by the Investigator from page images (spirit-science.fr), not saved
1990Position Error in Satellite Navigation Systems Galilean Electrodynamics 1(6) 80-83; the GPS part of claim 5 with a numerical example; abstract only
1992A New Michelson-Morley Experiment C. K. Whitney and Silvertooth, Physics Essays 5(1) 82-89; node spacing in one arm departing from lambda/2, v0 about 378 km/s; abstract only; conflicts with the 1986 model, which gives exactly lambda/2
1999The Silvertooth effect: TETET-99 S. Silvertooth, D. G. Lahoz, Angel Garcia; Toronto, UNIAM; ISBN 978-0968308547; 211 pp.; authorship and content unknown
Patents and patent office (1)
1970-09-08US3527526A Catoptric image-forming system Filed 26 May 1965; DE and GB family members; optics only, no bearing on the ether claims; no ether or sensor patent found
Witness accounts and correspondence (2)
1881Simon Newcomb letter to A. A. Michelson National Archives RG78; quoted in the 1976 paper as stating the wavelength-compensation principle of claim 1
1986-11-01Marinov letter to E. W. Silvertooth In Marinov, The Thorny Way of Truth (Yumpu blocked; rexresearch PDF not reached)· Marinov, claimant of absolute-motion detection
Experiments and replications by others (10)
1978-05R. A. Muller, The cosmic background radiation and the new aether drift Scientific American 238(5) 64; U-2 radiometer, hotter toward Leo; the agreement the 1986 paper cites; existence verified, number not
1987-01S. Marinov, A Simplified Repetition of Silvertooth's Measurement of the Absolute Velocity of the Solar System Different arrangement; 386 +/- 38 km/s, declination -22 +/- 6 deg, RA 12.5 +/- 0.5 h; abstract only· Claimant of absolute-motion detection
1987S. Marinov, Repetition of Silvertooth's Experiment for Measuring the Aether Drift Speculations in Science and Technology; no abstract on file· Claimant of absolute-motion detection
1987P. Wesley, Silvertooth's Standing-Wave Measurement of Absolute Velocity of Solar System 378 +/- 8 km/s, RA 11 +/- 2 h; abstract only; source of data and error bar unknown
1988Gagnon, Torr, Kolen and Chang, guided-wave first-order one-way test Phys. Rev. A 38, 1767; cited by the Contrarian as the strongest mainstream evidence against claim 3; result not read
1990Krisher et al., hydrogen-maser one-way light-speed test Phys. Rev. D 42, 731; masers 21 km apart on fibre; limit 100 m/s; abstract via PubMed
2006-08-10Navia et al., Search for anisotropic light propagation as a function of laser beam alignment arXiv astro-ph/0608223; laser diffraction, reports a = -0.4106 +/- 0.0225 against SR -0.5; cites Silvertooth; abstract read
2011D. Marett, A Single Laser One-Way Speed of Light Experiment using a Standing Wave Interferometer conspiracyoflight.com; reported as a null; not read
2012D. Marett, A Replication of the Silvertooth Experiment conspiracyoflight.com; June 2011 to Dec 2012; 12 h sidereal signal, offset, wrong sign, solar-time pattern, temperature correlation; web page read by the Investigator, PDF not downloaded
2012D. Marett, A Four Quadrant Photo Detector for Measuring Laser Pointing Stability Companion paper on the pointing artefact; not read
Analyses and critiques (13)
1970J. A. Winnie, Special relativity without one-way velocity assumptions Philosophy of Science 37(2) 223-238; conventionality of one-way speed, cited by Forbes
1973A. A. Tyapkin, conventionality argument Lett. Nuovo Cimento 7, 760; cited by Silvertooth to dismiss Turner-Hill and Cole, and by Marett against a one-way wavelength measurement
1977R. G. Newburgh, Relativistic phase invariance: comments on a recent effort to reinvoke the ether Applied Optics 1977; RADC, Hanscom AFB; copy at i-logic.com Silvertooth4.pdf, not read
1977O. Groen, On Silvertooth's discussion of special relativity Applied Optics 16(3) 543
1987H. Aspden, A Note on the Silvertooth Experiment Speculations in Science and Technology, pp. 9-12
1988B. A. Nanning, A Preliminary Analysis of the Silvertooth Experiment Physics Essays 1(4) 272-274
1989C. W. Sherwin, An Analysis of the Silvertooth Experiment Physics Essays 2(2) 125-127; confirms Phipps: AC coupling, lambda/4 twist over about 500 wavelengths; abstract only
–T. E. Phipps Jr., critique of the phase-reversal reading Known only through Sherwin's abstract: a fringe output cannot go negative
1991J. S. Wilczynski, A New Explanation of the Michelson-Morley, Marinov and Silvertooth-Jacobs Experiments Listed on Natural Philosophy Wiki
1993C. K. Whitney and S. Marinov, Discussion on Silvertooth's Experiment Deutsche Physik 2(8)
–Some Cosmological Implications of the Silvertooth Experiment Listed on Natural Philosophy Wiki; no details read
–Getting Wind of the Ether Listed on Natural Philosophy Wiki; no details read
2007Roberts and Schleif, What is the experimental basis of Special Relativity? math.ucr.edu FAQ; lists 1972 as a null, 1983/86/92 under "apparently not consistent" with SR
Later accounts and media (7)
1978-10L. Essen, Wireless World article WW Oct 1978 p.44; in the 1989 reading list; copy at i-logic.com, not read
1986-11Wireless World report on the Nature letter worldradiohistory.com scan; not opened
1988-02L. Essen, Electronics and Wireless World article EWW Feb 1988 p.126; in the 1989 reading list
1989-11Wireless World replies to Motion through the ether worldradiohistory.com scan; not opened
1990New Energy Technology (PACE) States "Silvertooth has detected our motion through the ether"; search result only
2018-04-06B. Koberlein, The Tale Of A 1986 Experiment That Proved Einstein Wrong Forbes; accepts the observation, rejects the interpretation (relies on Marett); notes geocentrist sites cite the Nature letter
–Natural Philosophy Wiki, Wilbur Silvertooth Biography without sources; Terman study and Einstein anecdote flagged as anecdote; 47 search hits, about 12 read
Records named but not yet examined (4)
1975-05Third-Quarter FY75 Applied Optics Research Report, University of Arizona OSC Cited in 1976 for the east-west two-oscillator ether experiment "under way" (59 cycles predicted); outcome unknown
c.1986RADC and DARPA sponsorship records Contracts or reports behind "sponsored in part"; DTIC via Google found nothing; direct DTIC, AFRL Rome history office, DARPA archives, FOIA not yet tried
–Silvertooth's original data, lab notebooks and correspondence No data graphs in any paper (Marett); needed for claim 4
–Marett's full data set and PDF report Arbiter asks for the full data; PDF at conspiracyoflight.com not downloaded
Left out: copies of works already listed (Studocu, Scribd), the paper's own reference list, minor citing works (Selleri's book, Poquet 2005, viXra 1406.0045, rxiv 1508.0178, a Fandom list, a ResearchGate paper), i-logic images Silvertooth1/2.jpg and the Jacobs CV. Full catalogue: SilverTooth sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: The Contrarian's protocol adopted by the arbiter: the original design with lock-in readout instead of eyeballing an oscilloscope, a thermally controlled and pointing-monitored laser, a rotating table to separate sidereal from solar and thermal patterns, declared north-south and east-west run times, and the raw time series published.
Deciding records: Silvertooth's original data; RADC and DARPA records (direct DTIC search, AFRL Rome, DARPA archives, FOIA); the University of Arizona OSC FY75 report; the Nature 322:590 letter, JOSA 1972, Physics Essays 1992, Galilean Electrodynamics 1990, Sherwin 1989, Wireless World Nov 1986 and Nov 1989; Marett's full data.
Try it yourself: Compute v/c = lambda/(2 Delta) for 0.63 um and 0.25 mm (378 km/s), then show with lambda1 = lambda/(1+b), lambda2 = lambda/(1-b) that opposed beams give node spacing exactly lambda/2 for every b, so the slide signal cancels. example.py does both step by step.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Recomputed with SymPy: d(phi)/d(Delta) = k1 + k2 = 4 pi / lambda exactly, with b cancelling, so D1 and D2 stay in phase for every velocity. Held conditional: a correct derivation from the real geometry would revert the verdict to Never properly tested. arbiter.md, Recomputed item 2 and Claim 3
Arbiter Open question: why did independent replicators (Marett, Marinov, perhaps Wesley) see a CMB-scale signal aligned with sidereal time if the apparatus should be blind? Marett's thermal explanation fits his data, but the coincidence deserves a direct rotating-table test. arbiter.md, Open questions
Contrarian The null of his own 1976 two-laser test is a point against his mechanism, and a point for his honesty: he printed it. Phase reversal was judged by eye with Delta adjusted until it appeared, a procedure where expectation can steer the outcome. contrarian.md, sections 4 and 5
Mathematician Within the model c(theta) = c/(1 + b cos theta) with fixed frequency, the node spacing of two opposed beams is exactly lambda/2, so the 1992 Whitney-Silvertooth claim of a departure from lambda/2 would need a different model than the 1986 equations. mathematician.md, section 4
Investigator The 1986 statement of RADC and DARPA sponsorship has no report trail found; an RADC physicist (Newburgh) criticised the 1976 paper in print. Explanations to weigh: informal support, unindexed or restricted reports, overstated sponsorship. DTIC direct, AFRL Rome, DARPA archives and FOIA would decide. sites.md, Leads for review, Historical record
AI noteThe 1989 article prints the same 378 km/s as the value "on the day when this particular test was performed", so it is the 1986 number repeated, not a second measurement; Wesley's +/-8 km/s is tighter than the inventor's own +/-5%.
A 1977 gravity-control survey where a capacitor thrust ion wind does not fully explain, Brown's unpublished vacuum notes and a 1956 industry silence sit beside Searl claims arithmetic rules out.
Invention / theory background
Ether-Technology (1977; German original 1972) by 'Rho Sigma', identified by advocacy and popular sources as Rolf Schaffranke (1921-1994), said to have worked at Peenemuende and NASA. It compiles others' work: T. Townsend Brown's high-voltage capacitors, Erwin Saxl's charged pendulum, John Searl's spinning-ring 'levity disc', Seike Shin'ichi's spin resonance and weighed coil, Heim and others. It argues gravity is an ether flow that electricity can control, and that this work was suppressed. Most evidence is relayed second-hand.
Ranking explanation
Below SilverTooth (5), whose own instrument gave a sharp, cheaply testable signal, because Sigma-Ro's central Searl claims are refuted by calculation and rest on one undated relayed account. Above Pappas-PT (7) for breadth of open record: an Army Research Laboratory gap in the ion-wind explanation, Brown's never-published vacuum notes, a documented 1956 industry silence, nine suppression incidents with counter-evidence, two conflicting accounts of Searl's conviction, and a spinning-ring calculation the reader can run.
Key supporting elements
Bahder and Fazi (US Army Research Laboratory) found ionic wind 'at least three orders of magnitude too small' to explain asymmetric-capacitor thrust in air; ionic drift gives the right order, but the model is unfinished.
Brown's 1973 letters: in vacuum below 1e-6 mm Hg at 70-220 kV, thrust 'continued, even when there was no vacuum spark'; equal torque in air and transformer oil. His Paris, Winston-Salem and GE notes were never published.
In 1956 Interavia reported 2 ft discs (50 kV, 50 W, 17 ft/s), results 'highly classified'; Glenn L. Martin's vice-president and Rolls-Royce's Cleaver took it seriously. After 1957 the book records nothing more from industry.
Saxl, a trained physicist, published a charge-sign-dependent torsion-pendulum period in Nature (1964, timed to 1 part in 1e7) and, with Allen, eclipse period changes 1e5 above lunar attraction in Physical Review D (1971).
Seike's 1984 Physical Society of Japan abstract reports a Moebius-wound coil losing 0.059 to 0.291 g at 2 to 6 A; no repeat with reversed current or a dummy winding is on record.
Key contradictions
Searl's mechanism: a spinning ring's centrifugal electron voltage is 6.5e-9 V at 1,000 rpm, and at most 3.6e-7 V for any steel rotor before it bursts: 11 to 13 orders below the book's 1e5 V.
The book's Searl figures disagree (1e5 V versus above 1e9 V at 'low speed'; thresholds 1e13, 1e14, 1e10-1e14 V). 1e15 W output is about 55 times world power; 1e13 V stores about 600 kilotons.
Talley (1988) found vacuum force only during breakdown, Tajmar (2004) none; Hathaway and Williams (2021) saw no weight change on charged 1 kg conductors within 2 g; two Saxl repeats (1992, 1998) found no anomaly.
Brown himself wrote that air thrust was 'largely ambient ion momentum transfer' and that his 10 kg gravitors 'never floated'; the '1 percent weight change' is the narrator's wording, not Brown's.
A torsion pendulum's period contains no g, so Saxl's shift cannot show gravity changed; Roos's frictionless sink-flow ether gives a force falling as R^-5, not R^-2.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 36 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Asymmetric high-voltage capacitor thrust in air (Biefeld-Brown)
Establishedas an ionic (electrohydrodynamic) effect; quantitative model incomplete
Brown's thrust in vacuum and his solar, sidereal and lunar torque variations
Tested, not supportednon-ionic vacuum thrust; Talley 1988, Tajmar 2004, not at Brown's 70-220 kVNever properly testedtime correlations and air-versus-oil torque; records unpublished
Electric charge changes weight or gravity (static charge; Saxl's pendulum)
Tested, not supportedHathaway and Williams 2021; two Saxl repeatsInternally inconsistentinferring gravity from a torsion pendulum's period
Searl's ring generator reaches 1e5 to 1e14 V by centrifugal electrons plus coil feedback
Refuted by calculationthe stated mechanismInternally inconsistentthe quoted figures as a setPlausible, untested1e5 V from some source
Searl craft: output exceeds input, weightless and inertia-free, 1952 lift-off to 50 ft
Refuted by calculationoutput above input (1e13-1e15 W)Never properly testedweightlessness and the 1952 flight; one undated second-hand account
An ether exists and gravity is its sink or push flow
Tested, not supporteddetectable or Earth-dragged etherHistorically superseded but instructive'Michelson-Morley did not disprove every ether'Internally inconsistentsink-flow gravity as Roos states it
Plausible, untestedspin mathematics, as a gravity effectNot testable as statednegative gravitational energy and 3e9 kWNever properly tested1984 coil weight loss
Orthodox science and officials suppressed this work
Not testable as statedin physics terms; historically open, Searl strand with conflicting accounts
Author and compiler of the book; advocate of the ether hypothesis · Advocate of ether technology; promoter of the work he relays
Born 31 Jul 1921, died 22 Apr 1994 (Young Harris GA; another account Hayesville NC). Advocacy and popular sources (Natural Philosophy wiki citing Manning and Garbon 2008; Davidson 1989; Bergier 1978) say he worked at Peenemuende with von Braun, then as a NASA Huntsville propulsion consultant and later at Boeing; no official record found. Later wrote on space-energy converters (raum&zeit, New Energy News 1993).
T. Townsend Brown
Inventor of the 'gravitor' capacitor; source of the 1973 letters · Reporting his own work; patentee
Worked with Paul A. Biefeld at Denison University; six US patents (1934-1965); Navy demonstration before Admiral Radford at Pearl Harbor, 1950; vacuum tests in Paris (1955-56), Bahnson Laboratories (1957-58) and GE Space Center (1959); founded NICAP in 1956; retired in the Bahamas by 1973.
John R. R. Searl
Inventor of the spinning-ring generator and 'levity disc' · Inventor of the device
Per the Barret Report, an electrical fitter with the Midlands Electricity Board in 1949 with no formal education beyond the job; noticed a small EMF from spinning parts, built a 3 ft generator by 1952. Lived at Mortimer, Berkshire; a 1984 letter says he was prosecuted and detained in 1982-83. Wrote 'Antigravity: The Dream Made Reality'.
P. L. Barret
Issued the Barret Report, the book's main Searl source · Searl's associate
Styled 'B.Sc.' in the book; Davidson calls him Searl's associate. No date, venue or affiliation for the report, and no trace of him outside the book and works copying it.
Erwin J. Saxl
Charged torsion-pendulum experimenter · Reporting his own work
Described in the book as a 'post-doctoral student with Einstein'; privately financed (about $50,000); published in Nature (1964) and, with M. Allen, in Physical Review D (1971) on eclipse period changes; later automated runs analysed for periodicities.
Seike Shin'ichi (the book's 'Seiki')
Japanese physicist behind 'NER' and the 1984 coil weighing · Reporting his own work; director of his own institute
Born 1936 in Uwajima, died 2009; master's course, University of Tokyo graduate school of science; taught at Ibaraki University and Ehime Teikyo Junior College; founded the Gravity Research Institute (1973) and the magazine Uchutei; Physical Society of Japan abstracts 1965-1997.
Burkhard Heim
German theorist of the 'contrabaric' field-propulsion effect · Reporting his own theory
Lost his eyes and hands in a laboratory explosion; degree 1954, institute 1958 at Northeim; 1952 Stuttgart lecture; ridiculed at the 1952 Innsbruck astronautics congress per the book; Jan 1976 letter calls himself a 'loner'.
Martin Tajmar
Independent tester of Biefeld-Brown thrust (2004)
Described by the physicist reviewer as a mainstream propulsion physicist with no commercial stake in the idea; his AIAA Journal test found no thrust once corona wind was excluded. Otherwise not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (121 of 121 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (11)
1972Forschung in Fesseln: das Raetsel der Elektro-Gravitation Rho Sigma; Ventla-Verlag, Wiesbaden-Schierstein; reissued VAP 1994, 1996; German original, contents not compared
1976-05Edgar Cayce and the 'Ether' Controversy A.R.E. Journal XI no.3; earlier publication of the book's ether section, per the book
1977Ether-Technology: A Rational Approach to Gravity Control First edition Tamhelm Press, Lakemont GA; 1996 Adventures Unlimited printing read in full, 108 pp.
1981-10-23The Development of Post-Relativistic Concepts in Physics and Advanced Technology Abroad Abstract, 1st International Symposium on Non-Conventional Energy Technology; Natural Philosophy wiki list
1982The New Tesla Electromagnetics and the Secrets of Electrical Free Energy With T. E. Bearden; dated 1982 or 1984 by different lists
c.1989Schappellers kosmischer Energieextraktor raum&zeit no.37; teaser only (paid); bears on the book's ether-flow direction
1989Plaedoyer fuer die Raumenergie-Konversion raum&zeit no.39; teaser only; includes a 1986 Vallee letter to President Reagan
1990Erdbeben durch Atombombentests raum&zeit no.44; teaser only; peripheral
1990Space Energy Abstract; Natural Philosophy wiki list
1991Translation of the Gdansk compilation of Einstein's ether quotations Raum & Zeit (English) vol 2 no 5, per Schaffranke in 1993; not located
1993-11Ether Research: Frontier Perspective in an Age of Revelation New Energy News v1 n7 pp.10-11, under his real name; Methernitha and Tewari converters; no new Searl or Brown data
Patents and patent office (10)
1928Brown, British patent 300,311 (gravitor) Number from the primer's recall, not checked
1934-09-25Brown, first US patent (electrostatic motor) Book p.33; Investigator's candidate number US 1,974,483
1962-02-20Brown, US 3,022,430 (electrokinetic generator) Pages reproduced in the book pp.47-48, OCR garbled
1965-06-01Brown, US 3,187,206 Last of six US patents; pages reproduced pp.47-48
1971-10-05Hooper, US 3,610,971 All-electric motional electric field generator W. J. Hooper, Sarasota; assignee Electrodynamic Gravity Inc.; 5 claims, 8 figures
1972-04-11Hooper, US 3,656,013 Apparatus for generating motional electric field Filed 19 Apr 1968; rotating magnets, E = v x B; abstract read
–Brown, US 2,949,550 Scale model flown around a pole (Rose report); pages reproduced pp.47-48
–Brown, US 3,018,394 Listed in the p.69 footnote
–Dudley, US 3,095,167 Charged rockets 'up to six times the normal' height (p.33); patent not read
–Pages, French patent FR 1,251,902 Antigravity craft design (pp.93-95); not obtained
Government records (6)
1962-02Velkoff, ASD-TR-61-642, electrofluidmechanics USAF report cited in the book's addendum p.43
1972-06Project Outgrowth, AFRPL-TR-72-31 USAF, Edwards AFB, 28 members; lists antigravity propulsion as a field-propulsion category; relayed pp.54-55
1974Defence Minister Robert Galley, France-Inter interview with J.-C. Bourret Ministry 'secretly studied the problem since 1954' (book's paraphrase); INA archive not checked
c.1976Poher (CNES) computer study of about 35,000 UFO sightings Relayed pp.93-95
–US Navy records of Brown's rejected research proposal Brown says the Navy declined because ion wind predicted no vacuum operation (p.46)
–Paperclip (NARA) and NASA Marshall personnel records for Schaffranke Would document the Peenemuende and NASA career; not reached
Court and state records (3)
1982Reading Crown Court and Berkshire Record Office files on Searl Would decide electricity-theft versus pylon-damage accounts
–Florida corporate record, Electrodynamic Gravity Inc. sunbiz.org; would test Bergier's dating claim; not reached
–Texas registration, Association for Pushing Gravity Research Jan P. Roos, Austin; no trace found
Company and business records (7)
1930Brown's torque records, 1930-55 NRL, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Zanesville, two California stations; solar, sidereal, lunar correlations per Brown
1955Brown's vacuum-test laboratory notes and film, 1955-59 SNCASE Paris, Bahnson Labs Winston-Salem, GE Space Center; 'never published and are not available to me'
1956Aviation Studies, Electrogravitics Systems report Existence from memory (medium), not checked
1956Glenn L. Martin Co. / RIAS gravity research files G. S. Trimble, vice-president, quoted in Interavia
1956Rolls-Royce and Thomson-Houston archives on electrogravitics A. V. Cleaver; Gerardin, nuclear physics section, Le Raincy
1982Southern Electricity Board records of the Searl prosecution Interested party (the prosecutor, per the 1984 letter)
–Tamhelm Press publisher's files Lakemont GA; first English edition
Witness accounts and correspondence (14)
1952-04-08Mason Rose report on Brown and Biefeld Pacific Aeronautical Library, Los Angeles; five factors incl. dielectric mass; quoted pp.25-29
1970-11-05Hermann Oberth letter to the author Inertia, gravity and energy 'different sides of one and the same thing' (p.23)
1973-02-14Brown letter to Schaffranke Vacuum tests, 1928 gravitor 1 N on 10 kg, air-versus-oil torque, unpublished notes; also reprinted by Davidson 1989 (pp.44-46)
1973-04-05Brown letter to Schaffranke Kitselman witnessed a tethered 15 in dome lift 110% of its weight; Navy rejected proposal (pp.46-49)
1976-01Burkhard Heim letter Doubts he can publish as a 'loner' (pp.89-91)
1977-02-14McCampbell (MUFON) private communication 'The French are moving out!' (p.95)
1984-12-11Letter on Searl's 1982 raid, prosecution and detention Unnamed writer to Searl's associate in New Zealand; hedged 'allegedly'; p.108; original not seen
–C. B. Wynniatt letter to the author Onerahi, Whangarei, New Zealand; undated; Searl's claim second-hand, 1e14 V (p.73)
–The Ether-Vortex Turbine (the Barret Report) P. L. Barret; undated; reproduced pp.73-79; no rpm or measurement; original not obtained
–Searl experimental set-up photographs p.74; undated, uncredited; disc on legs outdoors and an interior with dials
–Jan P. Roos statement on the double toroidal vortex Austin TX, president of the Association for Pushing Gravity Research (stake); pp.81-82
–Dr Arthur Cain 'published testimony' on Searl Endorses Searl's 'calculations' (p.82); publication not identified; English and German searches found no trace
–Scientific Sub-Committee report on the Levity Disc Unnamed, undated, editor R.K.; 1e9 V and 1e10-1e14 V figures (pp.87-88)
–Joseph Wuest personal communication on Hess financing Told to the author in person (p.70); one source
Works by the researchers the book relays (35)
1904Jean Becquerel, N-ray paper, Comptes Rendus 138 p.1413 Book wrongly calls him discoverer of radioactivity (Henri)
1908Lippmann, charged-body inertia experiments No citation in the book (p.23); not identified
1909Oliver Lodge, The Ether of Space 'power of recoil' quotation (p.63)
1920Eguchi, electret records, Physico-Mathematical Society of Japan Cited in the Barret Report for Searl's skin effect (p.77)
1920Einstein, Ether and the Theory of Relativity (Leiden; Sidelights on Relativity) 'space without ether is unthinkable'; quoted in the book and in 1993
1929Brown, How I Control Gravitation, Science and Invention Rotors and pendulums under oil (p.35)
1931Hilgenberg, Ueber Gravitation, Tromben und Wellen in bewegten Medien Berlin, self-published, 78 pp.; Met Office Library; Roos's sink-flow source; unread
1933Wuest, Munich paper on 'a new type of radiation' 1933-34 (p.70)
1942Schappeller, The Physics of the Primary State of Matter 1942/1955; archive.org; 'Davson' in Barret's bibliography; source of the ether-flow direction; unread
1951Dirac, Is there an aether?, Nature Book dates Dirac's ether statement 1954 (p.62) and 1952 (p.65)
1952Heim, Die dynamische Kontrabarie, Stuttgart lecture Also the 1952 Innsbruck congress (p.89)
1959Dino Kraspedon, English translation (Neville Spearman) 400,822 km 'etheric covering' (p.67)
1964-07-11Saxl, An Electrically Charged Torque Pendulum, Nature 203 136-138 Positive charge gives a longer swing; primary text not read
1966Seike, Self-excited NMR of negative energy I JPS 21.5 p.348; Univ. of Tokyo; Newton's k in the spin-field energy tensor; page images
1966Seike, Self-excited NMR of negative energy II JPS autumn pp.143-144; 'energy-momentum ether'; damped solution saturates; page images
1966Todeschini, Decisive Experiments in Modern Physics Bergamo; experiments named, not described (pp.66-68)
1967Pages, Revue Francaise d'Astronautique no.3 Electromagnetic Magnus effect (p.83)
1969Seike, Ultra-Relativity theory (Chou-soutaisei riron) Editions 1972-1999; would settle the sign convention; not obtained
1970Seike, Gravitational field of antiparticles JPS spring 1970 p.3; CiNii
1970-08-28Allen and Endean, particles at 'about twice' c Book's one line (p.22); paper not identified
1971Seike, Klein's one-sided electromagnetic wave JPS spring 1971 p.117; CiNii
1971Saxl and Allen, Physical Review D 3, 823 Pendulum during the 7 Mar 1970 eclipse; abstract via search summary
1971Saxl and Allen, IRI Report #702 Eclipse gravity measurements; cited by Valone 2012
c.1971Hooper, New Horizons in Electric, Magnetic and Gravitational Field Theory B x V gravity monograph; snippets only
1973Seike, Uchutei magazine, 1973-1998 Gravity Research Institute, to issue 163
1974Pages, Le Defi de l'Antigravitation Chiron, Paris
1976Seike, The Experimental Disc Has Risen (Jikken enban fujou seri) Book; CiNii and ja.wikipedia
1982Seike, Nuclear Electric Resonance, 31a-NG-6 JPS spring 1982 p.5; Frenkel-Kramers equations; no gravity term or power figure
1982Seike, How to Assemble an Anti-Gravity Engine, 5th ed. Presumed source of the 3e9 kW; not obtained
1984Seike, Gravity cancellation experiment, 1p-EB-11 JPS autumn 1984 p.38; 17-turn Klein-bottle coil, 2-6 A, -0.059 to -0.291 g; no controls stated
–Searl, Antigravity: The Dream Made Reality Searl's own book; lists his publicity to 1983 (Life, Thames TV); Scribd snippet only
–Carstoiu, unpublished 'gravitational vortex' paper SUNY Albany / Univ. of Paris (p.86)
–Hieronymus, 'eloptic energy' work Relayed pp.69-70; no data
–Cayce readings 195-70 and 281-3 Offered as anticipating ether levitation (Part 3)
Experiments and replications by others (7)
1968Harald Fischer, Leipzig dissertation on electrostatic fields and pendulum periods Karl Marx University; copy said to be at Mainz; said to confirm Saxl (p.23)
1988Talley, vacuum test of Brown-type electrodes No thrust at 1e-6 torr DC; force during breakdown; via Wikipedia summary
1992Li Jianguo et al., Electrically Charged Torque Pendulum Experiment with a Null Result Chinese Physics Letters 9, 117; ten times Saxl's precision; abstract
1998Liu et al., Test of Saxl's effect: No evidence for new interactions Physics Letters A 244, 1; electrostatic equilibrium shift; abstract
2002Bahder and Fazi, Force on an asymmetric capacitor US Army Research Laboratory, arXiv physics/0211001; ion wind three orders too small
2004Tajmar, Biefeld-Brown effect: misinterpretation of corona wind phenomena AIAA Journal 42, 315; no thrust once corona excluded; abstract
2021Hathaway and Williams, Null-result test for effect on weight from large electrostatic charge Physics 3(2) 160, arXiv 2103.00700; 1 kg, 10 V-200 kV, within 2 g; abstract
Later accounts and media (22)
1923-04-14Michelson interview, Minneapolis Morning Tribune (Reuterdahl) Relativity need not reject the ether; via Brush 1976 and Wynniatt (p.61)
1934-03Popular Science Monthly on the Pasadena light-speed tube 'Variations of 12 miles per second and more' (p.22)
1956Hoversten, Interavia vol. XI no.12 p.992 2 ft discs, 50 kV, 50 W, 17 ft/s; 'highly classified'; quoted pp.38-39; original not obtained
1956Seesemann, Aetherphysik und Radiaesthesie (Locarno congress report) Relays Lenard's double tube and the Einstein-1952 claim (p.65)
1957A. V. Cleaver, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 16, 84-94 Rolls-Royce; 'a NEW PRINCIPLE' needed (pp.40-43)
1964-06-14Boston Sunday Globe on Saxl p.50
1965-01Keyhoe, TRUE magazine Heim 'put under official German security', which the book calls 'somewhat hastily'
1967-09Science et Vie no.600 p.54 'French physicists are several years ahead'
1972-08-25Edgar D. Mitchell, address to the 21st International Conference on Parapsychology Amsterdam; the book's foreword (pp.13-17)
1976-06-26La Suisse, Bourret on UFO sightings p.95
1976-11-02National Enquirer on Petit's MHD engine model CNRS plasma physicist; p.94
1978Jacques Bergier, The Secret War of the Occult (chapter) Corrales translation on Inexplicata; Rho Sigma from Peenemuende; links the report to Electrodynamic Gravity Inc.
1981-03CUFORG newsletter Vol 2 No 5, review of the book Canadian UFO Research Group; names Tamhelm Press; archive.org
1989John Davidson, The Secret of the Creative Vacuum Reprints the Brown letters; Searl via Barret; Earth-field induction and magnet-roller alternatives; archive.org
1995Yamamoto, Tondemo-bon no sekai, pp.227-238 Sceptics' book; main source of ja.wikipedia's Seike biography
2002Nick Cook, The Hunt for Zero Point Metadata match on Schaffranke; text restricted
2008Manning and Garbon, Breakthrough Power, p.11 Source of the Natural Philosophy wiki biography
–Natural Philosophy Society wiki: Rolf Schaffranke; Shinichi Seiki Advocacy wiki; dates, career, works list
–Japanese Wikipedia: Seike Shin'ichi Education, institute, books; sceptical framing
–Kook Science wiki: John Searl Sceptical wiki; pylon-damage conviction outline; search summary only, page did not load
–Wendelle Stevens, UFO Contact from Reticulum Repeats the book's Roos passage
–W. de Fonvielle, Les Mondes, on Ducretet's flying mica disc 19th century; spun before a Wimshurst machine (pp.84-85)
Records named but not yet examined (6)
1982Seike, Graviton reactor abstracts 3p-BD-4 (1982) and 30p-HF-9 (1983) JPS; free on J-STAGE; not reached
1983-01-05Evening Post (Reading) report on the Searl sentence Per a sceptical wiki summary: pylon damage, 15 months; British Newspaper Archive blocked
1985Seike, gravity cancellation follow-up, 31a-F1-1 JPS annual 40.1 p.27; would continue the 1984 record
1994Schaffranke obituary and burial record Young Harris GA versus Hayesville NC; Stone Mountain GA burial
–UK press on Searl, 1950-1999 British Newspaper Archive search blocked (HTTP 403)
–Record of the von Braun-Seike meeting Book p.83; Japanese search negative
Not counted: the book's own sections and diagrams (pp.72, 80, 92), its clairvoyant inputs other than Cayce, mainstream textbooks used only as background, Seike's other CiNii records (later abstracts, soil-mechanics papers, book editions), web snippets (Reddit, Substack, AbeBooks), and Brown's unidentified '75 patents in 12 countries'. Full catalogue: Sigma-Ro sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A hard-vacuum (below 1e-6 torr) torsion-balance test of a Brown-type asymmetric capacitor at 100-200 kV, sparks excluded, with a dummy electrode and leakage-current subtraction. And spin a metre-scale conducting disc, reading hub-to-rim voltage with an electrometer (prediction about 6.5e-9 V at 1,000 rpm).
Deciding records: Reading Evening Post 1982-83, Reading Crown Court and Southern Electricity Board files on Searl; Brown's vacuum notes and film (Bahnson papers, GE archive) and Navy proposal records; the 1956 Aviation Studies report and Glenn L. Martin files; the original Barret Report; Seike's 1985 abstract.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: compute V = m_e v^2 / (2e) for a 0.457 m ring at any rpm, then at steel's burst speed (about 357 m/s), and compare with 1e5 V. Then fit Seike's five coil points (2-6 A) and see why an I^1.4 trend cannot separate a magnetic force from heating.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Talley's force appeared during breakdown, which matches Brown's own thrust 'bursts' at every vacuum spark; the only unexplained part is Brown's statement that thrust persisted without sparks, for which he gives no numbers. Not dismissed untested: tested, but not at his conditions. arbiter.md, Claim 1
Contrarian The ARL calculation that ionic wind is 'at least three orders of magnitude too small' is 'a point that critics who say it is only ion wind tend to omit'. The force is real; a gravity explanation is not needed; the vacuum case is under-tested at Brown's voltage. contrarian.md, Claim 1
Mathematician Sink-flow gravity fails on its own premises: in a frictionless ether the force falls as r^-5, not r^-2; a 1/r^2 drag needs viscosity, which would drag planets. Roos calls the ether non-viscous, and his 'proof' from Searl's lift-off is a non sequitur. mathematician.md, Claim 2
Arbiter Two partial accounts of Searl's case: an associate's 1984 letter (prosecuted for 'stealing electricity', detained about a year) and a sceptical wiki summary (pylon damage, 15 months at Reading Crown Court, Evening Post 5 Jan 1983). Newspaper not seen; both interested. arbiter.md, Absence-of-evidence A
Investigator Bergier (1978) says the 1972 Rho Sigma report 'led to the creation' of Electrodynamic Gravity Inc., but that company's patent was filed in April 1968 and Hooper died in February 1971. Florida corporate records would decide; Schaffranke's career rests on advocacy sources. sites.md, Leads for review 4
AI noteThe book's own Lippmann citation says charge adds inertia. It does, by U/c^2: about 2.8e-18 kg at 1e5 V on a 3 ft sphere. So the book's support points the opposite way to the Searl chapter's 'inertia free' craft.
A Greek physicist's spark-gap coil was said to create energy and excite cells by resonance. The arguments fail, yet small sham-controlled trials report effects; his key 1991 paper is missing.
Invention / theory background
Panagiotis T. Pappas, a Greek physicist who published on the Ampere force law, patented a medical device in 1996 (US 5,556,418). It discharges a capacitor through a spark gap into a flat coil held over the patient. Sold as PAP-IMI or PAPIMI, it was not cleared by the US FDA in 1995 and later came under an import alert. It is now CE marked and used in European pilot trials. One Greek source says he died in 2026.
Ranking explanation
Rank 7, unchanged. It ranks below Sigma-Ro, which covers several gravity-control inventors and includes one real effect (ionic-wind thrust). It ranks above Wallace-Byran, whose central c+v claim was tested and not supported. Here the energy-gain report was never tested by a neutral party, the paper behind it is unobtained, and the US regulatory story is documented. Small sham-controlled pilots report effects. A worked example lets the reader check the physics (criteria A, B, C).
Key supporting elements
Small randomised, sham-controlled pilots report effects. In Viti 2023 (n = 32) heart-rate variability rose after PAPIMI but not after sham. In Keilani 2025 (Vienna, n = 20) post-COVID fatigue and walking distance improved. Both groups declare no conflicts.
The arbiter found that at the manufacturer's figures the coil induces 4e3 to 2e4 V/m in tissue. That shifts a large cell's membrane voltage by tens to about a hundred millivolts, so real physiological effects are expected.
The voltage and current spikes far above supply and average values are real (Established). The patent's bursts at the peaks of the damped ring match later descriptions of 'megahertz to gigahertz' peaks (Keilani 2025).
No neutral party has tested the inventor's energy-gain reports: the 1991 IECEC paper and the 1998 '20% excess heat on the probe alone'. The paper was never obtained, and a Google search for its title showed a legal-removal notice.
Pappas published peer-reviewed physics, including the 1983 Nuovo Cimento B Ampere-force paper (cited 151 times) and a 1986 J. Appl. Phys. experiment at NTUA. The patent was granted in Europe in 2001 with no opposition filed.
Key contradictions
The patent's 'infinite then negative gain' is a ratio of resistances, not a power ratio. Its own text says some electrons gain energy only as others lose it. A 0.001% duty cycle alone makes peak power 100,000 times average.
The patent gives 10^6 V/m both as the field a cell membrane needs and as the strength of air. The real values are about 1.4e7 to 2.3e8 V/m and 3e6 V/m. Induction needs no field in the air at all.
Radio quanta at 100-240 MHz carry about 1e-6 eV, a millionth of a chemical step, and become heat within picoseconds. Read as plasma frequency, the 'eigenfrequency' misses an arc's electron density by about 8 orders of magnitude.
In Leisner 2002, a controlled rat fracture study, untreated rats healed faster. The FDA's 2005 letter (the regulator's account) lists two rat deaths, two tachycardias and a fatal myocardial infarction during treatment. No causal investigation was found.
There are no controlled data for the cancer or membrane-potential claims. The 37-site US study was uncontrolled and was terminated by its IRB, per the FDA. The manufacturer's 'several 10 kA' does not fit its own 60-96 J per pulse.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 19 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Transient voltage and current 10-100 times the supply and average values
Establishedspikes far above average; ordinary for pulsed discharges
Arc resistance from infinite to -100 ohm gives 'infinite then negative gain'
Internally inconsistentthe patent's argumentRefuted by calculationa resistance ratio is not a power gain
Net energy gain as an experiment (1991 IECEC paper; 1998 '20% excess heat')
Never properly testedno neutral test; paper not obtained
Bursts at 'characteristic eigenfrequencies' of the gas
Establishedbursts exist (class of device)Refuted by calculationread as electron plasma frequencyNot testable as statedpatent wording, term undefinedNever properly testedspectrum shifts when only the gas changesInternally inconsistentthree stated burst durations
Pulses beat air breakdown 1-100 times to give 10^6 V/m at the cell
Internally inconsistentpremise: 10^6 V/m for both membrane and airEstablishedshort pulses exceed DC breakdown by a factor of a fewNever properly tested1-100 times from this devicePlausible, untestedinduced field reaches tissue at membrane-relevant strength
Plausible, untestedat adequate scale: two small sham-controlled pilots positive, one single-arm; not replicatedTested, not supportedfracture healing (one controlled rat study)
Restoring membrane potential cures cancer and AIDS; pulses 'pasteurize' cells
Never properly testedno test of any kind; regulators acted on missing dataNever properly testedpasteurisation; induced field short of microbe thresholds
Inventor; patent holder; owner of the Greek maker of the device · Patent holder and manufacturer (commercial stake)
Greek physicist and mathematician in Athens. He published papers on six-dimensional physics in Il Nuovo Cimento (1978-1982) and on the Ampere force (Nuovo Cimento B 1983; Phys. Lett. A 1985; a J. Appl. Phys. 1986 experiment at NTUA). He patented spark-gap lightning conductors (1988-1991) before the 1992 medical filing. The Seattle Times called him a math professor; a 2009 blog called him a 'professor' at TEI Piraeus. One source gives his death as 11 May 2026.
Charles (Chuck) Wallach
US distributor and sponsor-investigator of the 37-site US study · Distributor (commercial stake)
CEO of Bio-Energy Services Inc., Tarzana CA, and earlier of Pap Electrodynamics. Per the 2002 FDA report, he imported units declared as a 'plant and seed germinator', and the study's IRB terminated it in 2002. Pappas treated his back pain, and both called it a success. Education not in the review files.
Jorge Cure
Co-inventor, with Pappas and Harry Eichler, of the 1989 'ions by remote action' precursor patents
Named first inventor on US 5,068,039 (1991) and US 5,239,442 (1993), Greek priority 1989. These are described as 'ideal in applying Nordenstrom's method' and are the direct precursor of the 1996 patent. Education and career: not in the review files.
Ifianassa Athanasia Karampatsou
Collaborator since 1996; author of the June 2026 memoriam · Collaborator and promoter (interested party)
A physician who also promotes olive-leaf therapy. Her memoriam reports PAPIMI results presented at a Salzburg conference and use in Cuba, Vietnam and Swiss clinics, citing no studies. She says media and pharmaceutical interests resisted the work.
Michael E. Marcarelli
FDA official who signed the 10 June 2005 significant-risk letter to Pappas · Regulator (regulatory stake)
PharmD, Director of the Division of Bioresearch Monitoring at the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). The letter classed the device as Class III non-heating diathermy, cited animal and human adverse events, and declared it adulterated.
S. Leisner
Lead author of the only controlled animal test (2002, rat fractures)
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Hebrew University, with R. Shahar, I. Aizenberg, D. Lichovsky and T. Levin-Harrus. Their study found slower healing in treated rats than in untreated controls. Further career not in the review files.
A. Viti
Lead author of the 2023 sham-controlled pilot and the 2025 single-arm pilot
Centro Fisioterapico Apuano (Lucca, a private physiotherapy centre) and the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence. The authors declare no conflict of interest and no external funding. Further career not in the review files.
M. Keilani
Lead author of the 2025 Vienna placebo-controlled pilot on post-COVID fatigue
Department of Physical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, working with Therme Wien Med and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute. The authors declare no competing interests. Further career not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (114 of 120 listed, 95%)
Own works and inventions (28)
1978Physics in six dimensions: an axiomatic formulation P. T. Pappas, Lettere al Nuovo Cimento; Scholar listing only
1979'Three-dimensional time' equation Pappas, Lettere al Nuovo Cimento; Scholar listing only
1982On the R4 -> R6 -> R6 -> R4 transformations Pappas, Nuovo Cimento B; Scholar listing only
1983The original Ampere force and Biot-Savart and Lorentz forces Pappas, Il Nuovo Cimento B 76, 189; cited by 151; his stated theoretical basis for energy in sparks
1985On the fundamental laws of electrodynamics Pappas and P. G. Moyssides, Physics Letters A 111, 193-197
1986Rigorous quantitative test of Biot-Savart-Lorentz forces Moyssides and Pappas, J. Appl. Phys.; experiment at the National Technical University of Athens
1988The Cardinal Law of Electrodynamics, the Principle of Conservation of Energy, and the Tesla Magnifying Effect Conference abstract, 1988 International Tesla Symposium (Natural Philosophy Wiki, title only)
1988Thirty Six Nanoseconds Faster Than Light Conference abstract (Natural Philosophy Wiki, title only)
1989Non Relativistic Forces on Antennas Conference abstract (title only)
1989Einsiedeln conference paper on energy in arcs Cited in the patent ('Eisiedeln'); conference in Stefan Marinov's circle; proceedings not obtained
1990Energy Generation Phenomenon: Lab to Star and Galaxy Generation 1990 International Tesla Symposium; title only
1991-08Energy Creation in Electrical Sparks and Discharges: Theory and Direct Experimental Evidence Proc. 26th IECEC, Boston, vol. 4, pp. 416-423. Source the patent cites for the 10-100x claim; the arbiter calls it decisive; not obtained
1991-08-08On Solving the Great Problems of the World 26th IECEC luncheon speech, Boston (cited in 'Other Voices')
1993Electrodynamics from Ampere to now: future perspective In Essays on the Formal Aspects of Electromagnetic Theory, World Scientific
1990/1998PAP-IMI Cases Reports, 1990-1998 Inventor's case collection, cited by Moawad 2013 and the Journal of New Energy; not retrieved· Inventor (interested party)
c.1998papimi.gr website: 'Our Cancer Theory', 'Lung Cancer Case', RadioFungi pages, ICCF-7 paper Inventor's site 1998-2010; Internet Archive not reached· Inventor (interested party)
1997-11Update on Stefan Marinov's Death: emails from Panos Pappas Listed on the Natural Philosophy Wiki
1998-04Electrically induced fusion in the living cell ICCF-7 (Vancouver) contribution named in the 1998 letter; not obtained
1998-06Letter from P. T. Pappas, On Ion Magnetic Inductor New Energy News vol 6 no 2, pp.27-28 (ed. Hal Fox): 'C to Fe', '20% excess heat on the probe alone', energies '30 Kev'; editor notes work with UCLA M.D.s in Santa Monica· Inventor (interested party)
c.1999Electrically Induced Nuclear Fusion Journal of New Energy; cited by Moawad 2013
1999K-Na-K Nuclear Transmutations Inside the Living Cell 1999 Symposium on Low Energy Nuclear Reactions and New Energy; title only
1999The Lost Unified Theory Conference abstract; title only
1999Panagiotis Pappas (dialogues without Stop), video interview YouTube, 30 min, uploaded 2016 by George Apostoleas; not watched
2006-03-24Pappas' Physiology of the Cell and its Atomic Energy Athens, 67 pp, includes 2 Mar 2002 Starnberg talk 'PAPIMI - The Spark of Life'; '>1 Giga Watts', active/pause < 1e-7, cell as '(ATP) controlled microscopic Nuclear Reactor'; searched, not read in full· Inventor (interested party)
2006Basteas clinical report in the 2006 compilation Dr Ilias Basteas, Athens: '888 magnetic nanopulses at about 80 Joules each', blood chemistry, 28 osteoarthritis or pain cases (pp. ~40-55); not read in detail· Practitioner reported by the inventor
2011-12Pappas PDF on 'non conventional energy machines comprising arc and negative resistance' OverUnity Research forum attachment; login required, not opened
2014-01-24Lecture at the Diogenes Club, Dr Panagiotis Pappas YouTube, 64 min; not watched
2018-01-04Radio programme with G. Lekakis, 'On gods, humans, magnetic fields and electromagnetism' With Karampatsou; named in the memoriam
Patents and patent office (14)
1988-02-09GR2000017Y Greek utility filing by Pappas; no title or abstract available
1989-06-12EP 0402552 A1, High ionisation lightning conductor with an oscillating high-voltage converter Pappas; capacitor, coil and spark gap: the same topology as the medical device
1989-09-20US 5,068,039 and US 5,239,442, Method and device for dispersing ions by remote action Jorge Cure, Pappas, Harry Eichler; also WO 91/04102, AU 6421390A, GR890100595; 'ideal in applying Nordenstrom's method'
1990-01-19GR1000007B, Lightning arrester of high ionization and convertor of high oscillatory tension Pappas; Espacenet title only
1991-07-31GR1000132B, Composite lightning protector of high ionization and attenuation Pappas; Espacenet title only
1992-07-10GR920100309A, Greek priority of the medical patent 'Powerful induction of the ions ... by natural resonance plasma oscillations'; abstract read; US patent prints the number as 920200309 (probable misprint); full text at the Greek patent office not reached
1994-01-20WO 94/01176 (PCT/US93/06616), Method and apparatus for pulsed magnetic induction One listing names Em-Probe, Inc. as assignee; national phases in CA, KR, EP, JP, BR, AU
1996-09-17US 5,556,418, Method and Apparatus for Pulsed Magnetic Induction Pappas, Marina Del Rey; filed 6 Jul 1993; 7 pp, 17 claims; the project document, read in full with page images; fees paid to 2007, expired 2013· Inventor (interested party)
1998RU 2126278 C1 Russian member, 24 claims; abstract names 'therapeutic curing of malignant tumors'; lapsed 2011
2001-01-31EP 0648140 B1, Apparatus for pulsed magnetic induction Granted after two examination rounds, no opposition; DE 69329908, ES 2154271 T3; some states lapsed
2003-06-30US 2006/0220648 A1 / US 7,151,372 B2, Multi-activation of ions and atoms with NMR and EPR Pappas; wide family incl. JP 2007526991A, CN 1954229A, CY1109665T1; recasts resonance as NMR/EPR without a static field
2006-08-31GR1006848B, Ion induction and atom multi-activation with NMR-EPR, using an electronic or plasma switch Pappas; abstract mentions electric-shock risk if coil insulation is lost
2018-05-07GR20180200149U, Earth unbalance device - free energy generation from zero Panagiotis, Theocharis and Eleftherios Pappas; 134 m loop driven by a square-wave generator
1993EPO Register file for EP93917171 (examination correspondence) Could show examiner objections and whether data were filed; not reached
Related work and prior art cited by the patent (4)
1983US 4,369,345, selective localized hyperthermia Czerlinski; prior art cited in the patent
1986US 4,622,953 Gordon; prior art cited in the patent
1992US 5,160,591, regulating transmembrane ion movement utilizing selective harmonic frequencies Liboff et al. (ion cyclotron resonance, needs a static field); nearest mainstream-adjacent relative of the resonance claim
c.1983Nordenstrom's electrochemical (needle-electrode) cancer therapy Called 'quite successful' in the patent; the method the device set out to replace; not searched or assessed
Later patents citing or copying the design (11)
1997WO 98/57704 and US 5,908,444, complex-frequency pulsed electromagnetic generator Healing Machines
2007DE 10 2007 030325 A1, device for contactless cell therapy Dr Wilhelm Horkel; near copy of the PAP-IMI layout; lists 'Pappas; Panagiotis T.' among original assignees; lapsed 2010
2007EP 2062614 A1, Method and device for impulse induction Pulsartec S.L.
2007JP 2009539511 A, device attenuating cellular metabolism Enjoy s.r.o.
2015WO 2016/182600 A1, UV plasma power generation Brilliant Light Power
Government records (12)
1995-11-06FDA 510(k) for the 'Pap Ion magnetic inductor' Not cleared because it required clinical data that were unavailable (per the 2002 FDA report and Seattle Times timeline)· Regulator
2002-09-10FDA Establishment Inspection Report, Bio-Energy Services Inc., Tarzana CA FEI 3003668912; inspections 21 Aug-10 Sep 2002; 17 pp scan, pp.1-11 read by OCR; 'the science behind the device is not clear'; seed-germinator import; infant treated about 29 times· Regulator
2002FDA Form 483 (14 items) and EIR pages 12-17, exhibit list OCR'd but not read closely· Regulator
2003-01-13FDA Import Alert 89-08, PAP-IMI Ion Magnetic Conductor Device Importer Bio-Energy Services (listed 2009); Athens firm BioElectroDynamics added 20 Dec 2018· Regulator
2003-06-24FDA Warning Letter to Cheryl Jones Jaye MD, LifeWorks Wellness Center, Clearwater FL Consent and IRB failures; at least 50 subjects treated without IRB approval; device name redacted, CIRCARE files it as PAP-IMI· Regulator
2005-06-10FDA letter to Panos Pappas PhD, Chatsworth CA M. E. Marcarelli, CDRH; significant risk, Class III; '100 watts at 2 apps (2 seconds x 50 Joules)'; 2 rat deaths, 2 tachycardias, one fatal MI; adulterated· Regulator
2007-11-20Letter from Rep. Jay Inslee, House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight Via Wikipedia references; not opened
2007-12-28Health Canada advisory, 'Use of Unlicensed Pap-Ion Magnetic Inductor May Pose Health Risk' With a seizure order to the Canada Border Services Agency; known via Wikipedia references; not checked directly· Regulator
c.2003CE 0120 (SGS UK), GOSSTANDART and Mexico 0767E2003 S.S.A. approvals Claimed in the inventor's 2006 compilation; certificates not seen· Inventor's claim
–Greek ministry or EOF decision on PAPIMI approval Mentioned only in a Facebook comment that the ministry refused it; not found
2002/2005Adverse-event case records (rat deaths, fatal myocardial infarction, Florida deaths) Named by FDA and the Seattle Times; needed for any causal review; not obtained
2001/2005Data from the US sponsor-run study (BioMed IRB 2001, TABS IRB 2002) 37 sites in at least 12 states; outcomes not in the record
Court and state records (2)
2005California judgment against Gerald Allen Anderson / Bio-Energy Services (later Biophotonix) Barred from false or misleading claims; $2,750 penalty plus $7,000 costs; known via Quackwatch summary, full text not opened· Reported by an anti-quackery site
–Any court or Los Angeles County records on C. Wallach or Bio-Energy Services Not reached
Company and business records (6)
1994Em-Probe, Inc. Named as assignee on one WO 94/01176 listing; not researched
c.1995Pap Electrodynamics Earlier company with Wallach as CEO (FDA EIR)
2001-06-21Greek manufacturer invoice #270 and 'Z Electrodynamics' declaration of conformity Pappas's production and R&D companies, per Wallach (FDA EIR p.9, p.11); model 600P
2003Bio-Energy Services website description of the device 'advanced electrotherapeutic diathermy device'; quoted by Quackwatch· Distributor (commercial)
2023Pulse Dynamics Ltd, current manufacturer, and papimi.com pages Agios Dimitrios, Greece; models ASKLIPIOS and Delta; 'Clinical Trial Confirms...' page not opened· Manufacturer (commercial)
–Greek business register (GEMI) records for Pulse Dynamics, Bio-Electrodynamics, Z Electrodynamics Not reached
Witness accounts and correspondence (5)
2002Paper by Dr Shri Kant Mishra MD on rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and ageing Exhibit 23 of the 2002 FDA inspection report; not obtained· Used in distributor advertising
2002Dr David Minkoff annual report noting two subject deaths Cited in the FDA EIR; Minkoff wrote the treatments 'had nothing to do with their demises'· Study investigator
c.2002E-mail: 'Dr. Pappas was saying that pre-surgery treatments was shortening the recovery time by one-third to one-half' FDA EIR p.11
2026-05-11Facebook death notices (G. Kasimatis; P. Giannoulakis) Give the death date 11 May 2026; snippets only; one source for the date
2026-06-11Memoriam 'Takis Pappas', Arxeion Politismou Dr Ifianassa Karampatsou; Salzburg conference, Cuba, Vietnam, Swiss clinics; his two physicist children continue the work· Collaborator since 1996
Experiments and replications by others (6)
2002Leisner et al., effect of high-intensity electromagnetic pulses on fresh ulnar fractures in rats J Vet Med A 49(1):33-7, PMID 11913824, Hebrew University; untreated controls healed faster; abstract read
c.2010Single-subject PAPIMI reports: refractory seizures, skin wound healing, fatigue syndrome Viti 2023 refs 40-42; not retrieved
2014Efthimiadou et al., presowing pulsed electromagnetic treatment of tomato seed PMID 25097875, Greek group; whether a PAPIMI was used is unknown
2023Viti et al., HRV after PAP Ion Magnetic Induction in chronic musculoskeletal pain: pilot RCT Int J Environ Res Public Health 20(5):3934, PMC10001461; single-blind, sham, n = 32; Lucca and Florence
2025Viti et al., PAPIMI short effect on pain perception and HRV: a pilot study Healthcare (Basel), PMC12385873; single arm, n = 30; pain fell a median 2 points
2025Keilani et al., pulsed magnetic field therapy in post-COVID-19 fatigue: randomized controlled pilot Wien Klin Wochenschr, PMC12534222; Medical University of Vienna; n = 20; 96 J, 50-100 mT, '20 cm' penetration (manufacturer)
Later accounts and media (24)
1989P. Cornille, On the difference between the Lorentz and Ampere force laws IOP; follow-up in the Ampere-force debate
c.1990Stefan Marinov, The thorny way of truth, vol 7 RexResearch; cites Pappas 1983 and Einsiedeln
c.1997Journal of New Energy vol 2 no 2 Cites the 1991 IECEC paper beside arc negative-resistance discussion
c.1998Journal of New Energy vol 3 no 1 Cites 'PAP-IMI Cases Reports' 1990-1998
c.2000Other Voices: A Summary of Research Not Present Academia.edu; cites the 1991 IECEC paper and speech
c.2000Moray King, The Energy Machine of T. Henry Moray; Review of Zero Point Energy Zero-point-energy literature citing the 1991 paper
2007-11-19Seattle Times, 'Public never warned about dangerous device' C. Willmsen and M. J. Berens; Pappas quoted 'absolutely safe', 'can cure cancer and AIDS'; deaths linked by the paper· Newspaper's characterization
2007-11-19Seattle Times graphic 'The PAP-IMI in the U.S.' and timeline 1995-2007 89 units by state
2007-12-08Herald Extra, 'FDA bans import of miracle machines'; Sun Journal 9 Dec 2007 Snippets only
2008-01-04Seattle Times, 'State urges FDA to ban unproven medical devices' Not opened
2008-01-30Seattle Times, 'Fraudulent medical devices targeted' Not opened
2008-02-01MDDI, 'CDRH Promises Crackdown on Risky Devices' 'FDA inspected three PAP-IMI clinics outside California'; snippet
2008-02-15Biomedical Safety & Standards item (Ovid) Not opened
2008Chronicle of Higher Education blog on the TABS IRB Not opened
2008-12-26Seattle Times, 'Miracle Machines: The 21st-Century Snake Oil' Via Wikipedia references
2009-02-21Greek blog calling Pappas a 'professor' of TEI Piraeus Critical tone; snippet only· Critic's characterization
2011-05-06sarantakos.wordpress.com satirical mention Critic's characterization; snippet only
2013E. Y. Moawad, Cell growth energy ... nuclear transmutations in human cell Univ. J. Med. Sci. 1(2):27-35, Ain Shams; takes up Pappas's transmutation idea in theory; abstract and references read
–Yumpu 'Cases from private practices - Papimi' Inventor-side case collection; not opened· Supporters
2016Zukunftstechnologien fur nachhaltige Entwicklung (German survey) ResearchGate; cites the 1991 paper
2024-05-23Wikipedia, Pap-Ion Magnetic Inductor Stub categorised as pseudoscience; useful for its references
–Natural Philosophy Wiki page 'Panos Pappas' Bibliography and conferences 1988-2011
–Vysotskii and Kornilova, biological transmutation work Related work cited beside Pappas; not opened
Records named but not yet examined (2)
–Lumen Database notice for the Google result removed on the query for the 1991 paper's title Notice text and removed URL unknown; the arbiter sets out competing explanations
–Inventor's lab notes and archive, via his family or company Named by the arbiter as deciding for the energy-gain claim
Left out: six minor items found only as search snippets (two MedCrave/Science Publishing Group transmutation papers, Slovak and Italian new-energy surveys, an Energetic Forum thread, a German 'Pap-Imi-Therapie' page). Also left out: duplicate copies, the Scribd copy of the 2006 compilation, a spurious Gilead citation, and the Google 'similar documents'. Full catalogue: Pappas-PT sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Measure electrical energy in and total energy out by calorimetry over many pulses, with a calibrated probe, and compare with (1/2) C V^2 per pulse. Map dB/dt and the induced field in a saline phantom. Swap the gas (air, nitrogen, argon) and watch whether the burst spectrum moves. Run a large independent sham-controlled trial with checked blinding.
Deciding records: The 1991 IECEC paper (vol. 4, pp. 416-423) and the ICCF-7 paper; the Lumen notice on the removed search result; the US study files and adverse-event case records; EIR pages 12-17 and the Mishra paper; the EPO examination file; the Greek priority text GR920100309A.
Try it yourself: Run example.py (primer section 5). From 40 kV and 60 J per pulse at 240 kHz it gets C = 75 nF, L = 5.86 uH, peak current 4.5 kA, B = 95 mT, induced E about 7.5e3 V/m at 10 cm, and membrane shift dV = 1.5 E a of about 110 mV. Repeat with the patent's 1000 A.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter The contrarian's 36 microvolts is 36 millivolts, a factor of 1000 off. At the device's published parameters, ordinary induction gives a membrane shift of tens to a hundred-plus millivolts, the same size as the resting potential. arbiter.md, section 1, correction 1
Physicist Mainstream physics rejects net energy gain, element-selective radio-frequency chemistry and the need to beat air breakdown. Yet the induced fields are strong enough to stimulate nerves and muscles: 'The patent's practical device may do something in tissue, but for reasons not in the patent.' physicist.md, section 4
Contrarian The FDA's refusal was on missing clinical evidence, not a refutation. No negative physics experiment was run and withheld, and the inventor did not publish one either. No blocking of funding or publication is documented. After the US ban the record moved to Europe rather than going dark. contrarian.md, How the claims were handled
Mathematician Hidden assumption: that a membrane effect needs an external field equal to the field inside the membrane, which is wrong by a factor of about 3000. The patent omits capacitance, voltage, inductance, current and oscillogram scale, so it cannot be tested as a derivation. mathematician.md, Notation, units and hidden-assumption list
Arbiter A Google search for the missing 1991 paper's title showed a legal-removal notice. Possible explanations: a routine copyright takedown, a request by the inventor, family or a company, or a different page. Nothing prefers one. The Lumen notice and a library copy would decide. arbiter.md, section 9, absence-of-evidence addendum
AI noteThe nitrogen-14 NMR frequency at 0.1 T is about 0.31 MHz, close to the device's 240 kHz base ring. But NMR needs a steady field, which the pulsed coil does not supply (primer, section 5 side checks).
Bryan Wallace argued that 1961 Venus radar echoes show light moving at c+v; the analysts kept the data, and the neutral refit he asked for has never been run.
Invention / theory background
Bryan G. Wallace (1933-1997, St. Petersburg, Florida), who worked with colleagues at Eckerd College, revived Ritz's emission theory: light from a moving source or mirror travels at c+v. From 1969 he argued that early Earth-Venus radar ranging fits c+v better than constant c. His 1993 manuscript The Farce of Physics adds a 'dynamic ether' theory of mass circulating at speed c and a long record of refused papers. He accepted E=mc^2 and much of relativity.
Ranking explanation
Ranked below Pappas (7), whose discharge gain was never metered, because Wallace's strong c+v claim has been tested by source-velocity experiments and failed. Ranked above Mallove's glow-discharge account (9) because its core is checkable: published radar papers, a specific refit nobody has run, dated letters about data access and editorial hostility, and algebra the reader can redo. Criteria A, B and C apply.
Key supporting elements
A first-order ballistic effect has the size of Wallace's residuals: about 5 ms for a 10 km/s relative speed. His two equations differ by hundreds to thousands of km, against quoted radar accuracy of 1.5 km.
Ash, Shapiro and Smith (AJ 1967), as quoted, found USSR residuals 'systematically negative' against Arecibo and Lincoln, up to five times the quoted error, cause unidentified; Kotel'nikov et al. (1976) report Venus residuals up to 3500 microseconds.
Data access, as relayed by Wallace: Shapiro wrote the data 'did not exist in the form' asked; AFCRL's Hollingsworth wrote Lincoln Lab could not be persuaded to test anything but c; McVittie (1970) wondered whether something was 'concealed'.
Pulkovo astrometrist Tolchelnikova-Murri independently argues the 1961-62 reductions used classical kinematics, and quotes Clemence (USNO) that second-order terms are no new confirmation of relativity. She does not claim c+v.
Editor Robinson's letters (1979, 1990, quoted by Wallace) cite 'very negative reader reaction' and anonymous letters and calls; PRL's editor admitted a 'mistake' in rerouting Wallace's 1969 paper to a second referee.
Key contradictions
Source-velocity tests needing no radar reduction find no c+v: Alvager et al. (CERN 1964) bound k below 1e-4, Brecher (1977) below 2e-9 from X-ray binaries; Cassini ranging fits relativity to 2e-5.
By Wallace's own yardstick, Newcomb's tables in Fig. 1 of his 1969 paper, the constant-c curve lies closer; c+v agrees only with his own orbit integration, whose starting conditions are not stated.
His own frequency datum points to plasma: the 30-day term is about five times larger at 440 MHz than at 1295 MHz; plasma predicts 8.7, a change in light speed predicts 1.
Wallace conceded Salamin's binary-star objection (c+v would give simultaneous redshifts in both stars); his electron model gives 1/34 of the electron's spin, and electrons are point-like far below his 1.1e-14 m scale.
Against suppression: Spectroscopy Letters printed four Wallace papers (1969-71) and then a rebuttal (Horedt and Ruck 1972); Shapiro answered in print in 1985 (unread); Wallace also published in Found. Phys. and J. Chem. Phys.
User follow-ups
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Verdicts by claim (8 of 29 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Light speed is c+v, dependent on the source or mirror (strong form)
Tested, not supportedAlvager, Brecher, Cassini ranging
A neutral joint refit of the early multi-station Venus radar data with a free ballistic parameter
Never properly testeddata not released in usable form; no refit on record
Tested, not supportedon his own yardstick; a weak test; algebra consistent for the stated c+2v rule
Shapiro admitted only c was tested; c+v was never tested
Not testable as statedthe 1968 conversation, one accountTested, not supportedby non-radar experimentsNever properly testedwithin radar reductions
Journals, referees and funders obstructed the work; relativity and QCD are pathological science
Not testable as statedas physics; editorial hostility documented in quoted letters, organised suppression not established
Rest mass is mass circulating at speed c inside each particle
Plausible, untestedin generalRefuted by calculationat his stated radius, spin 34 times lowInternally inconsistentGalilean energy accounting
The mass-in-cell computer model: force deviation below 1.1e-14 m, pion of electrons and positrons, gravity and spin
Tested, not supporteddeviation below 1.1e-14 mRefuted by calculationpion of 104 or 10^4 e+e-Never properly testedphoton, spin, gravity from the program
Eternal non-expanding universe with non-Doppler redshift
Tested, not supportedsupernova time dilation, CMBHistorically superseded but instructiveas a 1993 position
Born 8 Feb 1933, died 19 Mar 1997, St. Petersburg, Florida. Worked with colleagues at Eckerd College (H- ion source 1975; crossed-beam electron scattering 1977, which agreed with standard theory). Four Spectroscopy Letters papers 1969-71, Found. Phys. 1973; Natural Philosophy Alliance member; spoke at Leningrad conferences 1989 and 1991. Not a professional astronomer by the book's own account.
Irwin I. Shapiro
Led the Lincoln Laboratory planetary radar analysis Wallace disputed; correspondent 1968-69 · His group's reductions are the target of Wallace's charges
Co-author of Ash, Shapiro and Smith, AJ 72, 338 (1967) and Shapiro, Ash and Tausner, PRL 17, 933 (1966); Air Force-funded per Wallace; replied to Wallace in Scientific Ethics (1985), unread. Further background not in the review files.
L. M. Hollingsworth
Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories official who supplied a card deck and met Wallace in 1969 · Air Force data holder
Not in the review files beyond his AFCRL role and the letters of 29 Sep and 7 Nov 1969 that Wallace paraphrases.
J. W. Robinson
Editor of Spectroscopy Letters, who published Wallace 1969-71 and later stopped
Professor of Chemistry, Louisiana State University (per the book). Letters of 4 Apr 1979 and 23 Jul 1990 cite negative reader reaction and anonymous letters and calls.
S. A. Goudsmit
Physical Review Letters editor in the 1969 referee episode
Not in the review files beyond his letters of 11 and 23 Sep 1969, as Wallace reports them.
S. A. Tolchelnikova-Murri
Pulkovo Observatory astrometrist; independent critic of the radar reductions and witness to Pulkovo dismissals
Wrote to Wallace in 1988; translated his 1989 Leningrad talk; Galilean Electrodynamics 4(1), 3 (1993) and a 2001 Russian paper arguing the 1961-62 reductions used classical kinematics.
G. C. McVittie
Astronomer who complained in 1970 of Shapiro's secrecy about methods and results
Author of AJ 75, 287 (1970) on exact n-body solutions in general relativity. Further background not in the review files.
Louis Essen
Critic of special relativity whom Wallace quotes as his strongest professional ally
Built the first caesium clock (1955); wrote The Special Theory of Relativity: A Critical Analysis (OUP 1971); a 1989 letter on the eclipse results.
Evidence / artifacts (105 of 105 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (21)
1967-12-09An Interplanetary Radar Test of Relativity (first radar paper, unpublished) Wallace; per the book 'rejected by a large selection of journals'; text not in the folder
1969Radar Testing of the Relative Velocity of Light in Space Spectroscopy Letters 2, 361-367; eight 1961 Venus points vs Newcomb's tables; Eq. (1) tc/2 - tv/2, Eq. (2) tc/2; Fig. 1 p.366; read as page images; copies at GSJ and sciliterature.50webs.com
1970Cosmological Implications of a c+v Relative Velocity of Light Spectroscopy Letters 3, 115; binaries, non-expanding universe, fused-electron atomic models; abstract quoted in the book
1971Radar Evidence that the Velocity of Light in Space is not c Spectroscopy Letters 4, 79; 1961-66 residuals 'over 30,000%' of expected error; free at GSJ, not read in the review
1971Expansion of a Dynamic Ether Hypothesis of Physical Reality Spectroscopy Letters 4, 123; atomic models revised to use neutrons
1973The Unified Quantum Electrodynamic Ether Foundations of Physics 3, 381; said to hold the mass-dynamics equations missing from the book; abstract quoted
1975Glow discharge source of H- ions Rhodes, Block, Wallace; Rev. Sci. Instrum. 46, 1710; Eckerd College; title only in the book
1977Crossed beam electron-electron scattering Block, Floyd, Rhodes, Wallace; J. Chem. Phys. 66, 2108; 90 degrees, 300 eV, 1.2 and 1.3 microamp beams; agreed with Moller's cross section
1977NSF research proposal via Eckerd College $159,512 including $99,655 for a Harris computer; rejected Feb 1978; proposal text not in the folder
1981/1984Physics Today letters 34(8) 11 (1981); 36(1) 11, 36(8) 13, 36(9) 111 (1983); 37(6) 15 (1984); listed on the NPA wiki and in the book
1982Computer Simulation of Mass Dynamics in Electrons with Rhodes and Block; J. Clas. Phys. 1(2), 17; PRIME 750 'mass-in-cell' program; program not available
1984-07-09The speed of light is c+v (Physics Today letter) rejected 4 Jan 1985 by Acting Editor G. B. Lubkin; argues Moyer's JPL light-time equation is c+v in substance; described in the book
1985The Great Speed of Light in Space Coverup Scientific Ethics 1(1), 2; the article Shapiro answered; also Scientific Ethics 1(3), 3 (1985)
1986Speculations in Science and Technology 9, 9 Wallace's 'ninth, and last research paper'; mass-dynamics model and Moyer argument
1988-01-14Physics Today letter (not published) per the book, no acceptance received
1989-03-15The Problem of Space and Time in Modern Physics (Leningrad talk) 1st International Conference on space and time, Leningrad; 1961 Venus radar data; translated by Tolchelnikova-Murri
1990Galilean Electrodynamics 1(2), 23 one of his last journal statements of the radar case; not found online
1990Physics Essays 3(1), 94 not found online in the Investigator's search
1990Reply to Salamin's binary-star objection sent to Beckmann's Galilean Electrodynamics, which printed Salamin and not the reply; content given in the book
1991-09Space-time Problem in Modern Physics (2nd Leningrad conference) 16-20 Sep 1991, 114 participants, 14 foreign
1993The Farce of Physics (manuscript) 49,195 words, 7 chapters, 156 references; the only document in the folder; also online at ekkehard-friebe.de (same text plus a 1989 Leningrad photo caption)
Government records (4)
1969-09-29AFCRL IBM card deck of Venus radar data offered by L. M. Hollingsworth; Wallace first called it a good test (18 Oct), then useless (25 Oct): stations close, observing time constant· Air Force data holder
1978-02NSF rejection letter (B. R. Holstein) 'no reason to abandon the conventional and remarkably successful theories ... your model which is beset with a number of fatal conceptual difficulties'; quoted by Wallace· the funding agency that declined
1983R. J. Smith, Science 221, 133 Lincoln Laboratory decoy work; the article that led to Wallace's 'Star Wars' secrecy inference; passages quoted do not mention radar astronomy or light speed
1985/1989Beam-weapon and classified-data items Physics Today 1985 and 1988 items on laser classification; Sky & Telescope 1989 on one classified astronomical data set; circumstantial items Wallace cites
Witness accounts and correspondence (29)
1968Thornton Page editing and H. K. Eichhorn checking Wallace's first radar paper Wallace's account; Page sponsored him at the Texas Symposium· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1968-12Shapiro's comment at the Fourth Texas Symposium, Dallas Wallace recalls Shapiro said all calculations assumed c and c+v was untested; Wallace: 'I have quoted your remarks as I remembered them'; no transcript· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1968-12-26Wallace to Shapiro, preprint sent opens the correspondence· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1969-01Shapiro letters of 13 and 17 Jan 1969 radar data 'not consistent with the ballistic theory ... consistent with general relativity', citing PRL 17, 933; paraphrased by Wallace· Shapiro led the analysis Wallace disputed
1969-03-13Walter Sullivan (New York Times) letter deferred to Thornton Page
1969-03-27Shapiro letter: data 'did not exist in the form' requested paraphrased by Wallace· Shapiro led the analysis Wallace disputed
1969-04-03Wallace to Shapiro: the 12:00 UT charge says Lincoln Lab removed daily variations by fixing the observing time, citing Evans et al. 1965· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1969-08/09PRL referee episode first referee 15 Aug 'suitable ... if revised'; resubmitted 21 Aug; editor Goudsmit 11 Sep (rejected by a second referee) and 23 Sep ('made a mistake'); reports not reproduced· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1969-10-25Wallace letter: the Duncombe charge synodic variation in Ash-Shapiro-Smith Fig. 4 'could only' be removed by empirical corrections like Duncombe's· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1969-11-07Hollingsworth (AFCRL) letter 'impossible for him to persuade Dr. Shapiro or other Lincoln Laboratory people' to measure light speed as anything but c; paraphrased· Air Force data holder
1969-10/12Shapiro letters of 13 Oct, 6 Nov, 28 Nov, 9 Dec 1969 9 Dec: 'too much occupied with university matters to direct any large-scale investigation'; paraphrased· Shapiro led the analysis Wallace disputed
1969-12Hollingsworth meeting, AAAS Boston four-hour meeting; per Wallace, AU values 'ranged over thousands of kilometers' and data needed Shapiro's permission· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1970G. C. McVittie letter Shapiro's secrecy 'makes him wonder whether there is something to be concealed'; paraphrased by Wallace; letter unread
1979-04-04J. W. Robinson letter (Spectroscopy Letters editor) could no longer publish Wallace because of 'very negative reader reaction'
1990-07-23J. W. Robinson letter 'completely unsavory and unobjective anonymous letters and phone calls'
1979/1985APS meeting confrontations S. Weinberg 1979, L. Lederman 1981, G. Brown 1982, C. Rubbia 1985; Wallace's accounts, no replies quoted· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
c.1983PRL paper rejected without a referee title and date not given· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1984Santilli, Il Grande Grido allegations that Coleman, Glashow and Weinberg blocked his salary; relayed by Wallace; also Santilli's Foundations of Theoretical Mechanics I-II· Santilli's own allegations
1987-10V. Sekerin letter (Novosibirsk) computes c+v from double stars; passed Wallace's paper to Pulkovo
1988S. A. Tolchelnikova-Murri letter (Pulkovo) 'Two scientists were dismissed because they discovered some facts which contradicted Einstein'
c.1988R. T. Fienberg (Sky & Telescope) declines to review News Notes· Wallace, the inventor; his own account
1989-03Pulkovo early retirements under Director Abalakin two anti-relativist women retired early, later reinstated; A. Schpitalnaya named; Wallace's report of conversations
1989P. F. Parshin's Ives-type experiment data published in a Soviet journal, theory refused; no journal or numbers given
1989J.-P. Vigier letter offer to publish in Physics Letters A; 'doubts on Prof. Shapiro's observations'
1989L. Essen letter a former Pulkovo director argued the eclipse results 'did not support Eddington's claim'
1990-03-15Salamin's binary-star objection (via Beckmann) c+v would give simultaneous redshifts in both members of binaries; Wallace conceded the prediction
1991NASA (W. E. Brunk) question-and-answer noted in the online edition of Ch.5
1991-09Beklyamishev's Leningrad talk on Wallace's Venus radar data title only
variousEinstein statements via Pais and Clark to Zangger 1912; to Freundlich 1913 ('my whole theory ... is false' if source speed matters); on Dayton Miller 1921 ('collapses like a house of cards')
Experiments and replications by others (19)
1962Pettengill et al., A radar investigation of Venus AJ 67, 181; Millstone radar 6 Mar-18 May 1961
1962Muhleman, Holdridge and Block, AU by radar from Venus AJ 67, 191
1964Alvager, Farley, Kjellman, Wallin, CERN pion-decay photon speed Phys. Lett. 12, 260; 2.9977 +/- 0.0004 x 10^8 m/s from sources at 0.99975c; |k| < 1e-4
1965Evans et al., Venus radar AJ 70, 486; the 12:00 UT charge rests on it
1966Shapiro, Ash and Tausner, Radar Verification of the Doppler Formula PRL 17, 933; Shapiro's cited answer to the ballistic theory; paywalled· Shapiro's group
1967Ash, Shapiro and Smith, astronomical constants from radar and optical data AJ 72, 338; USSR residuals 'systematically negative', up to five times quoted error; fit values 1.57, 0.97, 7.10; quoted by Wallace· Shapiro's group
1968Shapiro chapter, Radar Astronomy (Evans and Hagfors eds.) p.159 'parameters will (usually) be selected ... to cover up the inadequacies of the theory'· Shapiro's group
1969Shapiro, Radar observations of the planets Uspekhi Fiz. Nauk 99:2; its citing list includes Wallace 1969 (Math-Net.Ru)
1972Hafele and Keating, around-the-world atomic clocks Science 177, 166; -59 +/- 10 ns east, +273 +/- 7 ns west
1974-12Standish (JPL), AAS meeting report 'significant unexplained systematic variations' fitted with empirical corrections; per Wallace
1976Kotel'nikov et al., 1975 Venus radar Astron. Zh. 53, 1270; residuals 'reach 3500 microseconds ... 500 km' against planetary theory
1977Brecher, Is the Speed of Light Independent of the Velocity of the Source? PRL 39, 1051; X-ray binaries, k < 2e-9
1995/2004Radio (VLBI) light deflection by the Sun Lebach et al. 1995 gamma = 0.9996 +/- 0.0017; Shapiro et al. 2004 gamma = 0.99983 +/- 0.00045
1996A. G. Kelly, FOIA reanalysis of Hafele-Keating raw data Institution of Engineers of Ireland Monograph 3; disputes the data analysis
2000LEP Bhabha and g-2 electron size limits r < 2.8e-19 m (LEP); below about 1e-18 m (g-2)
2001Goldhaber et al., supernova light-curve time dilation 35 supernovae, b = 1.07 +/- 0.06; later DES to z ~ 1
2003Bertotti, Iess, Tortora, Cassini radio test Nature 425, 374; gamma = 1 + (2.1 +/- 2.3) x 10^-5
2018Li et al., Jupiter energy balance (Cassini) emitted/absorbed 2.132 +/- 0.051, against Wallace's 2 1/2
Related work and published replies (20)
1964F. Schmeidler, Sky & Telescope 27(4), 217 92 star shifts from the 1922 eclipse 'going in all directions'; basis of the 'Trimming and Cooking' claim
1965J. G. Fox, Evidence against emission theories Am. J. Phys. 33, 1; the extinction loophole; cited by Wallace
1967Clemence remark, IAU Symposium 21 second-order terms 'cannot be regarded as a new confirmation of relativity' (Tolchelnikova-Murri's rendering)
1970G. C. McVittie, AJ 75, 287 passage quoted concerns n-body solutions in GR
1971L. Essen, The Special Theory of Relativity: A Critical Analysis OUP; SR as 'a new system of units', 'accelerations are always involved'; quoted by Wallace
1971P. M. Rapier, VLBI of quasar 3C 279 Spectroscopy Letters 4, 303; cites Wallace
1972Horedt and Ruck, Constancy of the Velocity of Light in Vacuum Spectroscopy Letters 5, 455; published rebuttal of 'papers 1-15'; abstract read, full text paywalled
1975Wegener and Ohrstrom, Relativity, gravitation and absolute time Nuovo Cimento B 30, 291; cites Wallace
1979Chandrasekhar, Am. J. Phys. 47, 212 Eddington's 1917 deferment; no statement on data handling
1983I. E. Segal, chronometric cosmology Phys. Rev. D 28, 2393; last sentence quoted
1985I. Shapiro, reply in Scientific Ethics 1(2), 10 Shapiro's published answer to Wallace; content unknown; first record to obtain· Shapiro led the analysis Wallace disputed
1986P. LaViolette, Is the universe really expanding? ApJ 301, 544; tired light fits four tests better than a no-evolution q0 = 0 model
1986R. R. Wilson APS address Physics Today 39(7), 26; 'ostracize the culprit ... well-practiced referees'; Wallace concedes it may be humour
1988G. Burbidge review of Arp Sky & Telescope 75(1), 38; 'interminable refereeing, blackballing of speakers ... denial of telescope time'
1990V. N. Barykin, Soviet Physics Journal 33, 856 cites Wallace
1993S. A. Tolchelnikova-Murri, The Doppler Observations of Venus Contradict the SRT Galilean Electrodynamics 4(1), 3; also GED 5(6), 116
2001Tolchelnikova-Murri, Radar observations of Venus confirmed the classical (Galilean) rule Izv. VUZov Geodeziya i aerofotos'emka No.6, 85-108; read via ritz-btr.narod.ru summary; argues the round trip cancels, not c+v
2010/2012G. B. Malykin reviews of the Ritz ballistic hypothesis Optics and Spectroscopy 109, 951 (2010); with Romanets, 112, 920 (2012); cite Wallace
2011/2022Other citing papers G. Cao, Physics Essays 24, 381 (2011); M. Tran, arXiv:2208.14828 (2022)
Later accounts and media (4)
1967-12I. D. Novikov, report on the Fourth Texas Symposium Soviet Astronomy (ADS dates it Dec 1967); date conflict with Wallace's Dallas 1968, possibly the Third
2026Natural Philosophy Wiki biography born 8 Feb 1933, died 19 Mar 1997; NPA member; publication list; states the mainstream reading (a sympathetic society's page)
variousSecondary mentions Sungenis, Galileo Was Wrong (relays the Shapiro claim); viXra 'The Aether' calls him a radio astronomer; a Zhihu column
2012ritz-btr.narod.ru Russian site on Ritz's ballistic theory hosting Tolchelnikova-Murri's article
Records named but not yet examined (8)
1968-12Fourth Texas Symposium discussion record would settle what Shapiro said
1969PRL editorial file and the second referee's report content of the negative report
1961/1966Lincoln Laboratory and AFCRL reports and multi-station data needed for a joint c vs c+v refit
1975/1986Eckerd College archives and the mass-dynamics program source Block, Rhodes, Floyd; whether gravity is derived or fitted
1919/1922Eclipse plates and Dyson-Eddington-Davidson (1920) with the modern re-measurement of the 1919 plates (arXiv 1409.7812, unread)
1997Obituary (St. Petersburg / Tampa Bay Times) none found; also a 1969 Florida Presbyterian College lecture
1985Physics Today editorial correspondence the Lubkin rejection and later letters
Left out: the book's philosophy-of-science and general cosmology references not used by the reviews (Popper, Kuhn, Feyerabend, Mahoney, press reports on COBE), and web copies of listed works (GSJ, sciliterature.50webs.com, the Friebe edition), counted with their originals. Full catalogue: Wallace-Byran sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Refit the 1961-66 multi-station Venus radar data, or modern spacecraft ranging, with orbit elements, the AU and one ballistic (c+v) parameter all free, using the same epoch bookkeeping for both models. Nobody has published this.
Deciding records: Shapiro's reply in Scientific Ethics 1(2), 10 (1985); the Fourth Texas Symposium discussion record; Evans et al. AJ 70, 486 (1965) and Ash, Shapiro and Smith AJ 72, 338 (1967); Moyer 1981 eq. (A6); PRL 17, 933; Lincoln Laboratory and AFCRL data; the 1969 PRL referee reports; the NSF file.
Try it yourself: Run example.py. Derive tc/2 - tv/2 (constant c) and tc/2 (Wallace's c+2v rule), then compute tv/2 = -2,774 km for t = 452 s and v = -12.3 km/s, 30 days after the April 1961 conjunction, against 1.5 km radar accuracy. Then check that mass circulating at c on 5.7e-15 m gives 1/34 of the electron's spin.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Withdrew its own 'Internally inconsistent' verdict after QE: each radar equation follows exactly from its stated reflection rule, both at reception, so the tv/2 gap is a real model difference. But by Newcomb's yardstick in Fig. 1 the constant-c curve is the closer one. arbiter.md, QE revision A
Contrarian The size of Wallace's 3 ms is the natural scale of a first-order ballistic effect: the strongest honest observation in his favour. The same fact makes it testable, and the radar-specific question was never put to a neutral test. contrarian.md, Claim 1
Physicist Wallace's reading of JPL's Moyer formulation as c+v is a confusion: evaluating each endpoint at its own time is what a constant-c light-time equation in a barycentric frame requires. Moyer itself was not read in the review. physicist.md, Claim 1 b
QE Shapiro published a reply, Scientific Ethics 1(2), 10 (1985), answering Wallace's 'Great Speed of Light in Space Coverup'. Nobody located it, though it bears directly on the claimed admission; it is the first record to obtain. qe.md, section 3 item 1
Primer His methodological point is right: a fit that assumes c cannot, by itself, test c against c+v. Shapiro said as much in general terms. Source-velocity experiments that need no reflection rule still find no c+v effect. primer.md, sections 5.7 and 7
AI noteThe reviewers first called Wallace's radar algebra inconsistent; QE re-read the 1969 page images and found they had misread the epoch. His equations were right, yet his own Fig. 1 favours constant c.
Mallove saw 50 W go into the Correas' glow-discharge tube and about 500 W come off a motor shaft. A cheap closed-loop test would settle it; none was ever reported.
Invention / theory background
Eugene F. Mallove, editor and publisher of Infinite Energy and a leading cold-fusion advocate, wrote 'Tesla and the Aether' (2003). He argues that physics wrongly dropped a dynamic aether. His evidence: Paulo and Alexandra Correa's patented Pulsed Abnormal Glow Discharge (PAGD) tubes, which he says gave about ten times more output than input; their Tesla-coil 'massfree' radiation; an acupuncture brain-scan paper; and cold fusion. He was the Correas' editor and fund-raiser.
Ranking explanation
Criteria A, B and C: a stated 10x figure that a closed loop would decide cheaply, and an independent test arranged in 2002 that stalled. It sits below Wallace, whose radar data, documented obstruction and never-run refit make a fuller record, because here the core evidence is one sole-observer letter and Correa-run sources. It sits just above Kilner, another untested but cheaply testable claim, because Mallove's comes with a number and an arranged test.
Key supporting elements
Mallove's letter of 14 June 2001 reports 50 W of DC input and about 500 W of shaft output, measured with electric meters, a digital storage oscilloscope and a data acquisition system. One letter, published on a Correa-run site.
Patent US 5,449,989 reports battery-to-battery 'breakeven efficiencies' of 228% to 906%, including 485.2% +/- 18% over 64 runs. The inventors themselves state that battery accounting could distort these figures 'by up to 10 fold'.
Named witnesses: Mike Carrell (open-box demonstration, December 1999), Arthur Axelrad, Uri Soudak, Harold Aspden and William Tiller, plus reports by Bahman, Sapogin, Minchrowski and King. All of them reach us through Correa-run or Correa-listed sources.
The claim was not dismissed without testing. In 2002 SEAS offered an independent test for its Z-Prize. The arbiter's arithmetic: a 50%-efficient generator on a 500 W shaft returns 250 W to a 50 W input, a fivefold margin.
Joie Jones, the co-author Mallove quotes, did not approve the 2006 retraction of the acupuncture paper. Johnson's 1994 Skeptical Inquirer piece mocks a conference and gives no technical argument against Tesla's physics.
Key contradictions
The 10x compares DC electrical input with motor shaft power. How the 500 W was measured is not stated, and SEAS's prize rules said torque-to-wattage calculations 'may be inaccurate by an order of magnitude'.
No closed loop was ever reported. The Correas refused NASA and Navy participants and any off-site testing, and tied tests to $15-16M of funding. No report exists after the meeting of 16 November 2002.
The inventors' own patent says that adding two cells to the 29-cell charge pack cut the oscillation tenfold, and that more cells 'extinguishes the phenomenon'. The effect is highly sensitive to load.
The acupuncture reference names the wrong authors and title, and five of eight authors retracted the paper. An 80-microsecond resolution can show only about 125-190x nerve speed, not 1,000x, and fMRI's blood-flow signal lags by seconds.
Mallove calls cold fusion 'irrefutable', but the 2004 DOE panel split evenly on excess heat, and two thirds were unconvinced of nuclear reactions. His own 2003 conference paper says the nuclear-ash hypothesis 'has not been proved'.
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Verdicts by claim (8 of 22 shown)
Claim
Verdict
PAGD tubes give about 10x (50 W DC in, about 500 W shaft out)
Never properly testedstrong form (closed-loop gain): no demonstration; weak form (an indication in the inventors' lab, one observer): not replicated; an independent test was proposed in 2002 and not carried out
Tesla coils emit 'massfree' non-electromagnetic radiation; pulsing converts aether energy to electricity
Never properly testedexperimental part; Correa monographs not obtainedNot testable as statedwording ('massfree', 'aether energy')
Two kinds of electricity, massbound and massfree ('cold electricity')
Not testable as stateda name for an unmeasured entity
The aether is real, dropped by fashion; Tesla's global wireless power was possible
Tested, not supporteddetectable preferred-frame aetherHistorically superseded but instructive'dropped by fashion' history, partly accurateNever properly testeddynamic Reich-Correa aether, global power, aether as an energy source
A foot acupuncture point drove visual-cortex activation at least 1,000x faster than nerve speed
Internally inconsistentspeed as printedTested, not supportedthe paper's finding; retracted by five of eight authors, contested by three
Not testable as statedgeneral claim; suppression of PAGD not demonstratedTested, not supported'dark energy is a fudge'Established'settle it in the laboratory' as method
Cold fusion is established and needs the aether
Never properly testedheavy-water/palladium excess heat, in the decisive sense; transmutation without electric inputTested, not supported'irrefutable' nuclear reactions (contested); light-water nickel/platinum excess heatNot testable as statedelectron-cloud claim; 'needs the aether'
Author of the article; sole observer of the 50 W / 500 W PAGD figure (visits August 2000 and March 2001) · Editor and publisher of Infinite Energy, ran Cold Fusion Technology, Inc.; the Correas' editor, fund-raiser and business intermediary
Leading cold-fusion advocate; author of Fire from Ice (1991); founded the New Energy Research Laboratory and, in late 2002, the New Energy Foundation; co-author of a 2004 Correa Stirling-engine paper; died 2004. Education not in the review files.
Paulo N. Correa
Co-inventor of the PAGD tube and the aetherometry programme whose results Mallove reports · PAGD patent holder; runs aetherometry.com, aetherenergy.com and eugenemallove.com, the source of most later material
Former graduate student and collaborator of Arthur Axelrad at the University of Toronto (serum-free culture medium work); Labofex laboratory, Concord, Ontario, set up about 1987; US patents 5,416,391, 5,449,989 and 5,502,354.
Alexandra N. Correa
Co-inventor of PAGD; co-author of the Tesla-coil and biological-energy monographs · PAGD patent holder; co-runs the Correa websites and Akronos Publishing / ABRI
Not in the review files beyond her co-authorship of the patents, the ABRI monographs and the Journal of Aetherometric Research papers.
Arthur A. Axelrad
Witness to an Aether Motor demonstration; author of the April 2002 letter saying the lab was closing for lack of funds · Paulo Correa's former supervisor and friend of more than twenty years
MD, PhD, FRSC, Emeritus University Professor, University of Toronto; writes 'I am not trained in this field'.
Mike Carrell
Witness to an open-box PAGD demonstration (December 1999); wrote an overview of the Correa invention for Infinite Energy · Worked for Infinite Energy at the time
Retired RCA engineer. His report was not obtained by the review.
Theodore C. (Ted) Loder III
Proposed evaluator of PAGD for the SEAS $1M Z-Prize; at the 16 November 2002 Concord, Ontario meeting
Professor at the University of New Hampshire; gave a briefing on 'outside-the-box' technologies at the 2001 Senate field hearing. The SEAS side is known only through the Correas' quotations.
Joie P. Jones
Co-author of the 1998 PNAS acupuncture paper; source, in a June 2001 lecture, of the 80-microsecond figure Mallove quotes
Did not approve the 2006 retraction. Later wrote in the Journal of Scientific Exploration and on 'torsion'; his later pranic-healing experiments drew critical blog commentary (2012). Further background not in the review files.
Jeff Johnson
Author of the 1994 Skeptical Inquirer article that Mallove's side piece rebuts · Writes for CSICOP's journal; member of the board of the Rocky Mountain Skeptics
Electrical engineer, Littleton, Colorado. His article reports on an International Tesla Society conference; it names no specific error in Tesla's physics.
Evidence / artifacts (99 of 99 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (19)
1991Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth Behind the Cold Fusion Furor E. F. Mallove, book; named in the primer and the contrarian from memory
1991MIT Special Report (reanalysis of MIT cold-fusion data) Mallove; contrarian, from memory
2000-02The Strange Birth of the Water Fuel Age (memorandum requested by the Clinton White House) Mallove; listed in S. Hrg. 107-564 as 'not available at the time of this compilation'
2000-08-28Mallove letter after the first PAGD demonstrations 'satisfied myself in a preliminary way that the PAGD device was as-advertised'; quoted in the Correa narrative· Published by the Correas
2000-09-01Mallove letter of 1 September 2000 Listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
2000-09-21Mallove letter of 21 September 2000 Listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
2001-06-14Mallove letter to the Correas (source of the 50 W in / about 500 W shaft out figure) Visits August 2000 and March 2001; figure from the March 2001 visit; 'no one else from Infinite Energy was with me'; his stated certainties; saved in research/files· Mallove, the Correas' promoter; published by the Correas
2001-12-04Mallove letter to ABC (PDF) Listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
2002The Correas: an Appreciation of their Science and Technology Mallove, aetherometry.com; not read· Correa-run site
2002-02-20Mallove letter: Aether Motor, ORAC-driven Stirling MM6, capacitor charger, Aether Field Meter 27,000 microfarad capacitor to about 2 V overnight; gold-foil weight effect; outputs judged by hand; saved in research/files· Published by the Correas
2003Tesla and the Aether, with side article Tesla and the Science Cops Infinite Energy issue 48, 4 pages; the project's only document; read in full· Mallove, editor of Infinite Energy
2003LENR and 'Cold Fusion' Excess Heat (ICCF-10 paper) Groups PAGD with Graneau arcs, Wallman/Dammann arcs and BlackLight Power; says the nuclear-ash hypothesis 'has not been proved'; saved in research/files· Published by the Correas
2003New Energy FAQ Mallove; Correas spent about $1.2M of their own money since 1987; saved in research/files· Published by the Correas
2003-10-29Mallove letter of 29 October 2003 Listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
2004Power performance of Stirling motors driven from modified Orgone Accumulators, Part III P. N. Correa, A. N. Correa and E. F. Mallove, Infinite Energy 53:9; not read· Correas and Mallove
2004-01Mallove letters to Herman Branover (January/February 2004) Listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
–Demonstrating Aether Energy (PDF) Mallove, from eugenemallove.com; saved in research/files; contents not summarised in the review· Correa-run site
–Confrontation with Jed Rothwell Mallove, listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
–Cold Fusion/LENR: what Aetherometry has to teach Mallove, listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
Correa works (PAGD and aetherometry) (18)
1993Labofex report LS1-07 P. and A. Correa; from the Correa bibliography· PAGD patent holders
1996PAGD paper, 3rd International Symposium on New Energy, Denver pp. 43-62; where Mallove met Paulo Correa· PAGD patent holders
1996PAGD articles in Infinite Energy issue 7 (pp. 18-21 and 22-27) Two Correa articles; the article says PAGD was profiled in issues 7-9· PAGD patent holders
–Excess Energy Conversion System Utilizing Autogenous Pulsed Abnormal Glow Discharge Paulo Correa, Proceedings of COFE, p. 150; known from Valone's citation in the Senate record· PAGD patent holder
–LGEN cathodes article, Infinite Energy 17:73 From the Correa bibliography· PAGD patent holders
1999PAGD article, PACE 10(2&3):11 From the Correa bibliography· PAGD patent holders
1999ABRI monograph AS2-13: (Re-)Examination of the energy radiation output by Tesla coils (1) Article ref. 3 ('S2-13'); paid download, also in Experimental Aetherometry Vol. IIA (2003); not obtained· Correas
1999ABRI monograph AS2-14: massfree and massbound nonelectromagnetic frequency functions (Tesla coils 2) Article ref. 4; in Experimental Aetherometry Vol. IIA; not obtained· Correas
1999ABRI monograph AS2-16: primary massfree waves, secondary massbound waves, tertiary EM waves (Tesla coils 3) Article ref. 5, printed correctly as 'S2-16'; in Experimental Aetherometry Vol. IIB; not obtained· Correas
1999ABRI monograph AS2-17A: The indirect ORgone effect of Tesla radiation From the Correa bibliography· Correas
2001-05The Reproducible Thermal Anomaly of the Reich-Einstein Experiment Under Limit Conditions Infinite Energy issue 37; Mallove called it one of IE's most important papers; not read· Correas
2002-01A Modified Orgone Accumulator (HYBORAC) as a Drive for Low Delta-T Stirling Engine Infinite Energy issue 41; not read· Correas
2002Correa Stirling/ORAC article, Infinite Energy issue 42 Named in the primer with the issue 41 piece; not read· Correas
2002ABRI monograph AS2-28: Fundamental measurement of biological energies 1 Source of the Galvani 'Tesla radiation' quotation; not obtained· Correas
2003A Short Appreciation of Nikola Tesla Correa and Correa, Infinite Energy 48:40, same issue as Mallove's article; not read· Correas
–The Aether Motor and the years of Gene's demos (2000-2004) Correa narrative on eugenemallove.com: Denver 1996 meeting, CFTI funding effort, demos, investors briefed, black-box policy; saved in research/files· Correas
2025Critical Appraisal of XXIst Century Energy Science and Technology (1): Relevance of Nikola Tesla's Inventions J Aetherom Res 4(1):1-54; not read· Correas
2026The PAGD Ping-Pong System J Aetherom Res 4(9):1-11; named by the arbiter as a deciding record; not read· Correas
Patents and patent office (6)
1969Ernesto Manuel patent on externally pulsed abnormal glow (can coating) Cited as prior work in the Axelrad letter; number not given
1995-05-16US 5,416,391: Electromechanical transduction of plasma pulses Correa and Correa; priority 15 October 1992; PAGD driving a motor; saved page, abstract read· Patent holders
1995-09-12US 5,449,989: Energy conversion system Battery-to-battery 228-906%, 485.2% +/- 18% (n=64), 'up to 10 fold' caveat, 29-to-31-cell sensitivity; saved in research/files· Patent holders
1993Foreign family of US 5,502,354: WO 94/03918, GB 2,284,093, CA 2,141,309 CA 2,141,309 granted 4 January 2000; full texts not read· Patent holders
1993Foreign family of US 5,416,391 and 5,449,989: WO 94/09560, CA 2,147,153, AU 5147693, IL 107285 PCT/CA1993/000430; full texts not read· Patent holders
Government records (3)
1989US DOE (Department of Energy) cold fusion panel report Unfavourable to cold fusion; named by the reviewers from memory
2001-05-30S. Hrg. 107-564, Innovative Environmental Technologies (Senate EPW field hearing, Durham NH) Mallove statement p.87 (not read in full); Valone briefing citing PAGD; Loder, Greer, Chubb, Bearden; printed 2003; searched for names only
2004US DOE Report of the Review of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions Reviewers split about evenly on excess heat; two thirds unconvinced of nuclear reactions; seen via search results and a copy on a pro-LENR site
Company and business records (2)
2002-09-30SEAS (Space Energy Access Systems) $1M Z-Prize announcement and rules Rules exclude torque-based claims under 10x; known only as quoted by the Correas· SEAS (Steven Greer), prize sponsor
2002-10Correa 'Azure' development plan $15-16M; 1 kW converter demonstration prototype; known from the SEAS e-mail page· Correas
Witness accounts and correspondence (11)
1995Canadian Breakthrough on the One (Kilo)watt challenge Harold Aspden, Electrifying Times 12:25
1996Power from Space: the Correa Invention Harold Aspden, Energy Science Report No. 8
1996An Overview of the Correa Invention Mike Carrell, Infinite Energy 8(3):10-15 (year as in the Correa list; the arbiter ties it to his December 1999 open-box demonstration); not obtained
–The Correa PAGD Reactor: errata and supplement Mike Carrell, Infinite Energy 8(4) or 9(4):33-34 (the two Correa lists disagree)
1996The Supertube M. B. King
1998Auskopplung von Atherenergie durch Plasma-Entladung W. Bahman, NET-Journal 9/10:17 (German)
1998The theory of excess energy in a PAGD reactor L. G. Sapogin, Infinite Energy 20:48
2000The Correa device A. Minchrowski, PACE 11(1&2):31
2001Some Reflections on Gas Discharges and PAGD Pulses William Tiller (Stanford emeritus)
2002The PAGD, SEAS and the Z prize (2002 e-mail compilation) Greer, Kolber, Loder, Mallove, Correas; NASA/Navy refused; 'at our premises'; 16 Nov 2002 Concord meeting; 'holy grail'; about 50k of 178k characters read· Compiled and published by the Correas
2002-04-03Axelrad letter A. A. Axelrad, University of Toronto; Aether Motor demonstration witnessed; lists referees Aspden, Carrell, Soudak, Mallove, Tiller; lab closing for lack of funds; saved in research/files· Paulo Correa's former supervisor and friend; published on aetherenergy.com
Experiments and replications by others (14)
1941Reich-Einstein correspondence on the orgone-box thermal anomaly Einstein, 7 Feb 1941: 0.3-0.4 degrees, attributed to convection; Reich's 25-page reply; published in The Einstein Affair (1953); seen via search-result text
–Reich's orgone motor Cited as prior work in the Axelrad letter
1969Harold Aspden's 'law of electrodynamics' Invoked by Axelrad and the Correas
–Graneau water-arc and air-arc excess-energy experiments Excess 'approaching 24%' in a plasma physics journal, per Mallove's ICCF-10 paper
–Wallman/Dammann underwater carbon arcs Grouped with PAGD by Mallove
1991Mills and Kneizys, light-water nickel excess heat Explained by Mills as 'hydrino' formation; BlackLight Power; primary paper not opened· BlackLight Power
1991Shkedi and colleagues, Faraday-efficiency calorimetry 1991-93; reported to remove light-water excess heat; known via a Wikipedia article
c.1992Notoya and others, light-water excess heat reports 3-50% levels per a search summary; not opened
c.1992Bockris et al. (Texas A&M) transmutation reports Cited in Mallove's ICCF-10 paper; confirmations not searched
1998So, Jones, Kidney, Saito, Evaluation of Acupuncture Using fMRI and Ultrasonic Imaging (as printed in ref. 6) Not found; PNAS 95:2670-2673 is a different paper
1998-03-03Cho et al., New findings of the correlation between acupoints and corresponding brain cortices using functional MRI PNAS 95(5):2670-2673; Cho, Chung, Jones, Park, Park, Lee, Wong, Min; abstract read via Europe PMC by the contrarian; full paper not read
2006-07-05Retraction of Cho et al. 1998 PNAS 103(27):10527; five of eight authors; Jones, J. B. Park and H. J. Park did not approve; saved in research/files
2007Kurs et al., Wireless power transfer via strongly coupled magnetic resonances Science 317:83; 60 W at about 40% efficiency over 2 m; abstract via search
–SEEM journal paper on an orgone-accumulator thermal anomaly journals.sfu.ca/seemj; authorship and quality unknown; not read
Later accounts and media (18)
c.1875Encyclopaedia Britannica 9th edition, article on the aether (by Maxwell) Quoted by Mallove, p.2
1891-05Tesla's address to the AIEE, Columbia College 'electricity and ether phenomena are identical'; quoted via Seifer p.71
1910Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition, aether article Quoted by Mallove, p.2
1931-07-20Time magazine cover story on Tesla at 75 Mallove printed 'July 10, 1931' (Tesla's birthday); checked by the arbiter via archive.org and teslauniverse search results
1957Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science pp. 11-14, paraphrased by Johnson; Mallove prints the paraphrase as a Gardner quotation
1994Jeff Johnson, Extraordinary Science and the Strange Legacy of Nikola Tesla Skeptical Inquirer 18, Summer 1994, pp. 366-378; saved copy lacks pp. 368-374; quotations checked· CSICOP's journal; author on the Rocky Mountain Skeptics board
1994Nikola Tesla: Genius, Visionary, and Eccentric Same Skeptical Inquirer issue; not read· CSICOP
1996M. J. Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla Article ref. 1
1997Fox 1997 PDF on newenergytimes.com Search result for Carrell/PAGD; not opened
2001J. P. Jones, Journal of Scientific Exploration 15(2):183-197 Lead from search results; not read
c.2002J. P. Jones on 'torsion' (2002 and 2004a) Scribd copies in search results; not read
2003-02-12New York Times report on the age of the universe (13.7 billion years) Quoted by Mallove, p.1; not seen
2003-02-18Dennis Overbye, New York Times profile of Adam Riess Quoted by Mallove, p.1; not seen
–www.electricspacecraft.com Article ref. 2
–Nikola Tesla: Man of Three Centuries (teslauniverse.com) Possibly a Mallove essay; mentions the June 2001 SSE meeting and Jones; not opened
2004Report on the Death of Infinite Energy Listed on eugenemallove.com; not read· Correa-run site
2005Murder-investigation press releases on Mallove's death Listed on eugenemallove.com; not read; nothing in the record ties his death to any claim· Correa-run site
2012Respectful Insolence / ScienceBlogs posts on Jones's pranic-healing experiments Critical commentary in search results; not opened
Records named but not yet examined (8)
c.1999Records of the earlier DOE/State episode ('Parks and Zimmerman') Cited by the Correas, via Valone, as a reason to refuse state participants
2000Non-disclosure agreement terms Covered the first visits and the proposed 2002 test; named by the arbiter as deciding
2001Mallove's own New Energy Research Laboratory results on the Reich thermal anomaly Promised in the June 2001 letter; no publication found
2001-06Joie Jones lecture, Society for Scientific Exploration, La Jolla Source of the 80-microsecond remark; whether it gave a latency figure is open
2002The 'Berlin video' Shown by Mallove to Loder in October 2002
2002-11SEAS / Loder evaluation notes and e-mails (SEAS side) Would show whether the Z-Prize evaluation went on after 16 November 2002
–File histories of the PAGD patents Named by the arbiter; not read
–Corporate and patent-office records: Labofex, ABRI, Akronos, Aethera; CIPO files for CA 2,141,309 and 2,147,153 Ontario/Canada registries not reached by the Investigator
Left out: bibliography and index pages, reprints of the article on other sites, the rexresearch compilation of copies, Correa monographs unrelated to these claims (e.g. AS2-15 on magnetism), and the review's own AI-written analyses. Full catalogue: Malove-Eugene sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A neutral lab measures PAGD input as the time integral of v(t)i(t) at adequate bandwidth and shaft power on a dynamometer. It then closes the loop (shaft generator feeding the tube, battery removed) and runs unattended for about a day, box open, having agreed beforehand how to tell load extinction from no gain.
Deciding records: The SEAS/Loder evaluation notes, the NDA terms and the 'Berlin video'; Carrell's 1999 report; the Correa Tesla-coil monographs AS2-13/14/16 (count rates, distances, Faraday-cage results); the 2026 PAGD Ping-Pong paper; the full Cho 1998 paper and Jones's 2001 lecture, for any latency figure.
Try it yourself: Run example.py. Then check by hand: a pulse train of 500 V, 10 A at 1% duty is 50 W true average, but pulse voltage times RMS current gives 500 W. Also, 80 microseconds over 1.2 m bounds the speed at 15 km/s, only 150x nerve speed.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Contrarian Dismissed without testing? No. The record shows the opposite: a third party proposed a test and the conditions were not agreed. Who bore the larger share of responsibility cannot be said, since the SEAS side is known only through the Correas' quotations. contrarian.md, Claim 1, c. Tests
Arbiter Physicist and contrarian are both right. The first law has no confirmed exception, and ordinary artefacts are not excluded. But this is no refutation: two numbers are all the data there are. A claim of this form is settled by measurement, not argument. arbiter.md, Claim 1
Mathematician If 80 microseconds is the shortest resolvable time, then over 1.2 m the largest demonstrable speed is 15,000 m/s, about 150 times fast nerve speed. Showing 1,000x would need about 12 microseconds, so the stated resolution is 6.7 times too coarse. mathematician.md, Claim 5
QE There was an error in the review chain. Mallove printed reference 5 correctly as S2-16. The 'S2-15' came from the Step 1 deep read, and all three reviewers and the arbiter then corrected Mallove for an error that was not his. It has since been retracted. qe.md, section 4, check 6, and Recheck
Investigator Most of the new primary material comes from websites run by Paulo and Alexandra Correa, who hold the PAGD patents and were Mallove's collaborators. It is reported as their selection and characterization. No independent, off-site measurement has been found. sites.md, interested-party note and Leads 2
AI noteIn 2003 Mallove's editorial called the cold-fusion evidence 'irrefutable'. The same year, his own ICCF-10 paper conceded that the nuclear-ash hypothesis 'has not been proved' and is approximately correct 'in only a few experiments'.
A Cornell bacteriologist's 1936 case that living cells signal each other with faint ultraviolet light: tested by both sides, never settled, and its energy fails per photon.
Invention / theory background
Otto Rahn (1881-1957), Professor of Bacteriology at Cornell 1927-1949, wrote Invisible Radiations of Organisms (1936) to put Alexander Gurwitsch's 'mitogenetic radiation' (found with onion roots in 1923) before English readers. Cells, blood, nerves and even simple reactions were said to emit very weak ultraviolet (about 1900-2600 Angstrom) that speeds division in other cells, passes quartz but not glass, and is missing from cancer patients' blood. Rahn's laboratory did some experiments; Sidney W. Barnes wrote the physics chapter.
Ranking explanation
Rahn enters at 10 on criteria A, B and C. Below Mallove (9), whose glow-discharge tube claims a tenfold power gain in a machine; Rahn's anomaly is biological and tiny in energy. Above Kilner (11): both rest on unblinded observers, but Rahn's record adds counter data, paired controls (Julius, cornea, Blacher's tadpoles) and a funded 1937 negative whose protocol the proponents contest, and a modern photon counter could test the emission now.
Key supporting elements
Living tissue does emit faint light: ultra-weak photon emission is established, and Rahn's 100-1000 quanta/cm2/s for strong senders matches modern photomultiplier figures, though modern work reports 350-1300 nm, not far ultraviolet.
Series with built-in controls are strong on their face: Julius's 56 quartz-glass fibroblast pairs (1.92 against 1.01), 15 of 15 cornea pairs, Blacher's tadpole limbs (net 10.6 and 12.1 percent), Suchow and Suchowa's 25 of 25.
Physical counters responded too: six of ten Table 30 rows exceed 3 combined errors; Siebert and Seffert report several hundred normal bloods raised counts while carcinoma and cyanide-poisoned blood did not, which Rahn calls 'most convincing'.
The objection to the 1937 negative is specific: Volodyaev and Beloussov (Gurwitsch tradition) say it used 15-19 hour cultures, a bare salt medium and constant stirring; Potozky's 1930 daylight result predates the Quickenden test they say ignored it.
Rahn was candid: he printed the energy objection himself, listed ten detector failures and called his own induction percentage of 'no quantitative value whatever'. Wainwright's UK group (1997) reported 'partial evidence', a good effect they could not make reproducible.
Key contradictions
Hollaender and Claus (NRC Bulletin 100, 1937) worked two years with biological and physical detectors: 'all the attempts have yielded negative results.' It is the heaviest single item against the effect; the bulletin itself was not read here.
Energy per event: a 2020 Angstrom photon carries 6.1 eV, while sucrose hydrolysis releases 0.14 eV and neutralisation 0.58 eV per event. Rahn's reabsorption rescue reaches only about 2767 Angstrom on his own numbers.
The field disagreed on its defining band: Reiter and Gabor (1928) found 3200-3500 Angstrom; Gurwitsch's school found 1900-2500 and nothing at 3400. Rahn says the German results were 'never accounted for in a really satisfactory way'.
Detector failures were recognised after the fact (54 of 373 Gurwitsch experiments), no positive control was fixed in advance, blinding is never stated, and the cancer blood test gives no case counts, sensitivity or specificity.
Screens did not isolate ultraviolet: glass-paraffin-glass also passed the sea-urchin effect (Magrou and Reiss proposed electricity); fingertip and oxy-cholesterol tests lack a tabulated glass control, and at the book's intensities the dose is 10^10 too small to kill yeast.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 43 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Living cells emit very weak light, in the book's version short ultraviolet (1900-2600 A)
Establishedweak form: ultra-weak light, near-UV to near-IRNever properly testedemission at 190-260 nm at 10-1000 quanta/cm2/s
The radiation speeds division in other cells that absorb it
Never properly testedunder a protocol both sides accept; NRC 1937 negative contestedTested, not supportedReiter and Gabor's 3200-3500 A band, by the rival schoolNever properly testedregular light pulses 30 times more potent; daylight-dependent senders
Ordinary reactions emit it, each with a narrow-band fingerprint
Establishedsome oxidations emit faint near-UV or visible lightPlausible, untestedoxidations emitting 190-260 nmRefuted by calculationneutralisation, NaCl, hydrolysis as one-photon-per-event sourcesNever properly testedreaction-specific fingerprints
Energy accounting: 420 cal/g needed against 9.7 cal/g measured
Refuted by calculationone 2020 A quantum per reacting moleculeRefuted by calculationRahn's reabsorption chainPlausible, untestedrare-event weak emission at the book's intensities
Secondary radiation travels about 30 m/s along roots and nerves and may carry the nerve impulse
Never properly testedthe speeds as a UV relayHistorically superseded but instructiverole in nerve conduction
Healthy blood radiates, cancer blood does not; cancer may be a radiation disorder
Never properly testedblood radiation as a cancer diagnosticNot testable as statedcancer as a radiation disorderEstablishedordinary UV causes skin cancer (Roffo), not shown for the mitogenetic band
The radiation shapes development, and a harmful form from fingertips and oxy-cholesterol kills yeast
Never properly testedtadpole limbs and wounds, sea-urchin larvaeRefuted by calculationharmful UV at the book's intensityNever properly testedsomething from skin or oxy-cholesterol kills yeast through quartz
Failed replications do not disprove the effect
Establisheddetector state sensitivity in general microbiologyPlausible, untestedas the explanation for the NRC nullNot testable as statedas a blanket defence
Author of the book; advocate who reported the Gurwitsch school's work and ran some experiments himself · His laboratory produced some of the reported results
Born 9 April 1881, died 26 September 1957. Probable doctoral thesis on a terpineol (1902). Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois from 1913; Professor of Bacteriology at Cornell 1927-1949. Books include Physiology of Bacteria (1932), Mathematics in Bacteriology (1939) and Microbes of Merit (1945).
Alexander Gurwitsch
Discoverer of mitogenetic radiation (onion roots, 1923) and head of the school that produced most positive results · Originator of the theory; criticised rival results
Russian biologist; his school's 1932 monograph is the source of most numbers in Rahn's Chapters V-VII. Otherwise not in the review files.
Sidney W. Barnes
Wrote Chapter I, the physics primer on quanta, spectra and photoelectron counters
Research Associate in Physics, University of Rochester. Not the Barnes of the oxy-cholesterol work. Otherwise not in the review files.
Margaret N. Barnes
Probable co-author of the 1933 oxy-cholesterol and yeast-death work · Member of Rahn's laboratory
Thanked in the book as Mrs Margaret N. Barnes; co-author of a 1933 J. Gen. Physiol. paper with Rahn; a Cornell dissertation on yeast morphology is cited by Macht (1949). Otherwise not in the review files.
Reiter and Dennis Gabor
German rivals (1928, Siemens) who put the active band at 3200-3500 Angstrom, which the Gurwitsch school could not reproduce
The book gives only 'Gabor'; the review files identify him as Dennis Gabor, later a Nobel laureate in physics (memory, high confidence). Reiter is not in the review files.
E. Lorenz
Critic who named three artefacts in counter work and the per-molecule energy objection as Rahn presents it
Author of J. Gen. Physiol. 17:843-862 (1934). Otherwise not in the review files.
Alexander Hollaender (with W. Claus)
Ran the two-year National Research Council study (Bulletin 100, 1937) that found nothing
Also wrote 'The problem of mitogenetic rays' in Duggar's Biological Effects of Radiation (1936). Claus's initials are not confirmed. Otherwise not in the review files.
I. Volodyaev and L. V. Beloussov
Modern authors (2015) who argue the negative studies used untested conditions and credit Rahn with optimising the bacterial protocol · Work in the Gurwitsch tradition at Moscow State University and defend the field
Volodyaev also co-wrote the 2018 historical review of early research and the Soviet cancer-quencher work. Otherwise not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (126 of 126 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (18)
1902Uber ein neues Terpineol vom Schmelzpunkt 32 Grad Probably Rahn's doctoral thesis; HathiTrust full view; not opened
1928Physik der Milchwirtschaft Rahn with a co-author; HathiTrust catalogue only
1932Physiology of Bacteria Rahn's textbook; HathiTrust catalogue; may hold his view of the radiation
1933Ferguson and Rahn, Archiv fur Mikrobiologie 4:574-582 Bacterium coli detector work; Table 36 (3.4-4.2 times faster growth at 6 h), known only through Rahn's account, pp.133-144· Rahn's laboratory
1933Tuthill and Rahn, Archiv fur Mikrobiologie 4:565-573 Yeast bud detector; Table 21 and the 10/20/40-minute dose table with no proportionality; known only through Rahn's account· Rahn's laboratory
1933Rahn and M. N. Barnes, criteria of death in yeast, J. Gen. Physiol. 16:579 Listed in the book's author index; Mrs Margaret N. Barnes of Rahn's laboratory, not the physicist S. W. Barnes· Rahn's laboratory
1933Barnes and Rahn oxy-cholesterol experiments (Table 53a) Five batches; day 1: three dead, one mostly dead, one normal Mycoderma through quartz; no glass or blank control; page image p.200· Rahn's laboratory
1933Rahn, Problems in Growth Chemistry JSTOR; section on blocking growth acceleration by absorbing the rays in gelatin; Google snippet only
1933Ferguson's two-sided irradiation (unpublished) Strong effect, no cancelling, against Gurwitsch's interference idea; prose only, p.142· Rahn's laboratory
1934The Disagreement in Mitogenetic Experiments, a Problem in Bacterial Physiology J. Bacteriol. 28:153-158, PMC533662; free scans; Rahn's own statement of claim 7; opened, not read
1934The physico-chemical basis of biological radiations Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 2:226-240; excerpt read: 'need not necessarily appear as heat'
1934Tuthill and Rahn, Analysis of the bud formation of the Baron method Archive of Biological Sciences Ser. B 35:289-296; cited by Naumova et al. 2018· Rahn's laboratory
1934Huntington and Rahn, 'Mitogenetic irradiation' (title only) Journal of Bacteriology index, p.718; not opened
1936Invisible Radiations of Organisms (Protoplasma-Monographien IX) Borntraeger, Berlin; 230 PDF pages; physics chapter by S. W. Barnes; deep-read pp.44-146 and 160-200, digests for the rest; a 1944 printing is in HathiTrust, not compared· Rahn, advocate; his laboratory did some of the experiments
1936Fingertip and herpes-zoster yeast-killing tests One student's fingertip: 5 min over an open glass ring, 15 min through 2 mm lanolin-sealed quartz; zoster patient 15 min for about 6 months; page image p.111· Rahn's laboratory
1937Mitogenetic radiation, Tabulae Biologicae 14:1-35 Rahn's review after the book, possibly after the NRC study; would show whether he changed his view; not located
1939Mathematics in Bacteriology HathiTrust catalogue; not read
1945Microbes of Merit HathiTrust catalogue; possible record of his later view; not read
University and biographical records (4)
1913-09-01University of Illinois trustees record: Otto Rahn, Assistant Professor (3 years) uihistories.library.illinois.edu; search result text
1957Cornell memorial statement, Otto Rahn 1881-1957 Office of the Dean of the University Faculty; hdl 1813/18707; PDF found, download needs approval; not read
2017Singleton, Albert Jan Kluyver and the Unity of Life, J. Hist. Biol. Cites the memorial statement: born 9 April 1881, died 26 September 1957
2022Jeff Weber Rare Books catalogue 279 'Professor of Bacteriology at Cornell University from 1927 until 1949'; snippet
Company and business records (1)
c.1934Terzano and Co. (Milan) hemoradiometer for Protti's blood-radiation work Named in the book; known only through Rahn's account· Instrument maker
Experiments and replications by others (63)
1923Gurwitsch's onion-root discovery Root tip aimed at another root's growing zone; more mitoses on the facing side; p.68-69· Originator of the theory
1928Reiter and Gabor, Zellteilung und Strahlung (Siemens) Effective rays 3200-3500 A (maximum 3400), antagonistic 2900-3200 A; parthenogenesis at 3340 A (3 + 3 eggs); pp.73-76, 183-184
1928L. Gurwitsch and Anikin, corneal epithelium 2030 A on one eye, other eye control; exposed above control in 15 of 15 pairs; page image p.98· Gurwitsch school
1929Frank: repeat at 3400 A, negative Three runs; no radiation above 2400 A from tetanised muscle; p.75· Gurwitsch school
1929Schwemmle's analysis of about 200 onion-root results Error +/-10% at 500 mitoses; 'did not consider it proved' that rays cause the effect; p.72
1930Chariton, Frank and Kannegiesser No effect beyond 2600 A; Table 18 nulls at 3340-3380 A· Gurwitsch school
1930Frank and Rodionow counter measurements Frog muscle and heart excesses 21-233% (2.5-9.6 combined errors); Table 30
1930Potozky, daylight dependence of yeast senders (Table 33) Daylight-grown 20-35%; dark-grown -6 to +6.5%; n 4-8; page image p.122· Gurwitsch school
1930Ziripolo, sea urchin eggs (Table 27) Unchanged eggs 71-98% in controls against 8-35% irradiated; page image p.95
1930Siebert, 35 cancer patients and frog muscle runs Majority showed no blood radiation; excited muscle above resting in 24 of 24 (Tables 19-20); pp.78-79
1931Taylor and Harvey, Biol. Bull. 61:280-293 Photographic plates against fermenting yeast for 90 days: no effect; p.104
1931Nakaidzumi and Schreiber Negative test, via Naumova et al. reference list
1931Motshejewa's critique of onion-root work Pressure, tube, root selection and omitted sections; negatives with yeast and blood senders; p.76
1932Gurwitsch monograph (source of most Chapter V-VII numbers) Intermittent light about 1/30 the time (Table 31), gradual approach, polarisation reports; known only through Rahn's account· Originator of the theory
1932Kalendaroff, frog sciatic nerve spectra Minimal exposure 6 min resting, 2-3 excited; Rahn's own calibration-shift note; pp.169-171· Gurwitsch school
1932Anna Gurwitsch, optic nerve and optic lobe radiation (also 1934a, b) Light on the eye makes lobes radiate; colour-dependent spectra, intensities not stated; Table 49· Gurwitsch school
1932Kostoff and Kendall, tomato tumour tetraploid 120 plants, 7 shoots, 1 tetraploid; no control; p.183
1932Christiansen, menstrual-blood radiation Most experiments lacked exclusion of volatile substances (Rahn); p.175
1933Paul, onion roots without tube Steel-needle control; Rahn: 'number of examples ... not large enough'; p.77
1933Acs, antagonistic radiation between bacteria B. anthracis retarded 22-136% in 14 experiments; no quartz-glass control; p.186
1933Lepeschkin, necrobiotic rays Dying yeast blackened AgBr and Eastman Speedway plates; dead and living yeast did not; pp.113-114
1933Nelson and Brooks, infrared and sea urchin fertilisation 9 of 9 experiments, 18.5-87.1% fewer fertilisations; p.115
1934Barth, proteolysis counter series 24 of 25 runs above control (p about 8e-7 if independent)
1934Siebert and Seffert, blood on photoelectron counters Several hundred normal bloods raised counts; carcinoma and KCN blood did not; no counts printed; page image p.106
1934Lorenz, J. Gen. Physiol. 17:843-862 Three error sources: water vapour, charge on the quartz, induction-coil stimulation
1934Kreuchen and Bateman, Protoplasma Photoelectric yields over 2000 quanta per electron except Rajewsky's; negative review; Table 30a
1934Suchow and Suchowa, egg white over silver bromide Quartz vessel darkened sooner than glass in 25 of 25; pp.114-115
1934Wolff and Ras, polarised secondary radiation (1934a) 'Enormously' more effective; no numbers; p.127-128
1934Klenitzky, blood radiation after tumour removal Radiation returned when all tumour removed, against Gesenius; p.195
1934Protti, cytophotolysis, yeast injections and young-blood rejuvenation Table 48, ten cases, no controls; 12 + 12 starved mice; p.166, 196· Clinical stake in the treatments
1934de Korosi, propagation of secondary radiation The only published experimental proof of propagation, per Rahn
1934A. G. and L. D. Gurwitsch, school summaries with error data Cited by Rahn, p.54· Gurwitsch school
1935Julius, chick fibroblasts split between quartz and glass 56 pairs 1.92 +/- 0.15 against 48 pairs 1.01 +/- 0.08; only on poor media; page image p.97
1936Hollaender, 'The problem of mitogenetic rays', in Duggar (ed.) Biological Effects of Radiation pp.919-958; critical review
1937Hollaender and Claus, NRC Bulletin 100 Two years, biological and physical detectors, all negative; protocol contested by proponents; bulletin not obtained
1938Audubert, Angewandte Chemie 51:153 UV emission from chemical reactions
1938Glasser and Barth, Radiology 30:62-67; Grebe, Krost and Peukert, Strahlentherapie 60:538-571 Later physical-detection papers in Naumova's reference list
1939Gurwitsch and Gurwitsch, 'Ultra-Violet Chemi-Luminescence', Nature 143:1022 Positive physical report; title only· Gurwitsch school
1947Koyenuma, Biochem. Z. 318:1-14 'On the existence question of so-called mitogenic radiation'
1954Colli and Facchini, Nuovo Cimento Photomultiplier measurements of weak light from living matter
1967Metcalf and Quickenden, Nature 216:169 Not opened
1974Quickenden and Que Hee, BBRC 60:764-770 Weak luminescence from yeast and the existence of mitogenetic radiation; not read
1989Quickenden et al., Radiation Research 117:145-157 Attempt to stimulate yeast division with weak UV; no abstract found; proponents say daylight condition was violated
1997Wainwright, Killham, Russell and Grayston, Microbiology 143:1-3 'Partial evidence for the existence of mitogenetic radiation'; record only
–Magrou (and Magrou and Reiss), sea urchin larvae (Table 29) 0% abnormal in 221 controls; 78-85% through quartz; glass-paraffin-glass also transmits; electrical explanation offered; pp.100-101
–Blacher, tadpole limb growth and tail-wound healing Net limb gain 10.6 +/- 1.4% and 12.1 +/- 1.8%; wound series over 500 tadpoles (Table 51); pp.182-190
–Bromley, salamander tail Table runs 6.2-56.4% over 1-24 h; no second maximum shown; page image p.188
–Golishewa, 54 failures in 373 blood experiments Recognised because all associates using that culture that day were negative; p.107· Gurwitsch school
–Gesenius, blood radiation and cancer; yeast fermentation counts No case counts; 'occasional exceptions'; 102 runs 68/4/30; p.99, 193-195· Clinical advocate
–Heinemann, gold-sol nephelometer and cancer blood test Blood about 26 units against 2-3; single runs; positive result 'excluded ... tumor with certainty'· Clinical stake in cytagenin
–Seyderhelm, cytagenin raising blood radiation 70-80 year olds after 1-2 weeks; duration not stated; pp.165-166· Clinical stake
–Braunstein and Heyfetz, tumour rats (Table 53) Groups of 3-14; page image p.194
–Roffo, ultraviolet and sunlight rat tumours 150 rats all with tumours in 4 months under UV; 52% of 700 in sunlight; none under tungsten; p.197
–Latmanisowa, parabiosis of sciatic nerve by radiation; Lapitzki, mercury lamp More than 40 repeats; no quartz-glass screen named; p.174· Gurwitsch school
–Salkind, periodicity and bud-count depression (Tables 34-35) Repeats with opposite signs; Rahn: 'no definite periodicity'· Gurwitsch school
–Wolff and Ras, neutralisation and NaCl dissolving (Table 14) +45% at 5 min; +28 to +45% at 20-30 s; one group, no error estimate; pp.64-65
–Zoglina, half-disk intermittent irradiation Five values near zero, five at +28 to +64%· Gurwitsch school
–Stempell, Liesegang rings and peroxide decomposition Disturbed by radiation and by volatile onion oil; pp.102-103
–Zwaardemaker, radioactive potassium substitutes restart frog hearts 34 experiments; not tied to mitogenetic rays; pp.115-116
–Rubner's heat of sucrose hydrolysis, 9.7 cal/g Basis of the 43-times energy objection; p.55
–Kannegiesser; Braunstein and Potozky; Ponomareva, oxidation spectra Agree on 2200-2350 A; one school, one detector· Gurwitsch school
–Unpublished oxalic acid + permanganate run (Table 15) The only same-time quartz-against-glass control in the deep-read pages
Later accounts and media (34)
1932-06-25'Evil Eye' Is Found to Be Based on Fact, New York Times p.14 Report of Rahn's AAAS Syracuse talk: eye, nose and fingertip radiation killed yeast; right hand stronger
1932-09-10Science Service wire by Watson Davis, 'Deadly Human Radiation' Read in the Hawera Star; also Gisborne Times, Greymouth Evening Star, Dunstan Times, Timaru Herald, Franklin Times (Aug-Oct 1932); 'preliminary stages'
1932Theosophical Quarterly report of Rahn's human-radiation lecture IAPSOP; not opened
1932Stempell, Die unsichtbare Strahlung der Lebewesen (Jena) German book with nearly the same title; not read
1934Science 79(2061):584, Cold Spring Harbor symposium programme Lists 'mitogenetic rays, Rahn'; not opened
1936JAMA 107(5) review of the book Seen in Google only
1936ACS journal review of the book Seen in Google only
1937-12-11'Mitogenetic Rays?', Nature 140:1007-1008 Unsigned news item on NRC Bulletin 100: 'all the attempts have yielded negative results'; about 600 papers published; abstract read
1939Gerlach, 'Existiert die mitogenetische Strahlung?', Naturwissenschaften Review of Hollaender and Claus; title only
1942Pesochensky, doctoral dissertation on blood-radiation quenching in cancer Leningrad Oncological Institute; via Naumova et al.· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
1947The Teaching of the Cancer Quencher Soviet monograph; via Naumova et al.· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
1948Introduction to the Teaching of Mitogenesis Gurwitsch and Gurwitsch; via Naumova et al.· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
1949Macht, 'Concerning the chemical nature of menstrual toxin', Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. Cites Rahn and M. N. Barnes dissertation; snippet only
–Macht, 'Experimental studies, old and new, on menstrual toxin' 'Rahn and his co-workers claimed that oxycholesterol emits destructive ultraviolet rays'; snippet
1950Avchina, dissertation on blood radiation and cancer Via Naumova et al.· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
1955Sneshko, dissertation on blood radiation and cancer Via Naumova et al.· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
1968A. A. Gurwitsch, later books (1968, 1974) Soviet continuation; not read· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
1973Tompkins and Bird, The Secret Life of Plants Links Rahn to Hieronymus's 'eloptic' devices; not opened
1976F. A. Popp, biophoton work (from 1976) Related ultra-weak photon emission research
–Vladimirov and Tarusov, ultra-weak emission (1950s-70s) Related work
–Corliss, Incredible Life: A Handbook of Biological Mysteries Reprints a 1932 press item; not opened
1988A. A. Gurwitsch, 'A historical review of the problem of mitogenetic radiation', Experientia 44:545-550 Not read· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
1988Van Wijk and Schamhart, Experientia 44:586-593 Related work; not read
1992Albrecht-Buehler, cell-to-cell light signalling Related work
1998Wainwright, 'Historical and recent evidence for the existence of mitogenetic radiation', Perspect. Biol. Med. 41:565-571 Project MUSE blocked by CAPTCHA; snippet calls the book 'impressive and influential'
2000Goraczko, Med. Hypotheses 54:461-468 Not read
2003Trushin, non-chemical distant interaction (2003-04) Related work
2007Farhadi, cell-to-cell signalling Related work
2009Fels, cellular communication through light Related work
2011Cifra et al., Electromagnetic cellular interactions Academia.edu; not opened
2013Scholkmann, Fels and Cifra, Am. J. Transl. Res. 5:586-593 Related work
2014Cifra and Pospisil review of ultra-weak photon emission Search summary: 350-1300 nm, several to thousands of photons/s/cm2
2015Volodyaev and Beloussov, 'Revisiting the mitogenetic effect of ultra-weak photon emission', Front. Physiol. 6:241 First 100,000 of 185,000 characters read by a fetch tool; disputes NRC and Quickenden conditions· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
2018Naumova, Naumova, Isaev and Volodyaev, historical review, JBPE 4(4):040201 Abstract and about 190 references read; 'very promising results', 'interrupted and almost abandoned'· Gurwitsch tradition, defends the field
Records named but not yet examined (6)
–Cornell Rare and Manuscript Collections: Rahn papers and Dept. of Bacteriology records Named by the arbiter as deciding for the post-1937 silence
–Smithsonian Institution Archives, Science Service records Original 1932 Watson Davis wire text
–NRC correspondence on Bulletin 100 and Hollaender's papers Named by the arbiter
–Reviews of the 1944 printing Would show the book's reception after the NRC negative
–Day-level raw data from any mitogenetic laboratory Would decide whether detector failures can be identified in advance
–M. N. Barnes dissertation, Morphological Changes in Yeast Induced by Biological Radiation Cornell; known from Macht's citation· Rahn's laboratory
Left out: the many other papers in the book's bibliography that no review file singles out (about 600 had appeared by 1937), the 1944 printing as a separate item, catalogue and index pages, and search hits for the unrelated writer Otto Rahn. Full catalogue: Rahn-Otto sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A pre-registered, blinded two-laboratory test: proponents fix culture age, medium, induction time and a calibrated UV-C positive control (10-1000 quanta/cm2/s) that declares a responsive day; quartz, glass and paraffin-glass screens assigned blind; analysis by day, copying Julius, Blacher and the cornea pairs. Alongside, a photomultiplier spectrum of lag-phase yeast and onion roots, 190-300 nm, with blanks.
Deciding records: Hollaender and Claus's NRC Bulletin 100 and NRC correspondence; Rahn's 1937 Tabulae Biologicae review and 1934 J. Bacteriol. paper; the Cornell memorial statement and Rahn papers; Quickenden 1989 and Wainwright 1997 in full; the Soviet cancer-quencher dissertations (1942-1955); the 1932 Science Service wire; reviews of the 1944 printing.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: it reproduces Rahn's 420 cal/g (414, a ratio of 42.6), the per-event energies, the 2767 Angstrom limit of his rescue, a photon yield of 2.6e-14 per molecule and the 10^10 dose gap. By hand: a 3000 rpm disc, a 15 degree shift over 2.5 cm, gives about 30 m/s.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Dismissed without testing? No: it was tested by both sides. Was it properly settled? No: the only neutral, well-resourced negative is contested on protocol, and the positive results are unblinded and mostly lack error estimates. arbiter.md, Claim 1
Arbiter The total energy budget costs nothing at the observed intensities, about a millionth of a millionth of the heat power. What stands is the per-event problem: one 6 eV photon needs the energy of 43 sucrose events, and Rahn's remedy fails. arbiter.md, Claim 3
QE The text layer of p.111 reads '1.5minutes' where the page says 15 minutes. Two reviewers, the arbiter and the first primer discussed a faster-through-quartz anomaly the page does not contain; caught on the page image and withdrawn. qe.md, section 3, check 5
Contrarian Rahn complains that few English papers appeared and those were 'mostly negative'. That is a complaint about a literature, not documented suppression. The record is thin and the absence is not proof of its opposite. contrarian.md, section 2
Investigator The work went on in the USSR after the West stopped: Pesochensky's 1942 dissertation, The Teaching of the Cancer Quencher (1947), dissertations in 1950 and 1955. Naumova et al. (2018, Gurwitsch tradition) report 'very promising results', 'interrupted and almost abandoned'. sites.md, Leads for review 2; research/2026-10-06-jbpe.md
AI noteRahn's 1932 talk made the New York Times as ''Evil Eye' Is Found to Be Based on Fact'; his 1936 book says such human radiation occurred 'only very rarely' and that the authors did not want that publicity.
A London hospital physician said a dye screen lets anyone see a human aura; a cheap blind test was designed in 1912 and is still not on record as run.
Invention / theory background
Walter J. Kilner (1847-1920), Cambridge-trained physician and former medical electrician at St Thomas's Hospital, London, published The Human Atmosphere in 1911. After looking at daylight through a glass cell of dicyanin dye, he said, an observer sees a three-layer haze round the body. He used it with a coloured afterimage band to read sex, heredity, temperament, epilepsy, pregnancy and local disease. A 1920 edition called the aura 'an ultra-violet phenomenon'.
Ranking explanation
Kilner meets A, B and C. Below Mallove (9), whose glow-discharge tube claims a large measured power gain; Kilner's claims are perceptual, with no energy anomaly at stake. Above van Vlaenderen (11), a theory whose predictions have no experiments or reception history yet; Kilner has 1911-12 trials in Chicago, Philadelphia, Graz and Paris, published counts, and a blind design by de Fontenay (1912) that nobody reports running. A reader could run the decisive test with a filter and a curtain.
Key supporting elements
Others reported seeing something: O'Donnell before about twenty Chicago physicians (newspaper report, 1911), H. C. S. and Goodspeed ('no doubt... a physical phenomenon is observable'), and two observers in Graz (Surya, 1912).
An unwitting sham: three times a methylene-blue screen was handed over in place of dicyanin, and the viewer saw nothing; Kilner says he did not tell her 'because this was regarded as a good test' (1920 edition).
Parent-child aura width classes agree in 15 of 15 pairs, far above the 0.38 chance rate; all 8 epileptics in the first hundred cases fall outside the blue-aura group (chance about 0.01).
Several readings ran against the patient's own belief: Case 21 told she was not pregnant (period came 7 days later); a 38-year-old's period came 7 days after the reading, not the fortnight she expected.
Kilner published his failures and retractions: failed photography, a 'healthy symmetrical' case who had hidden an epileptic fit, and 'the limitations of the Aura as a diagnostic agent are great'.
Key contradictions
In Paris (1911-12) de Rochas, de Fontenay and their friends saw nothing matching Kilner's descriptions with his own four screens; de Fontenay, sympathetic, called it 'a reservation, not a denial'.
H. C. S. found the haze 'more pronounced with an inanimate hand-towel than it is with the human being', against a body-specific emanation; Kilner replied he had never seen haze round any inanimate object except magnets and radio-active substances.
Every diagnosis and aura class rests on one observer, Kilner, usually the treating physician who knew the history; there is no blinding, no second observer who confirmed a band patch, and no count of failures.
A filter that only removes visible light cannot reveal a band outside the visible spectrum; the eye's lens absorbs below about 390 nm, so a normal eye cannot see an ultra-violet aura directly.
The two hidden-site willing trials used one paid subject who saw auras herself, signalled when to look and was in view; the blue band used cannot tell red from yellow, so they test location, not colour.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 23 shown)
Claim
Verdict
A structured haze round the body becomes visible after looking through a dicyanin screen
Plausible, untestedweak form: screen-primed observers report a hazeNever properly testedstrong form: an objective, body-specific emanation
The aura is a force from the body acting on the ether (1 aF and 2 aF)
Historically superseded but instructivethe 'two forces' are a bookkeeping device by Kilner's own words
The aura lies outside the visible spectrum
Internally inconsistent1911 form: invisible yet seen through visible-light screensNever properly tested1920 ultra-violet form
Hazes round magnets, uranium and galvanic circuits; aura changed by static charge and halogen fumes (1920)
Never properly testedsingle observer, unblinded, no counts
Aura width, colour and shape reflect sex, age, heredity, temperament and disease
Never properly testedwidth vs sex, age, parentage; colour series; left-side narrowing in epilepsyNot testable as statedtemperament, intelligence, disease types without a rule
The complementary-colour afterimage band diagnoses disease, tenderness, menstruation and pregnancy
Never properly testedas a diagnostic methodPlausible, untestedkernel: patches track skin and lightingEstablishedthe negative afterimage itself
Band changes show aura colour; the will projects rays and changes colour; two willed spots found blind
Never properly testedwilled rays and colour; the two hidden-site trialsNot testable as statedthe Appendix design as a test of colour
Inventor of the dicyanin screen method; sole observer in nearly every account
Born 1847, Bury St Edmunds; St John's College, Cambridge (B.A., M.B.); MRCP 1883. Medical electrician in charge of electrotherapy at St Thomas's Hospital, London, 1879-1893, then private practice in Ladbroke Grove. Earlier N-ray needle work, abandoned. Died June 1920; place of death conflicts (Isle of Wight per Wikipedia; Bury St Edmunds address in the 1920 preface).
Francis J. Rebman
Publisher of the 1911 book and of the Archives of the Roentgen Ray, which reviewed it · Sold the screens with the book (30s. boxed set; screens 17s. 6d.)
Described by Wikipedia as a friend of Kilner who supported his research in America; issued a 1912 booklet explaining the discovery. Otherwise not in the review files.
Patrick S. O'Donnell
Physician said to have repeated Kilner's experiments at Mercy Hospital, Chicago, June 1911, before about twenty physicians · The report is his own announcement, relayed by newspapers
Not in the review files beyond the 1911 newspaper reports relayed by the Annales des Sciences Psychiques and an encyclopedia entry citing Harry Price.
Guillaume de Fontenay
Paris investigator who tried Kilner's screens with Count Albert de Rochas and friends (1911-12) and saw nothing; proposed two blind tests
Wrote the March 1912 Annales des Sciences Psychiques review; sympathetic to the aura and called his failure a reservation, not a denial. De Rochas had earlier tested sensitives by secretly reversing a magnet's current. Otherwise not in the review files.
H. C. S. and Dr Goodspeed
US correspondents who reproduced 'some of the effects' and found the haze stronger round a hand-towel than a person
H. C. S. is unidentified. The Investigator suggests Dr Goodspeed is probably Arthur W. Goodspeed, University of Pennsylvania physicist and early X-ray worker, recorded as memory, medium confidence, not verified.
G. W. Surya
Ran screen trials in Graz (1912); two observers reported haze and rays; estimated about half of first-time viewers see nothing · Editor of Zentralblatt fur Okkultismus, published by Altmann, which also published Feerhow's book on the trials
Not in the review files beyond his editorship and the trials Feerhow reports.
Dr Merrick
Physician who brought patients to Kilner, including the one case Kilner framed as a test (history withheld)
Saw the aura 'quite plainly' in his ulcer patient (Case 33) but not the band spot Kilner reported. Otherwise not in the review files.
Harry Boddington
Revived the screens as 'Aurospecs' goggles c.1929-31 and wrote the only account of the 1914-1930 gap · Maker and sole seller of Aurospecs (one guinea), held a provisional patent, sold Kilner's book and courses
Ran the London Psychic Educational Centre; Spiritualist teacher. He himself warned that 'suggestion and optical illusions have a definite place'.
Evidence / artifacts (50 of 50 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (4)
1911The Human Atmosphere, or the Aura Made Visible by the Aid of Chemical Screens Rebman, New York and London; 42 cases, Tables I-II, Appendix willing experiments; Google Books scan, deep-read in full
1911The Shifting of the Chromatic Focus of the Eye by the Use of a Dicyanin Screen Archives of the Roentgen Ray v.16 pp.344-352; 12 observers of 30; read by the Investigator in a browser on HathiTrust, table not saved
1912Kilner's reply to H. C. S. Archives of the Roentgen Ray v.16 p.240: never seen a haze round an inanimate object except a magnet or radio-active substance
1920-09The Human Atmosphere (The Aura), second edition Kegan Paul / Dutton; second impression May 1926; ultra-violet hypothesis, Wimshurst, fumigation, microscope and hypnosis series; Internet Archive OCR, deep-read; later reprints 1965 and 1973
Patents and patent office (1)
c.1930Boddington 'Aurospecs' provisional patent UK; mentioned in Boddington's booklet; Espacenet / UK IPO search not reached· Seller of the goggles
Government records (2)
1920Kilner death registration and probate FreeBMD and probate; would settle Isle of Wight versus Bury St Edmunds
1914British dye import and wartime control records Would test the wartime loss of German dicyanin
Company and business records (6)
1911Rebman's Analytical Catalogue, Spring 1911 Bound into the project PDF (pp.350-357); lists the book 'with screens' at $10.00· Publisher and screen seller
1911Unsigned review of The Human Atmosphere, Archives of the Roentgen Ray v.16 p.156; 'many of them are able to see a bluish haze'; cautions on 'sight and suggestion'; prices· Publisher's own journal
1911Editorial on the aura, Archives of the Roentgen Ray v.16 p.122; editor W. Deane Butcher; 'artificial or temporary myopia' anecdotes· Publisher's own journal
1912The Human Aura: a Brief Explication of Dr. Kilner's Discovery Rebman booklet; HathiTrust hvd.hnxbgt, full view; not reached· Publisher
1910Meister, Lucius and Bruning (Hoechst) dye catalogues 1910-1920 Named by the arbiter as deciding for the dicyanin supply question
1911Rebman sales records Named by the arbiter for the commercial-failure explanation
Witness accounts and correspondence (4)
1911Letter from H. C. S. (with Dr Goodspeed) Archives of the Roentgen Ray v.16 pp.199-200; 'some of the effects'; haze stronger round a hand-towel
1929-06-06A. E. Mundy endorsement of Aurospecs Chemist who says he compounded the original Kilner screens; 'not prepared to say' what the aura is; printed in Boddington's booklet· Printed by the seller
1929-09-19Dr Drysdale Anderson letter He and his wife 'can make out the aura', about three inches thick; quoted in Boddington's booklet· Printed by the seller
c.1931Seven Aurospecs buyer testimonials Mist, sparks, 'X-ray' hands; one says 'may have been due to imagination'; in Boddington's booklet· Selected and printed by the seller
Experiments and replications by others (11)
1911-06-15New York Herald report of O'Donnell's Mercy Hospital demonstration About twenty physicians, four young women, 'succeeded'; known through the Annales 1912· O'Donnell's own announcement
1911-06Chicago newspaper report of Kilner's discovery London correspondent's note of 19 May, printed 21 June 1911; relayed by the Annales
1911-07Clipping: O'Donnell watches the radiation vanish at a death Headline says 'photographed', text says only 'saw'; relayed by the Annales· O'Donnell's own claim
1911-09-01De Rochas on the Chicago and New York reports Annales des Sciences Psychiques v.21 pp.264-268; not obtained
1912-02Surya's Graz screen trials Zentralblatt fur Okkultismus, February 1912; known through Feerhow 1913 ch. III· Altmann publication
1912-03De Fontenay, L'Aura humaine et les ecrans du Dr Walter J. Kilner Annales des Sciences Psychiques 22, pp.74-84; Paris negative trials with de Rochas and J.-C. Roux; two proposed blind tests; read from page images
1912Paris psychical society report of a de Rochas and de Fontenay lecture on Kilner's screens Annales des Sciences Psychiques 1912, PDF p.196
1912Werner and Caan on photo-activity of human tissue Relayed in Annales 1912 (printed p.183) from L'Annee Electrique; Heidelberg; no data given; a different effect
1913Feerhow, Die menschliche Aura und ihre experimentelle Erforschung Max Altmann, Leipzig; ch. III (other experimenters) read; ch. II and Vienna Psychological Society appendix not reached· Altmann, also Surya's publisher
–Scatcherd and Baraduc film 'photographs' of the aura One undated paragraph in Boddington's booklet; shown at 'the French Academy'; no plate or reference· Reported by the seller
–Harry Price note on O'Donnell, via Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 'Aura' Encyclopedia.com snippet: O'Donnell 'controlled and confirmed' Kilner's experiments; page returned 404
Later accounts and media (14)
1911-02-05The human aura has at last been photographed New York Times; headline only, page rendered blank; conflicts with the book's report of failed photography
1911-08-19Daily Journal-Gazette item on Rebman promoting Kilner's work Mattoon, Illinois, p.3; cited by Wikipedia
1918Bureau of Standards, wave-length measurements in spectra from 5600 to 9600 A US Bureau of Standards; dicyanin as a red and infra-red sensitiser; archive.org
1919Bureau of Standards, application of dicyanin to the photography of stellar spectra archive.org app144875051919318318unse
1925Powell, The Etheric Double and Allied Phenomena Used Kilner's findings; HathiTrust full view, not read
–Richet, Thirty Years of Psychical Research Cites Kilner and 'Dr. O'Donnell'; Google result only
1930-03-14Daily Chronicle article on Drysdale Anderson Said by Boddington to have 'confirmed Dr. Kilner's researches'; not quoted, not obtained
c.1931Boddington, Aura. Kilner Screens (Aurospecs) and All About Them London Psychic Educational Centre Handbook No. 4, ed. David Gow; account of the dicyanin gap 1914-1930; deep-read· Maker and seller of Aurospecs
1937Bagnall, The Origin and Properties of the Human Aura Pinacyanol screens in place of dicyanin; 1970 and 1975 editions on archive.org, borrow only· Maker of his own screens
1970The Human Aura: A Study of Beliefs Scribd snippet: dicyanin supply from Meister Lucius and Bruning cut off in 1914-18
1993Nickell on Kilner Sceptic author; calls it pseudoscience; via Wikipedia
2005Lindgren on cobalt-blue glass screens Via Wikipedia
2013Melton on Kilner Results seen as artefacts of the observer's optic process; goggles advertised into the 1970s; via Wikipedia
2026Wikipedia, Walter John Kilner Biography and reception; read by the Investigator and re-fetched by the arbiter
Records named but not yet examined (8)
1893BMJ society reports 1893 and 1898 (possible Kilner electrotherapy work) PMC2422466, PMC2422189, PMC2433863; listed by Europe PMC, not checked
1912-01-06BMJ review of The Human Atmosphere Issue 2662, pp.20-22, PMC2344221; 'Macbeth's visionary dagger' line and a replication claim known only from Wikipedia; blocked by CAPTCHA
1912Lancet and BMJ coverage of Kilner 1912-1920 Named by the arbiter for the professional-rejection explanation
1912St Thomas's Hospital minutes and Kilner-BMA correspondence Named by the arbiter for the suppression and rejection questions
1912BMJ editorial files Named by the arbiter
1911Arthur W. Goodspeed papers, University of Pennsylvania archives To identify H. C. S. and the 1911 trial
1920-06-30Death of Dr. W. J. Kilner, Suffolk and Essex Free Press p.6; cited by Wikipedia
1929Light, 1929-1931 Spiritualist weekly edited by David Gow; for Mundy, Anderson and the Aurospecs revival
Left out: further reprints and library copies of Kilner's books, the Google front matter and back matter of the scan, search hits not opened (Leaf 1926, Occult Review 1911, Electrograms from Elysium 1958, Tansley 1984, Dakin 1975, a 2026 web essay), and bibliographies that only cite de Fontenay. Full catalogue: Kilner-Walter sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Blinded detection: several observers primed with dicyanin or a sham screen of similar colour; behind a curtain a person, a warm towel at body temperature, or nothing, in random order; 50 or more trials each, pass criteria fixed beforehand. De Fontenay's 1912 designs (hidden magnets; a 25-pair wire board switched from a distant room) test the magnet haze.
Deciding records: The BMJ review of 6 January 1912 (did anyone run a trial?), the New York Herald of 15 June 1911 and Chicago reports on O'Donnell, the NYT article of 5 February 1911, the saved table of Kilner's chromatic-focus paper, and the Rebman 1912 booklet.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: it turns Kilner's microscope shift (+2.5 divisions of 1/1000 inch) into about 1 dioptre of eye focus, and recomputes the hidden-site chance (about 1 to 3 per cent per guess), the heredity Fisher tests and the epileptics-outside-blue odds (about 0.01).
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter The perceptual reading explains more of the record at no cost; the strong form has no independent support beyond Kilner's own reports. This is a judgement of fit, not a proof: nobody has tested a person against a towel or an empty background, blind, with a sham screen. arbiter.md, section 4, claim 1
Contrarian Several groups in 1911-12 reported seeing something with his screens. That is not nothing: it shows the screens produce a reproducible visual impression in some people. A cheap blinded test exists and was never run by anyone on record. contrarian.md, The strongest honest case for Kilner
Arbiter The first pass called the microscope shift far too big for the eye; that is withdrawn. With the 1.5-inch objective the 1920 text gives, the shift is about 1 dioptre, the size of ordinary focus changes, and it says nothing about ultra-violet sight. arbiter.md, 11.3
Arbiter Why the record goes dark: Kilner himself wrote that since the war 'it has been impossible to obtain any dicyanin'. War, one dye, one trained observer's method, poor repeatability by others, age and death combine. No evidence of blocked publication; one seller reports a chemist feared for his reputation. arbiter.md, 6 and 11.9
QE The OCR reads the digit 3 as 8 in case headings, so 'Case 88' in the scan is two patients (33 and 38). Two menstrual readings were first mis-scored and the sibling count was incomplete; all were corrected, and the recheck ended PASS. qe.md, Recheck
AI noteThe 1920 second edition is dated September 1920, three months after the June 1920 death Wikipedia gives, and it was still being reprinted in 1926, so the book outlived both its author and his dye supply.
Rank 14Bearden
no changeA - UntestedB - Open questionC - TestableD - InfluentialPrimer · Arbiter · Sites log · SourcesCard updated 2026-10-05
A patented solid-state magnet generator reportedly gave 1.7 to 2.6 times its input; a US examiner asked for a demonstration that never came, and no neutral lab has tested it.
Invention / theory background
Thomas E. Bearden of Huntsville, Alabama, argued in The Final Secret of Free Energy (1993, updated 1994) that electric potential is ordered energy flowing from the vacuum, so a battery could charge a collector that then powers a load free. With Stephen Patrick and three others he patented the Motionless Electromagnetic Generator (US 6,362,718, 2002; EP 1 446 862, 2013): a permanent magnet in a Metglas core whose flux is switched between two paths at 87.5 kHz.
Ranking explanation
Moved 13 to 11, above van Vlaenederen Koen and Aspden-Hearld, on criteria A to D. The Investigator found a granted European claim requiring self-powering, a USPTO demonstration request left unanswered, builders seeing excess only on nonlinear loads and a Tektronix statement against the patent's power cross-check. The supply-removed run is a cheap test nobody has done. It stays below Kilner-Walter (10). Interest is not proof: sustained self-powered output is Refuted by calculation.
Key supporting elements
The patent's Fig. 8 shows COP (output over input power) measured by the patentees from about 1.7 at 10 V to about 2.6 at 75 V; they say their computed power agreed with a Tektronix THS730 scope's RMS reading.
Outside builder Jean-Louis Naudin reported 'The measured COP is 1.75' (MEG v2.0, 7 Nov 2000) and, on v2.1, 6.76 W output on 3.25 W total input (2.08), adding that measurement artifacts remain possible.
The European Patent Office granted EP 1 446 862 B1 in 2013 after 12 years, with claim 1 requiring output fed back to drive the switching (self-powering); no opposition was filed. A grant is not a performance test.
Bearden's 2004 USPTO remarks link his vacuum theory to the MEG (magnet as broken-symmetry dipole; E = -dA/dt pulses). The device-level test this makes possible, a run with the supply removed, is on record as Never properly tested.
Real physics underneath: potentials act physically (Aharonov-Bohm), Whittaker's 1903-04 decompositions are correct mathematics, his copper relaxation time of 1.5e-19 s is right, and his conditional that closed classical EM forbids overunity is Established.
Key contradictions
The patent names the magnet's stored flux as the fuel and concedes demagnetisation. Its 38.7 cm^3 NdFeB magnet holds about 7-22 J (web-checked range); the claimed 82 W excess would use that in 0.09-0.27 s.
A Tektronix support reply (2002, relayed by builder Jon Flickinger) calls scope 'RMS power' on non-sinusoidal waveforms 'bogus', the patent's cross-check. Flickinger saw COP 1.75-5 only with MOV loads, none with linear resistors.
The US continuation 10/081,847 was rejected in 2004 as violating thermodynamics; the examiner required a model or demonstration, the applicants asked to defer it, then let the application lapse (abandoned 2005). The file does not say why.
The collector scheme fails its own energy budget: charging 1 uF to 12 V takes 144 uJ from the battery but stores 72 uJ, so a load gets at most half; Bearden's trapped energy K_T equals the battery's outlay.
Longitudinal vacuum waves are excluded by div E = 0 and by polarisers; matter-neutrality tests (Bressi 2011) bound any charge shift; his current split uses d/dt(phi m) = (dphi/dt)(dm/dt), a product-rule error. The 1993-94 papers report no measurement.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 33 shown)
Claim
Verdict
The MEG (US 6,362,718) delivers more power than it takes in and can run itself after start-up
Never properly testedmeasured COP about 1.7-2.6 at 10-75 V; patentees and builders only; no calorimetry or true v(t) i(t) record either wayNot testable as statedCOP 3.44 at 100 V, a curve extrapolation; European text keeps it without the dataRefuted by calculationsustained self-powered net output, with the magnet named as fuelPlausible, untestedas an ordinary flux-switching circuit below unity; structure already in US 4,006,401
Closed classical EM cannot give overunity, so real devices must tap a hidden vacuum source
Establishedthe conditional (Poynting's theorem)Not testable as statedhidden source in general, and the 2004 broken-symmetry / E = -dA/dt mechanismNever properly testedthe MEG supply-removed run as the test of a vacuum source; Floyd Sweet's vacuum triodeNot testable as statedcharged capacitor across a magnet as a 'free energy generator' (2002)
A battery that only charges a collector, which is then switched to a separate load, is never depleted and could run a car or a grid
Refuted by calculationstrong form; COP at most 0.5 per cycleInternally inconsistent'current-free' charging via relaxation time; 1 ms implies an insulatorPlausible, untestedlower-loss step charging; efficiency N/(N+1), never above 1
Energy and potential are the same thing, and each scalar potential holds infinite energy exchanged with the universe (Whittaker/Ziolkowski)
EstablishedWhittaker/Ziolkowski decomposition as mathematics, no energy contentInternally inconsistentenergy = potential (J versus J/C)Refuted by calculationinfinite energy read as stored field energyNot testable as statedinfinite energy read as a vacuum reservoir
No force fields exist in vacuum; vacuum EM waves are longitudinal; electron charge varies with ambient potential
Tested, not supportedlongitudinal waves and potential-dependent charge, by existing experimentsRefuted by calculationdiv E = 0 forces transverse vacuum wavesInternally inconsistentproduct-rule step d/dt(phi m)Not testable as statedEM wave as oscillating rate of time flow; photon pairs to gravitons
Maxwell's original quaternion theory held the gravity-EM unification that Heaviside's vector version removed
Tested, not supportedhistorical record; Maxwell's own 1865 gravity attempt failedHistorically superseded but instructivequaternion to vector notation
Fogal charge-blocking semiconductor plus step-up transformer gives very high power gain and runs itself as a 'negative resistor' (13 May 1994)
Never properly testedreported gain; no data of any kindNot testable as statedgain in meter formRefuted by calculationclosed-loop self-powered formInternally inconsistentdphi/dt current decomposition
Operational efficiency alpha (load power over power lost inside the source) above 1 means overunity; conventional circuits are always below 1 (15 Feb 1994)
Establishedalpha above 1, as ordinary and not overunityRefuted by calculation'conventional alpha always under unity'Not testable as statedefficiency above unity via vacuum influxInternally inconsistent'local conservation does not apply to open systems' against his own global-conservation claim
The inventor reviewed: author of The Final Secret of Free Energy (1993) and its 1994 updates, co-inventor of the MEG and spokesman for Magnetic Energy Ltd · Co-inventor and spokesman for the company developing the MEG
Wrote from A.D.A.S., P.O. Box 1472, Huntsville, Alabama (1993); says the principle took him some 30 years to discover. Filed a declaration with the USPTO in 2004; co-author of the 2001 Evans et al. MEG paper; announced Energy from the Vacuum (2002). Education and career are not in the review files.
Stephen L. Patrick
First-named inventor of US 6,362,718 and of the continuation and European patent · Co-inventor of the patented device
Listed with Huntsville, Alabama on the patent and as first inventor on continuation 10/081,847. Not otherwise in the review files.
James C. Hayes, Kenneth D. Moore and James L. Kenny
Co-inventors of US 6,362,718 and EP 1 446 862 · Co-inventors of the patented device
Not in the review files beyond their names on the patents, all in Huntsville, Alabama.
Jean-Louis Naudin
Built MEG v2.0 (COP 1.75, Nov 2000) and v2.1; the main outside replication on record
Independent private builder (JLN Labs). Reported coil failure from sparks above 3 kV, an unsuccessful attempt to close the loop, apparent output above the heat in the load, and that artifacts remain possible; did not have the inventors' original diagrams. Other details not in the review files.
Jon Flickinger
Independent MEG builder; found excess only with nonlinear MOV loads and relayed the Tektronix statement on scope 'RMS power'
Author of 'The MEG Notes' on Naudin's site; posted to the MEG_builders list. Other details not in the review files.
Shawn Riley
USPTO primary examiner who rejected continuation 10/081,847 on thermodynamic grounds and required a model or demonstration (2004) · Agency examiner; the rejection is the USPTO's characterization
Art unit 2838. Not otherwise in the review files.
Floyd Sweet
Inventor of the vacuum triode amplifier (VTA), which Bearden cites as his Method 1 overunity device
Reported in Sweet's and Bearden's accounts to have claimed about 330 microwatts in giving over 500 W out; never had the device independently tested and kept his magnet-conditioning process secret; Bearden says Sweet feared for his life. Other details not in the review files.
William J. Fogal
Maker of the 'charge blocking semiconductor' Bearden places at the heart of his self-powered 'negative resistor' (13 May 1994) · Inventor of the device
Holds US 5,196,809 (filed 1991) and US 5,430,413 (granted 1995) for a high-gain transistor with an electrolytic capacitor at the emitter; his patents claim higher gain, not power above input or vacuum energy. Other details not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (100 of 100 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (12)
1993-02-09The Final Secret of Free Energy (slightly revised 23 Mar 1993) T. E. Bearden, A.D.A.S., Huntsville AL. PDF pp. 1-27 of the project bundle, read in full: energy defined as an ordering of the vacuum's virtual photon flux, Whittaker/Ziolkowski wave pairs, two-cycle collector scheme, pseudo-equations [1]-[8], footnote 25. No measurements. Also printed in Magnets 7(5) and Explore! 4(3/4) per its Ref 1. A byte-identical duplicate PDF is in the folder.
1993-03-12Additional Comments (appendix to The Final Secret of Free Energy) PDF pp. 25-27, read in full. Closed classical EM cannot be overunity; Method 1 (nucleus as pumped phase-conjugate mirror, Sweet's vacuum triode), Method 2 (collector), released freely 'so it cannot be suppressed'.
1994-02-15Additional Information on the Final Secret of Free Energy (Update) PDF pp. 28-41, deep read with page images p.29 and p.31. Contents list says 5 Feb, heading 15 Feb. Operational efficiency alpha, 'suicide circuit', step-charged capacitor collector in 'several hundred' steps, 98% Al / 2% Fe collector alloy, 25,000-component MOSFET. No measurement.
1994-05-13Practical Overunity Electrical Devices PDF pp. 42-49, a cheniere.org printout, deep read. Charge split into massless charge and mass (product-rule error), rigidized capacitors, SQUID argument, Fogal charge-blocking semiconductor in Figs. 1-2 (drawings not read). No measurement.
2000-12-02Bearden e-mail on MEG builds and an arranged independent test billstclair.com mirror of cheniere.org/correspondence/120200.htm, opened by the arbiter. Magnetic Energy Ltd builds at 'COP = 17 to 20', one pushed 'to destruction of the output coil' at 'COP>100'; university replication 'under U.S. Department of Defense auspices' arranged, names withheld; Naudin builds at COP 1.3 and 7.3. No waveforms or input/output values.· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
2001-04-11cheniere.org MEG status page rootaction.net mirror. Magnetic Energy Ltd 'a private company and in business', 'in intense negotiations with several large financial enterprises' for capitalization. No COP measurement.· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
2001M. W. Evans, T. E. Bearden et al., Explanation of the Motionless Electromagnetic Generator with O(3) Electrodynamics Found. Phys. Lett. 14(1); doi 10.1023/A:1012085429802 (Springer login wall). Takes COP above 1 as given; a theory paper, not a test. Naudin's index lists Bearden among 15 AIAS authors, so it is a co-inventor's own account.· Co-authored by a co-inventor
2001-07-04Bearden message about the Evans review Listed on Naudin's MEG index page; not opened.· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
2001-10-30Bearden, 'MEG patent status, manufacturing update' Listed on Naudin's MEG index page and in cheniere correspondence; not opened.· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
2002-08-15Bearden letter on the state of Magnetic Energy Ltd billstclair.com mirror of cheniere.org/correspondence/081502.htm (cheniere.org itself no longer serves the page). 'successful little experimental devices'; $9 million a year for three years sought; demonstrations only to prospective financiers; planned 2.5 kW and 10 kW units; 10% of sales in poor countries for wells, schools and clinics; 'vertical cliff' of scale-up funding; P.S. calls a charged capacitor across a magnet a 'proven free energy generator'.· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
2002Energy from the Vacuum: Concepts and Principles (book) Announced in the 15 Aug 2002 letter as 'nearly 1,000 pages'. Not read.
c.2003Bearden paper on pdfcoffee giving Magnetic Energy Ltd, P.O. Box 1472, Huntsville AL 35807 Seen in Google results; cites Ritson, Nature 421 (2003). Not opened ('Solving the Energy Crisis' on pdfcoffee, not reached).· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
Patents and patent office (12)
1994Patent application on two electrical overunity processes (collector and step-charged capacitor) Stated as filed in the 15 Feb 1994 update (p.28). No number, date, country or office given; nothing links it to US 6,362,718.
2002-03-26US 6,362,718 B1, Motionless Electromagnetic Generator S. L. Patrick, T. E. Bearden, J. C. Hayes, K. D. Moore, J. L. Kenny, Huntsville AL; filed 6 Sep 2000 (09/656,313); attorney Norman Friedland. Deep read pp. 7-15 and figure sheets as images: 10-75 V data, Figs. 6-8, p.12 'magnet is the fuel' passage, claims 1-29 (11.5 ms slip in claims 5 and 17). NdFeB magnet 40 x 25.4 x 38.1 mm, Metglas 2605SA1 core. Legal events on Google Patents: lapsed for the 4-year fee and reinstated 2006; 8-year fee paid late 2010; 12-year fee paid 2013; expired 2020; cited by 76 later patents (not examined).· Patent holders
2002-02-26US continuation 10/081,847, 'Power generation within a motionless electromagnetic generator' Same specification (page 2 missing per the examiner), 14 claims; published US 2004/0057255 A1. Full file wrapper (31 documents) on archive.org, uploaded 2014 from USPTO bulk data.· Patent applicants
2004-01-23USPTO non-final rejection of 10/081,847 (examiner Shawn Riley) All 14 claims rejected under 35 USC 101 as violating the first and second laws, under 112 and for double patenting over claims 1-29 of the parent; drawings and the 'perpetual motion' title objected to; model or demonstration required, citing Newman v. Quigg. Read on archive.org (OCR).· USPTO examiner (agency)
2004-05-24Applicants' remarks in reply (10/081,847) Asks that the demonstration requirement 'be held in abeyance'. Sets out the MEG mechanism: magnet as broken-symmetry dipole absorbing vacuum energy (Lee and Yang 1957), Prigogine, Whittaker flows, Aharonov-Bohm localisation and E = -dA/dt pulses, heat-pump COP (9.22 maximum, Halliday and Resnick), COP 5 feedback example, Kron's negative resistor, GR non-conservation, Dirac-sea negative energy and Bedini, 'time-energy' E = tc^2. First 50,000 of 85,447 characters read.· Patent applicants
2004-05-24Bearden's declaration filed with the reply (10/081,847) In the archive.org item list; not read.· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
2004-07-26USPTO final rejection of 10/081,847 Remarks 'not deemed persuasive'; refers to Fig. 8 and the THS730 sentence; windmill argument that COP is below 1; 'Request for a model/demonstration has not been held in abeyance.' Read on archive.org.· USPTO examiner (agency)
2005-05-16Abandonment of 10/081,847 PlainSite docket: 'Abandoned -- Failure to Respond to an Office Action'; no appeal in the item list. The notice itself was not read.
2001-11-06PCT application and family members (WO, KR, CN, IL, JP) Listed on Google Patents for EP 1 446 862; WO, KR and CN shown struck through. Status and numbers of each not checked.· Patent applicants
2001-11-06European Patent Register file EP01988155 (92 documents, 2001-2014) Timeline read from the document list: claims filed 2004; description pages and drawing sheets replaced 15.06.2005; deemed withdrawn 2009 and 2012, both cured; intention to grant 2012; consultation 2013; no opposition. Applicants: the five inventors as individuals.· Patent applicants
2006-09-18EPO Examining Division communication and annex Pages 1-3 of 5 read: novelty objection that US 4,006,401 'discloses a motionless electromagnetic generator having the same structure', the only difference being power for the coils taken from the output rather than an AC source; inventive step over US 4,883,977 with FR 2,312,135 or US 2,866,943; clarity objections.· EPO examiner (agency)
2013-10-23EP 1 446 862 B1, granted European patent 19 claims; claim 1 requires switching without core saturation and feedback of output power to the switching circuit (self-powering). The granted description keeps the 3.44 extrapolation and the demagnetisation paragraphs but lacks the COP-versus-voltage plot and the 'all COP greater than 1' sentences. Expired 2021. Read on Google Patents.· Patent holders
Court and state records (2)
1988Newman v. Quigg Court case cited by the USPTO examiner (2004) for requiring a demonstration of an energy device. Not read.
2026-10-05Alabama Secretary of State business-entity search for 'Magnetic Energy' Form search, all types and statuses: only an unrelated non-profit. No Alabama registration found, although the 2006 USPTO assignment names 'Magnetic Energy, Ltd., Alabama'. A single name search.
Company and business records (4)
2006-05-30Nunc pro tunc assignment of US 6,362,718 from the inventors to Magnetic Energy, Ltd. (Alabama) Reel/frame 017706/0167, recorded 2006-06-01; corrective assignment fixing the name 'Magenetic', 017746/0237, recorded 2006-06-08. Seen as legal events on Google Patents; documents not obtained.
2006-05-23Security agreement: Magnetic Energy, Ltd. to Colmac Holdings Limited, Canada Reel/frame 017759/0537, recorded 2006-06-12. The only financing record found; secured amount, Colmac's identity and any release unknown. USPTO legacy assignment site returned an error.
–Business-directory listings for Magnetic Energy Ltd, Huntsville Manta ('Noncommercial research organizations') and ChamberofCommerce.com; seen in Google results, not opened. Directory traces, not registration records.
–Facebook page 'Magnetic Energy Ltd (@MagneticEngergyLtd)' Describes MEG technology; seen in Google results, not opened.· Company page
Witness accounts and correspondence (5)
–ZPEnergy, 'Letter to JLN Laboratories' An AIAS writer offers to work 'with your company and Magnetic Energy Ltd. to develop the MEG commercially'. Seen in Google results, not opened; bears on the AIAS group's commercial interest.
c.2001Account of the university/DoD replication ending over a non-circumvention agreement Two search summaries: the scientists 'observed the MEG in operation' and wanted to replicate it, but 'the university's administration refused to sign a noncircumvention agreement, and consequently the process was stopped'. Underlying page (apparently Bearden's) not identified.· Co-inventor and spokesman for the developing company
1997Tektronix application note on power measurement Quoted in the 2002 support reply: Vrms x Irms x cos(theta) is valid only for pure sinusoids; 'THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS RMS WATTS'. Not read directly.
2002Tektronix customer-support reply on scope 'RMS power', forwarded by Jon Flickinger Posted by Naudin 05-10-02 (jnaudin.free.fr/meg/ths720p.htm): 'the RMS measurement on a math waveform is bogus and has no value'; true power is the mean of v(t) i(t). The patent says its power agreed with RMS power on a THS730. One support reply relayed by a builder.
2021-01-01A. Craddock, 'Twenty years after Tom Bearden's MEG' (ZPEnergy) zpenergy.com News sid=3918, opened by the arbiter. Reproduces Bearden's 2000 statements (COP 17-20; university/DoD test 'being arranged') and records no later test or product.
Experiments and replications by others (6)
2000-11-07J. L. Naudin, MEG v2.0 replication novakcorp.com megv2.htm, opened by the arbiter: 'The measured COP is 1.75' (Test Run 1); output coils broken by sparks above 3 kV (16 Nov 2000); 'I am trying to close the loop ... the device stops after a while'. No input or output watts or instruments named on the page.
2000-12-06J. L. Naudin, MEG v2.1 status (page updated 2002-05-10) jnaudin.free.fr/meg/megv21.htm: ferrite magnets, Metglas C-cores, TL494/BUZ11 driver at 16-20 kHz, 10 ohm shunt, Tektronix THS720P. 3.25 W total input against 6.76 W measured output (2.08); nonlinear load required; apparent power above load heat; 'measurement artifacts remain possible'; calorimetry and loop closure not done.
–Naudin's later builds (COP 1.3 and 7.3 per Bearden), v3.0 and v4.0 cross-flux (meg4cf.htm) Reported by Bearden (2 Dec 2000); Naudin's own pages not opened. Whether he ever did calorimetry or closed the loop is unknown.
–Jon Flickinger, 'The MEG Notes' jnaudin.free.fr/meg/megnot01.htm, undated. Independent builder: no excess with linear resistive loads; COP 1.75 to 5 only with MOV loads (Panasonic ZNR10K621U); 'If anyone should experience valid COP's >1 with standard linear loads, please speak out!'
–Cyril Smith and Dave Squires analyses of the MEG Listed on Naudin's MEG index; not opened.
2011G. Bressi et al., Testing the neutrality of matter by acoustic means in a spherical resonator Phys. Rev. A 83, 052101; arXiv 1102.2766. Electron-proton charge difference below about 1e-21 e. Bears on 'charge varies with ambient potential'.
Related work by others (22)
1865J. C. Maxwell, A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field, section 82 (gravity) Found gravitational field energy would be negative and could 'not go any further'. Known via the Royal Society commentary; text at bem.fi not opened.
1897G. J. Stoney, Phil. Mag. 5(43) 368-373 Cited by Bearden as part of the 'Stoney-Whittaker-Ziolkowski' decomposition. Not read.
1903E. T. Whittaker, Math. Annalen 57, 333-355 Solutions of Laplace's equation as plane waves in complex directions; checked via arXiv 2205.08309. Real mathematics with no energy content.
1904E. T. Whittaker, Proc. London Math. Soc. 1, 367-372 Field expressed by two scalar potentials; Bearden's footnote 2. Not read.
1957T. D. Lee and C. N. Yang, broken symmetry (parity) Cited in the 2004 USPTO remarks for the magnet as a broken-symmetry dipole absorbing vacuum energy. Not read.
1959Y. Aharonov and D. Bohm, Significance of electromagnetic potentials in the quantum theory Phys. Rev. 115, 485. Cited by Bearden; reviewers count the physical role of potentials in his favour, as a quantum-phase effect with no classical energy channel.
–G. Kron, the 'negative resistor' Cited in the 2004 USPTO remarks and in the 1994 papers' language. Not read.
1983Calkin and Kiang, capacitor charging (Am. J. Phys.) Cited by Bearden for charging 'almost without entropy'; reviewers say it concerns ordinary low-loss charging. Not read.
1984Gupta, Shanker and Sharma, capacitor charging (Am. J. Phys.) Same use. Not read.
1985R. W. Ziolkowski, localized-wave solutions, J. Math. Phys. 26, 861 Cited for the wave-pair structure; these concern focused pulses, not a static potential. Not read.
1986Heinrich, capacitor charging (Am. J. Phys.) Same use as Calkin and Kiang. Not read.
1989R. W. Ziolkowski, Phys. Rev. A 39, 2005 Localized transmission of EM energy; cited by Bearden. Not read.
1989H. E. Puthoff, Source of Vacuum Electromagnetic Zero-point Energy Phys. Rev. A 40(9) 4857-4862; cited by Bearden. Not read.
1991J. E. Tippett and R. W. Ziolkowski, J. Math. Phys. 32(2) 488 Cited among the decomposition papers. Not read.
1991T. W. Barrett, quaternion Tesla oscillator-shuttle-circuit paper Annales de la Fondation Louis de Broglie 16(1) 23-41; cited for storage of potentials in circuits. Not read.
1992Fundaun, Reese and Soonpaa, capacitor charging (Am. J. Phys.) Bearden's lead support for step charging; arbiter's web check failed. Not read.
1993C. W. Hsue, A DC Voltage is Equivalent to Two Traveling Waves on a Lossless, Nonuniform Transmission Line IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters 3, 82-84; cited for 'a DC potential is a bidirectional flow'. Not read.
1993D. C. Cole and H. E. Puthoff, Extracting Energy and Heat from the Vacuum Phys. Rev. E 48(2) 1562-1565; cited by Bearden. Not read.
–The Testatika (Swiss electrostatic device) Named in the 1993 Foreword as an overunity device. Nothing further in the review files.
1991W. J. Fogal, US 5,196,809 (filed 1 Mar 1991) and US 5,430,413 (granted 4 Jul 1995), high-gain transistor Emitter tied to ground through an electrolytic capacitor; claims at least twice the gain; no claim of power above input or of vacuum energy. Fetched summary of US 5,430,413.· Inventor's own patents
–rexresearch compilation of Fogal articles and patents Exists per the arbiter; not opened.
2003Ritson, Nature 421, 575 Cited in a Bearden paper on pdfcoffee; not opened.
Related patents and prior art (14)
1957Starr, US 2,802,170 Flux-switching patent on Naudin's list of related devices. Not read.
–US 2,866,943 EPO prior-art citation D6 (2006 annex). Not read.
1963Toffolo, US 3,087,108 On Naudin's list. Not read.
1968Garron, US 3,368,141 On Naudin's list. Not read.
1975Galley, FR 2,312,135, 'Dispositif statique generateur de courant electrique' EPO citation D4 and on Naudin's list: an earlier static flux-switching generator. Not read.
1977deRivas, US 4,006,401 EPO citation E1: same structure as the MEG claims, coils driven by an AC source. Not read.
1978Richardson, US 4,077,001 EPO citation E2 and on Naudin's list. Not read.
–Kunel, DE 3024814 On Naudin's list. Not read.
–Volkrodt, DE 3501076 On Naudin's list. Not read.
–Bramanti, US 4,675,615 On Naudin's list. Not read.
–US 4,883,977 EPO citation D2: electromagnet in place of a permanent magnet. Not read.
–Boday, CA 2172240 On Naudin's list. Not read.
–Keiichiro, US 5,926,083 On Naudin's list. Not read.
2000Flynn, WO 00/07285 (Parallel Path Technology, Magnetic Revolutions) Listed by the Investigator and Naudin as closely related flux-switching work. Not read.
Later accounts and media (10)
–amasci.com, Sweet's vacuum triode amplifier page Sweet's claims, no independent certification, magnet-conditioning secret. Search summary only.· Archive of Sweet's and Bearden's accounts
–rexresearch.com, Sweet 'nothing' page About 330 microwatts in, over 500 W out claimed; Bearden's account that Sweet feared for his life. Search summary only.· Archive of Sweet's and Bearden's accounts
–Bork, on Maxwell's use of quaternions kirkmcd.princeton.edu bork_76.pdf: Maxwell wrote some equations in quaternion form but did not calculate with them. Search summary only.
–Bishop, 'In Disdain of Garbage Physics', and Cyril Smith's 2003 critique of it Listed on Naudin's site; not opened.
2003-02arXiv physics/0302016, critique of the AIAS (Evans group) literature Noted by the mathematician, title only.
2007-11arXiv 0711.4636, history of the neutrality-of-matter bound Physicist's source for the 1e-21 e bound.
2008-01arXiv 0801.4182, charge relaxation times Copper 1.53e-19 s, fused quartz about 51 days; Bearden's numbers right in order of magnitude.
2015Royal Society commentary on Maxwell's 1865 paper Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 373, 20140473. Arbiter's source that Maxwell had no gravity-EM unification; search summary.
2022-05arXiv 2205.08309, Whittaker's 1903 plane-wave representation explained Mathematician's and primer's source for Whittaker 1903.
–Maxwell's quaternions vs Heaviside's vector calculus (Medium article) Secondary web source: forms equivalent for classical EM.
Records named but not yet examined (13)
c.2000The MEG inventors' raw data Simultaneous v(t) and i(t), logic-supply current, load values, magnet strength before and after. The patent shows only Figs. 6-8 and does not say whether the logic supply is in the input.
–A neutral laboratory test of a MEG built to the patent, including a supply-removed run None found by any reviewer or the Investigator.
2000-09-06Parent file wrapper, US application 09/656,313 archive.org: 'Item cannot be found'; USPTO Patent Center not tried. Would show whether the parent's examiner raised utility or asked for a demonstration.
2007-03-19EPO file: applicants' replies 2007 and 2009, 2008 annex, 2006 annex pp.4-5, 2013 consultation minutes Public on the European Patent Register; viewer stalled. How the applicants defended COP above 1 in Europe, and why the COP plot left the text.
–Colmac Holdings Limited corporate record, and any release of the 2006 security agreement Corporations Canada and USPTO Assignment Center not reached.
–Magnetic Energy Ltd registration and dissolution record Not in Alabama; other states and countries not searched.
c.2001Measurement reports from investor demonstrations, and the identity of the university and DoD programme Bearden says financiers' technical representatives 'do their own measurements'; none has surfaced.
–Sweet's VTA device and magnet-conditioning process Withheld by the inventor; not available.
–Fogal charge-blocking semiconductor as used in Bearden's Figs. 1-2: structure, ratings, any overunity measurement Fogal's transistor patents exist; no overunity measurement found.
1873Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism Not checked for any gravity-EM suggestion.
–Source of the SQUID measurement of the field between charging capacitor plates Cited by Bearden (p.44) with no reference.
1994Bearden's promised follow-up paper or book ('in 60 to 90 days') and proof-of-principle circuits Promised on p.28 of the 15 Feb 1994 update.
c.1993Bearden's paper on biological harm from rising EM signal density and a cancer mechanism Referred to on pp.10-11 of the 1993 paper; not identified.
Left out: the byte-identical duplicate PDF, textbooks and general references cited only for argument (Griffiths, Feynman, Halliday and Resnick, Hilbert 1917, Logunov, Kondepudi and Prigogine and others), the 76 later patents citing US 6,362,718 (not examined), an unrelated Bedini patent found by a wrong guess, and earlier AI-written analyses. Full catalogue: Bearden sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A neutral lab builds a MEG to the patent, logs v(t) and i(t) together at the supply (logic supply included) and each output coil, integrates v times i, and calorimeters a linear then a MOV load; then runs EP claim 1's self-powered loop, supply removed, for hours, checking magnet flux before and after.
Deciding records: Bearden's 2004 declaration and the rest of the remarks; the parent file 09/656,313; the EPO 2007 and 2009 replies, 2008 annex and 2013 minutes; the Colmac security agreement (reel/frame 017759/0537) and any release; investor-demonstration measurement reports; the university and DoD programme named in 2000; Naudin's later build pages; the inventors' raw waveforms.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: the collector spends 144 uJ to store 72 uJ; step charging approaches but never exceeds efficiency 1; Part F shows Vrms x Irms overstating true power with harmonics, Naudin's 2.08 on total input, and the self-powering condition f x c at least 1. By hand: how long do 7-22 J last at 82 W?
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Two descriptions of one fuel, both by the patentees: the 2000 patent names the magnet's flux and concedes demagnetisation; the 2004 remarks name the vacuum. The energy-budget refutation addresses the first; the untested supply-removed run addresses the second. Neither has a measurement behind it. arbiter.md, Investigator findings, Where they differ, item 4
Arbiter The physicist would rate the strong form Tested, not supported at an informal level; the arbiter keeps Never properly tested, because the scale requires controlled experiments and the builder reports are uncontrolled. Flickinger's linear-load null is stated in full as evidence against excess. arbiter.md, Investigator findings, Where they differ, item 1
Mathematician With open-loop COP c and a fed-back fraction f, running on its own needs f c at least 1; at f = 0.5 that needs c at least 2, which the patent's 1.7-2.6 straddles. The supply-removed run is the one test independent of instrument method: it runs or it stops. mathematician.md, Investigator findings; arbiter.md item 9
Contrarian Bearden is right that potentials are physically fundamental in quantum mechanics, that closed classical EM forbids overunity, and that the MEG is a concrete, cheap-to-test device never tested in public by a neutral lab. Against him: no data, mixed units, conflict with polarisation and charge experiments. contrarian.md, Fair case for the proponent
Investigator The USPTO continuation holds the only official demonstration request found, and it went unanswered; the EPO found the MEG structure already in US 4,006,401 (1977), its novelty being only the self-powering feedback, which is also the one feature never demonstrated. sites.md, Leads for review; research/2026-10-05-epo-register.md
AI noteThe granted European text keeps the extrapolated COP 3.44 but drops the measured COP plot and the 'all COP greater than 1' sentences; pages were replaced in 2005. Why is in EPO papers nobody has read.
A tabloid-famous 1973 battery-and-capacitor motor, a 1974 DA raid, three patents and a disputed death: Lindemann reads it as Tesla's radiant energy, but nobody ever metered it.
Invention / theory background
Peter A. Lindemann (born 1951; honorary D.Sc. in complementary medicine; Borderland Sciences vice president 1987-99; Clear Tech co-founder) published The Free Energy Secrets of Cold Electricity (2000) and The World of Free Energy (2001). He argues that Edwin V. Gray's capacitor-discharge motor (1973) and spark-gap conversion tube (patents 1986-87) released Tesla's ether-borne radiant energy, that seven families of free-energy devices are proven, and that they are withheld.
Ranking explanation
Rank 13 on criteria A, B and D. Below Bearden (12), whose MEG has patent-office records and a cheap supply-removed test; here every device figure is an advocate's assertion. Above van Vlaenderen (14), a theory with no experiments or reception history: Gray's story has witnessed 1973 demonstrations, a raid and prosecution, an unseen Crosby test report and records that go dark. Interest is not proof: net gain as a closed ledger is Refuted by calculation.
Key supporting elements
Gray's patents are real: US 3,890,548 (1975), 4,595,975 (1986) and 4,661,747 (1987), with Canadian, Japanese and Greek filings; the motor geometry is internally consistent (27 firings of 13 1/3 degrees).
1973 demonstrations (Tattler): a hurled 1.25 lb magnet caught by Hackenberger; six bulbs, a TV and two radios on a motorcycle battery; McCulloch Oil's C. V. Wood Jr. looked for hidden outlets. A sympathetic reporter; voltmeter only.
Crosby Research Institute's J. A. Maize, testing for investor Pan World, reported 7,460 W into a dynamometer on 26.8 W of battery draw (Tattler 1973): the only numerical test claim; no report found yet.
AP 1975 confirms the July 1974 raid; the DA said it was 'hard to find investors willing to press charges', as Lindemann says. An anonymous friend (2000) reports a 12-hour run ending with more battery charge.
Lindemann's critique of Gray's FIG.1 holds on page images (#42 shorted, #28 grid floating, #36 no coil), and he is right that Gray's 'peak apparent power' explanation is not an energy gain.
Key contradictions
Gray's own patents and 1980 application claim only partial back-e.m.f. recovery with a continuing battery supply, 'on theory', with no figures; the radiant-energy and 100:1 readings are Lindemann's alone.
TRW staff scientist Donald Cronin watched a test about mid-1974: 'It ran for about 10 seconds and then everything blew'; a Japanese team then packed up and left (AP 1975; one wire story, no second source yet).
The Crosby figures do not close: 7,460 W on 26.8 W is 278:1, not 'efficiency exceeding 99%'; energy is given in 'watts per hour'; the 203 hours is projected from a 21-minute run.
Lindemann writes that a motor built to the patent's principles 'doesn't perform anything like what was described' (no build details), and his '99% lost in the voltage drop' is wrong: arc loss is 2Va/V0, a few percent.
Tesla's own patents do not say it: 685,958 credits charged particles from the sun, not ether; 787,412 gives a finite 'mean velocity' of 471,240 km/s (about pi/2 times c), not instantaneous propagation.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 30 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Gray's motor and tube recover part of the coil energy into a second battery (what the patents claim)
Establishedthe recovery mechanismPlausible, untestedthe motor as an efficient, useful machine
Gray's devices give net energy gain (1973 demonstrations, Crosby test, 32-day run, Lindemann's 100:1)
Never properly testedprivate tests only, none neutral or instrumented; not dismissed without testingRefuted by calculationas a closed-ledger net gain
Gray's 'cold electricity' is Tesla's radiant energy, an Electro-Radiant Event drawn from the ether
Not testable as statedno measurable definition
Radiant energy propagates instantaneously, outside Maxwell's equations
Tested, not supportedsignal timing matches cNot testable as stated'Light Ether' vocabulary
Gains of 100:1 (Gray) and 1000:1 (Methernitha Testatika)
Never properly testedno protocol; Testatika closed to measurementRefuted by calculationas net energy gain
Seven free-energy families 'proven beyond all reasonable doubt' (samples)
Never properly testedBearden MEG, by a neutral testTested, not supportedMeyer electrolysis (1996 court experts)Refuted by calculation350 hp solar heat pumpContestedcold fusion
The laws of thermodynamics are not universal; Tesla's self-acting engine
Tested, not supportedstrong formInternally inconsistentLindemann's textRefuted by calculationengine on ambient heat alone
Gray's venture was raided and prosecuted, and suppressed; he died under mysterious circumstances
Establishedpatents, 1974 raid, 12 counts filed 1975Never properly testedsuppression as the cause; circumstances of death
Author reviewed: proposes that Gray's cold electricity is Tesla's radiant energy · Sells the book; co-founder of Clear Tech, Inc.; runs free-energy.cc
Born Milwaukee 1951; left Iowa State engineering in 1970 for self-directed study; honorary D.Sc. in complementary medicine (Open International University of Alternative Medicine, Colombo, 1999-2000); co-founded Unifield Dynamics (1983); Borderland Sciences vice president 1987-99, which published his 1994-95 articles (per a society wiki).
Edwin V. Gray
Inventor of the EMA motor and conversion switching tube; the subject of the book · Founder of EVGray Enterprises, which sold shares to about 800 investors
Born 8 January 1925 in Washington DC (contents page says 1923); Army and Navy service and later a mechanic (Lindemann's biography); patents 1975, 1986, 1987; died 20 April 1990 in Sparks NV per a VA record (Lindemann says 1989, an anonymous informant 1993).
Tom Valentine
Reporter who wrote the 1973-74 National Tattler articles and the 1977 NewsReal piece · Advocate press that championed Gray
Not in the review files beyond his articles; the March 1974 Tattler says a DA investigator threatened him with arrest.
Richard B. Hackenberger
Witness at the 1973 demonstrations: 'only 1% of the energy was used - 99% went back into the battery' · Gray's Vice President of Engineering
Formerly with Sony, Sylvania and the US Navy, according to the Tattler.
J. A. Maize
Crosby Research Institute engineering director, Beverly Hills; reported the 1972 dynamometer test · Test commissioned by investor Pan World Enterprises (Japan)
Not in the review files beyond the Tattler's report.
Donald Cronin
Witness to a failed test about mid-1974 ('then everything blew')
Staff scientist at TRW Systems, Inc. (AP 1975); otherwise not in the review files.
Mitchell Harris
Deputy District Attorney quoted on the raid, the charges and reluctant investors · Prosecutor
Los Angeles County District Attorney's office (AP 1975); otherwise not in the review files.
Gerry Vassilatos
Author of the 'Rosetta Stone' chapter on Tesla's 1889-92 impulse work that Lindemann builds on · Author-publisher of a book arguing the same thesis
Wrote Secrets of Cold War Technology: Project HAARP and Beyond (1996); otherwise not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (86 of 102 listed, 84%)
Own works and inventions (11)
1986A History of Free Energy Discoveries Lindemann's earlier book; listed in the Chappell wiki biography; not in the folder· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
1987Free Energy Research: Peter Lindemann and Eric Dollard (video) 1987 video posted by Eric Dollard; found in a Google result, not viewed· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
1988Tesla's Longitudinal Electricity (video) Lindemann video listed in the wiki biography; not viewed· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
1994Thermodynamics and Free Energy Journal of Borderland Sciences Research, Q3 1994; reprinted in the book pp.141-148; Constable 100,000:1, DePalma, Tewari hydrogen; deep-read· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
1995Tesla's Self-Acting Engine Journal of Borderland Sciences Research, Q3 1995; book pp.149-152; Doczekal, Schaeffer/Serogodski, Wiseman; deep-read· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
1996Thermodynamics (article) Listed in the wiki biography; not read· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
2000-10The Free Energy Secrets of Cold Electricity Clear Tech, Inc., Metaline Falls WA; 156 pp., 81 OCR; chapters 1-4 and reprints all deep-read except pp.153-156; Fig. 34 probable schematic signed August 2000; 2015 Lulu reprint and web copies are the same work· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
2000-09-12Lecture: The Free Energy Secrets of Cold Electricity Irvine, California (Tesla Tech circuit); also sold as a VHS; known through Ken Adachi's 2003 write-up· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
2001-03-01The World of Free Energy (essay) 8 pp.; seven device families, Four Forces, eight US patent numbers, con-man warning; deep-read· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
2006Radiant Energy and Its Role in Our Free Energy Future (video) Listed in the wiki biography; not viewed· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
c.2000sBedini SG handbooks and Electric Motor Secrets Co-authored with Aaron Murakami and John Bedini; apply the radiant-energy idea to battery chargers; Google results only· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
Patents and patent office (23)
1897-11-02Tesla US 593,138, Electrical Transformer Reprinted book pp.125-128; 185,000 miles per second worked example; deep-read
1901-11-05Tesla US 685,957, Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy On Lindemann's essay list; Google Patents summary checked by the arbiter: radiation charging an insulated plate
1901-11-05Tesla US 685,958, Method of Utilizing Radiant Energy Book pp.129-133; charging credited to charged particles from the sun, not ether; deep-read
1905-04-18Tesla US 787,412, Art of Transmitting Electrical Energy Through the Natural Medium Book pp.134-139; 'mean velocity of about 471,240 km/s', checked on page image p.136 and Google Patents
1939Doczekal Austrian patent NR 155744 Benzene/water engine said by Lindemann to beat Carnot; patent not read
1957Freedman US 2,796,345 Alloy said to split water for free; only the number is given (essay list)
1973-11-02Gray US 3,890,548, Pulsed Capacitor Discharge Electric Engine Issued 1975-06-17; Evgray Enterprises; 27 firings of 13 1/3 degrees, partial recovery into a second battery, 12 V and 18 x 3,500 V on FIG.2; book pp.74-91, page images; two copies in the PDF· Gray's own patent, attorney-drafted
c.1975Gray Canadian CA 1030600 A Family member of US 3,890,548 (application CA 211,165); Google Patents listing; text not read· Gray's own patent, attorney-drafted
1975Gray Japanese JP S50-74712 A Family member of US 3,890,548 (application JP 49-127019); text not read; fits a Japanese backer· Gray's own patent, attorney-drafted
1978Richardson US 4,077,001 Permanent-magnet device on Lindemann's essay list; number only
1978-04-25McDonald US patent (number not given) Related patent listed by the KeelyNet 2000 page; not checked
1979Frenette US 4,143,639 Rotating-cylinder heater on the essay list; number only
1980-04-10Gray, Regenerative Energy Recovery System, e.g., for Electromagnetic Propulsion 'Unidentified British application'; saved text on rexresearch: 24 V battery, about 2000 V capacitor, discharge through load into recovery battery; no measurements· Gray's own patent, attorney-drafted
1983-12-16Gray Greek priority application 24388 Printed on the front page of US 4,661,747; Google Patents lists GR73274A / GR72864B instead; applicant and text unknown· Gray's own patent, attorney-drafted
1984Perkins US 4,424,797 Rotating-cylinder heater on the essay list; number only
1984-10-18Gray US 4,595,975, Efficient Power Supply Suitable for Inductive Loads Issued 1986-06-17, Council, Idaho; no figures, gain 'on theory'; FIG.1 checked on page image p.115; book pp.110-116· Gray's own patent, attorney-drafted
1985-10-25Gray US 4,661,747, Efficient Electrical Conversion Switching Tube Issued 1987-04-28; division of 662,339; claims the tube only; book pp.116-125· Gray's own patent, attorney-drafted
1990Meyer US 4,936,961 Water fuel cell on the essay list; number only
c.1995Schaeffer and Serogodski DE 42 44 016 A1 Ambient-heat engine; Lindemann says 'granted'; A1 normally an unexamined application; not read
1995-10-10Gifford US patent (number not given) Related patent listed by KeelyNet 2000; not checked
1996-05-07Gossler US patent (number not given) Related patent listed by KeelyNet 2000; not checked
2000Chambers US 6,126,794 On the essay list; the essay never says what it is
2002Bearden et al. MEG patent Basis of the '6 W in, 96 W out' claim; American Physical Society statement against it known via Wikipedia· Patent holders
Court and state records (1)
1996Ohio court finding against Stanley Meyer Three expert witnesses found conventional electrolysis, 'gross and egregious fraud'; via Wikipedia
Government records (5)
1974-01-24SEC News Digest Searched for Gray, Evgray, Van Nuys, motor: no Gray item (negative)
1990-04-20VA burial record (Find a Grave memorial 3813396) Created by US Veterans Affairs Office: Edwin Vincent Gray Sr., veteran, b. 8 Jan 1925 Washington DC, d. 20 Apr 1990 Sparks NV, Riverside National Cemetery plot 27-1479
1990FamilySearch tree LY5P-7C9 Same dates and places; sources 1930 census, Find A Grave index, California divorce index; user-maintained tree
1990-06-17USPTO fee lapse of US 4,595,975 'Expired - Fee Related', two months after the VA death date; Google Patents
2004US Department of Energy cold fusion review Panel split about evenly on excess power; via Wikipedia
Company and business records (5)
1973EvGray Enterprises, 'Power Plant of the Future' Company text on the saved rexresearch page: a '21-minute run' using '9.75 watts', 'operated continuously for 203 hours'· Gray's company
1973-06EMA-4 data sheet (Probe The Unknown, Jack Scagnetti, 'The Engine That Runs Itself') 12 V DC, 2550 rpm, brake hp 32.05, 'Fuel Consumption: None'; book shows only a thumbnail· Gray's company figures
1973-10-11Letter, Renate Gray for EVGray Enterprises, to Lindemann 'due to our security we are unable to give out any information'; page image p.13· Gray's company
1976-02'Inventor of the Year' nomination, Los Angeles Patent Attorney's Association Documented in one published source, Lindemann's biography p.21, and the Tattler/NewsReal; no document seen
c.1980sGray's letters offering the technology for SDI To every member of Congress, the President and Cabinet, 'not a single reply' (Lindemann p.21 only)
Witness accounts and correspondence (11)
1973-07-01Tom Valentine, 'Man Creates Engine That Consumes No Fuel', National Tattler Van Nuys demonstrations: Hackenberger, Fritz Lens, C. V. Wood Jr., two unnamed physicists; voltmeter only; reprinted book pp.7-12 and rexresearch· Advocate press
1973-07-01Tom Valentine, 'Gasless Auto Gets $6-Million Backing', National Tattler Gray and designer Paul M. Lewis; in the saved rexresearch file· Advocate press
1973-07-08Tom Valentine, second Tattler article (EMA motor test) Four 6 V batteries, over 2,500 rpm for 30 minutes, '100 horsepower' beside 'brake horsepower 32.06'; page image p.11· Advocate press
1974-01-23Tom Valentine, 'Two Inventors Work To Devise Fuelless Car', National Tattler Listed on rexresearch; not read· Advocate press
1974-03Tom Valentine, 'Inventor of the World's First No-Fuel Engine is Suppressed by L.A.'s District Attorney', National Tattler With 'Threat of Arrest Spurs Tattler Reporter' (DA investigator Ran Novell); listed on rexresearch· Advocate press
1975-07-07AP wire, 'Either Saint or Sinner: Auto Motor Inventor Just Fueling Around?' Progress Bulletin, Pomona: July 1974 seizure; 12 counts May 1975; 800 shareholders; Deputy DA Mitchell Harris; TRW's Donald Cronin 'ran for about 10 seconds and then everything blew'· DA quotes are the prosecutor's account
1977Tom Valentine, 'EMS: Electronic Power...', NewsReal Book p.15: plea to 'a minor Securities and Exchange violation'; Dr. Chalfin 'no loss of energy'; 'one of six children'· Advocate press
1986Lindemann and Tom Brown bulb test near Dollard's transmitter Filament lit with the men 6 and 8 ft away, no shock, no instruments; book pp.50-51· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
1990-03-18'Issue 15' (free-energy-info.tuks.nl) Dated source carrying the Zetech sentence; may be the KeelyNet March 1990 file; not opened
2000Back-cover testimonials: Trevor Constable, Brian Desborough, Ken Rauen Desborough: 'incoming spikes over 1000 amps'; book p.156· Associates promoting the book
2000-02-23KeelyNet, 'EV Gray Updated' (mirror) Anonymous friend: death April 1993 Riverside, three police stories; 12-hour run ending with more charge; six motors; Western States holds rights; '$60 million offshore'
Experiments and replications by others (7)
1986Photograph of Eric Dollard's Magnifying Transmitter Alison Davidson, supplied by Tom Brown; 400,000 V 'anyone's guess', over 4 A on an RF ammeter, under 2,000 W from the wall; book p.50
1999Testatika 90-minute demonstration film About thirty engineers; only pictures of the machines; enthusiast pages at rimstar.org; no independent measurement
c.2000Naudin MEG replication pages Lindemann says Naudin 'duplicated' the MEG; primary page refused connection
2010Jelinek and Pekarek, MEG paper Found by the arbiter's search; not read
2019Google-funded cold fusion study (Nature) Found no excess heat; via reviewers' web sources
2019-2024groups.io EVGRAY forum Present-day builders: 'EV Gray CST', 'Capacitor energy anomaly'; not visited
c.2020sReddit r/plasma_pi, 'Modern Cold Electricity' Says Lindemann 'improved and simplified' Gray's circuit; not visited
Later accounts and media (10)
1900-06Tesla, 'The Problems of Increasing Human Energy', Century Magazine Quoted in book ch.3 and the 1995 article; self-acting engine 'for a long time yet'
1904-03Tesla, Electrical World article Quoted in book ch.3
1996Gerry Vassilatos, 'The Rosetta Stone' (Secrets of Cold War Technology, ch.1) Reprinted book pp.22-38; no footnotes or data; Dollard reproduction in one sentence; deep-read· Author-publisher of the same thesis
2002-12-16Tesla Universe review of the book Google result; not opened
2003-04Ken Adachi, 'Radiant Energy: Unraveling Nikola Tesla's Greatest Secret' ExtraOrdinary Technology pp.23-26, on the Irvine lecture; no measurements
undatedEducate-Yourself review of Lindemann's video Google result; not opened
undatedYumpu, 'E. V. Gray and the Self-Sustaining Motor' Google result; not opened
undateduapmurders.com page on conflicting narratives of Gray's death Google result; not opened
undatedWikipedia, 'History of perpetual motion machines' Cites free-energy.cc/graybio.html; en-academic copy
2026-09-02Chappell Natural Philosophy Society wiki, Peter A Lindemann Biography: born 1951, honorary D.Sc. Colombo 1999-2000, Borderland VP 1987-99, Clear Tech 2000; its sources unchecked
Records named but not yet examined (13)
1892Tesla, 'Dissipation of Electricity' lecture Vassilatos's only named primary source; would check the oil-bath and impulse claims
1872Scientific American account of Elihu Thomson Cited by Vassilatos without issue
1972-09Crosby Research Institute report (J. A. Maize for Pan World Enterprises) Tattler: 7,460 W out, 26.8 'watts per hour' in, 'efficiency exceeding 99%'; no report found· Commissioned by an investor
1975Los Angeles Superior Court file, People v. Gray Would settle the outcome: dismissal, plea or fine
1975-1976SEC News Digests and litigation releases Lindemann's March 1976 'two minor SEC violations'
c.1977-1990USPTO assignment records and Zetech / Western States corporate records Absorption versus abandonment of the patents
1986-1989Lindemann's unpublished photographs and unreleased video footage of experiments Listed in the book's references pp.153-154· Lindemann, author and seller of the book (Clear Tech)
1987-1988Borderland Labs videos Listed in the book's references
1990-04Washoe County death certificate and April 1990 obituary Cause and circumstances of Gray's death
1990-03 / 1991-10KeelyNet EVGRAY #1 and #2 files Predate Lindemann's book; linked from the 2000 page
undatedTewari Space Power Generator hydrogen report 'Twice as much hydrogen'; single sentence in the 1994 article
undatedConstable / Atmos Engineering rainfall and gauge records For the 100,000:1 claim
undatedPatent secrecy-order lists and FOIA releases Would test the patent-denial allegations
Left out: about 16 minor items, namely copies of the AP story on other sites (LENR Forum, BangShift, fuel-efficient-vehicles.org, tesla3.com), the seven-item bibliography of the 1994 article (Reich, Lehrs, Steiner, Wachsmuth, Constable), and the prior-art references printed on Gray's patents. Full catalogue: Linerman-Peter sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A metered build of the tube circuit: integrate battery voltage times current over a full discharge-recharge cycle including the charger, put a calorimeter on the spark gap, measure energy into a resistive load and into the second battery, and run a dummy battery as control. Only net battery energy rising across a cycle would matter.
Deciding records: The Crosby/Maize report; the Los Angeles Superior Court file for the 1975 case; SEC digests 1975-76; USPTO assignment, Zetech and Western States records; the Washoe County death certificate; the Greek 1983 priority file; the Canadian and Japanese patent texts; KeelyNet 1990-91 files; Lindemann's unreleased 1986-89 footage.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: one 15.3 J discharge kept as an energy ledger, arc loss 2Va/V0, the Crosby 278:1, firings per second for 7,460 W, the 100 hp versus 32.06 bhp table, and Tesla's 471,240 km/s as pi/2 times c. By hand: 140 BTU in 2 minutes against 100 W in.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Net gain from the motor or tube is Never properly tested, not dismissed without testing: Crosby, the Japanese team and Cronin all report private tests, and none was published or instrumented neutrally. As a closed-ledger net gain it is Refuted by calculation. arbiter.md, Claim 1, final verdict
Primer The most useful lesson: Lindemann's 100:1 (output over arc loss), the solar 17:1 and Constable's 100,000:1 all draw the ledger boundary so that an input is left outside. primer.md, section 7, Wrong, and why the mistakes are instructive
QE Every review first said Lindemann built a copy of Gray's motor and it failed. The text never says he built one: 'if you try to build this motor ... it doesn't perform'. Corrected; it stays as his statement against the motor, with no data. qe.md, section 4, item 6
Contrarian The DA finding no stockholder willing to press charges favours Lindemann's picture of loyal investors; it also fits Gray selling shares on a fuelless-engine promise, which is a regulated act whether or not the engine worked. contrarian.md, Claim 5, d
Investigator US 4,595,975 lapsed for unpaid fees on 17 June 1990, two months after the VA death date. An anonymous 2000 source says an oil-drilling firm, Western States, owns the Gray patents; USPTO assignment records would decide absorption versus abandonment. sites.md, Leads for review, 4. The historical record
AI noteGray's 1987 tube patent claims priority from a Greek application of 16 December 1983, ten months before the US parent, though Gray lived in Council, Idaho. Nothing in the record says who filed it or why.
An electrical engineer kept the quantity textbooks set to zero in electromagnetism and found new waves and forces; mainstream journals now study the same field, but nobody has detected it.
Invention / theory background
Koen J. van Vlaenderen, a Dutch electrical engineer (Institute for Basic Research, later Ethergy B.V.), argues in papers from 1999 to 2016 that the Lorenz-gauge quantity S (later the scalar magnetic field B_l) is physical. Adding it to Maxwell's equations gives longitudinal waves, a force J S along currents, a static-charge power term, a Newton's-third-law-respecting force law and a superluminal Phi wave he links to Tesla, Moray and Podkletnov.
Ranking explanation
Rank 11 for open questions, things a reader can calculate, and real influence: his 2001 paper has 99 citations and mainstream journals (Minotti-Modanese, EPJ C) develop the same field with a bench proposal. Below Kilner, whose anomaly is the claimant's own and cheap to test; here every experiment is someone else's and no suppression record exists. Above Aspden because the S-field programme is live in peer-reviewed physics today.
Key supporting elements
The algebra holds: every identity in the 2003 and 2015 papers checked symbolically, the extended equations are self-consistent, and the Grassmann force between open current elements really is non-reciprocal (1e-5 N imbalance in the worked example).
Sceptics rebuilt the Monstein-Wesley ball antenna in 2013 and found a pattern closer to Monstein-Wesley's theory than their own data; they rejected both that theory and the ground-current explanation: 'a yet-unidentified mechanism'.
The same S field is developed in peer-reviewed physics journals by Minotti and Modanese (EPJ C 2023), who cite the 2001 paper and propose a detection circuit; the 2001 paper has 99 citations.
Reed and Hively (2020) independently reach the same J S force and power term and report preliminary tests in which the wave passed thousands of skin depths of copper (authors' own report; Hively holds the antenna patent).
Longitudinal-force experiments (Graneau's blocked-hairpin jets, Saumont 1992, Johansson 1996, Phipps on the Marinov motor) have never been closed by a decisive neutral test, per the arbiter.
Key contradictions
With charge conserved, the theory's own eq. 24 makes S a source-free wave, so ordinary antennas and capacitors produce none; Bruhn pressed this, and the author's 2001 preprint concedes a point charge cannot source S.
In standard theory the Newton's-third-law imbalance between open current elements is balanced by field momentum; the 2015 paper's own eq. 4.34 contains time-varying field momentum it says is absent.
The 'far-field inconsistency' fails: for an oscillating dipole the two longitudinal 1/r terms cancel exactly, so Lorenz- and Coulomb-gauge fields are identical (Jackson 2002).
The 4/3 resolution needs a self-energy twice the paper's own eq. 4.33; eq. 4.22, offered to select a >> c, holds for any a; Caprez et al. (2007) found no Aharonov-Bohm force delays.
The author reports no experiment of his own, gives no magnitude for S, and reads the same data two ways (Monstein-Wesley as Phi waves in 2003, LEM waves in 2015).
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 35 shown)
Claim
Verdict
S is a physical field (extended theory with S, 2003)
Plausible, untestedself-consistent extended theoryNever properly testedS measurable; proposals onlyRefuted by calculationgauge 'circularity' argument for S
Longitudinal electro-scalar waves and the J S force along currents
Never properly testedno discriminating test
Static charge as a power source via the (rho/eps0)S term
Not testable as statedno S magnitude or matter-side law; Internally inconsistent only if rest mass is fixed
Maxwell-Lorentz force violates Newton's third law for open circuits
EstablishedGrassmann non-reciprocity, mathematicallyRefuted by calculationas a physical violation; field momentum balances it
A distinct longitudinal Ampere force J B_l exists
Never properly testedcontested hairpin and longitudinal-force experiments
2015 derivations: far-field inconsistency, a >> c and b = c, Rutherford 4/3
Refuted by calculationLorenz-gauge far-field inconsistencyInternally inconsistenta >> c selection; speed itself Never properly testedInternally inconsistent4/3 resolution, factor 2
Cited experiments support scalar or longitudinal effects
Never properly testedMonstein-Wesley, Ignatiev-Leus, Tzontchev, Strebkov, de SangroTested, not supportedAharonov-Bohm as a force; exploding wires (provisional)Not testable as statedTesla longitudinal waves and teleforce
Anomalous devices run on Phi or LEM radiation
Tested, not supportedPodkletnov weight effectNever properly testedPodkletnov 64c, Moray, Correa, ChernetskyNot testable as statedPhi photoelectric effect
Author of the theory (folder name misspells him 'Vlaenederen') · Theoretical research at Ethergy B.V., a company he gives as his R&D affiliation for scalar-field energy conversion
Master of Engineering per ResearchGate; 'Electrical engineer MD, The Hague' on his 2002 site; addresses in The Hague, Venlo and Alkmaar; Institute for Basic Research affiliation 1999-2018 ('Associate professor' in 2018); papers 1999-2018, Prague lecture 2023.
Andre Waser
Co-author of the 2001 Hadronic Journal paper and 'Electrodynamics with the scalar field'
Swiss electrical engineer and publisher (aw-verlag.ch) per citing papers; wrote on Tesla's radiations and cosmic rays. His website was unreachable.
Gerhard W. Bruhn
Critic: two web reviews showing the modified sources conserve charge only if S solves the homogeneous wave equation · Critic with a stake in showing the work wrong
Mathematician at TU Darmstadt who wrote web critiques of several alternative-energy theories (the research note tags this as model memory, medium confidence).
Christof Monstein and J.P. Wesley
Experimenters reporting longitudinal electrodynamic waves (EPL 2002); the author claims priority for their energy formulas
Not in the review files.
E.J. Butterworth, C.B. Allison, D. Cavazos and F.M. Mullen
Rebuilt the Monstein-Wesley apparatus (2013); reproduced the pattern, left the mechanism open
Not in the review files beyond their stated prior that Maxwell's equations are valid and longitudinal EM waves do not exist.
Lee M. Hively
Independent extended-electrodynamics author with the same scalar field, force and power term; reports copper-penetration tests · Inventor on US 9,306,527 (scalar-longitudinal wave antennas, Gradient Dynamics LLC)
Retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory; papers with Giakos (2012), Loebl (2019) and Reed (2020).
F. Minotti and G. Modanese
Develop 'Aharonov-Bohm electrodynamics' with S physical, cite the 2001 paper, propose a gauge-wave detection circuit
Not in the review files beyond their publication record (EPJ C, J. Phys. Commun., Symmetry, 2021-2026); Modanese also co-authored with Podkletnov.
G.F. Ignatiev and V.A. Leus
Reported a 1.12c phase velocity from a spherical antenna, and per the 2003 paper unusually high transmitted energy
Krasnoyarsk University and Sobolev Institute of Mathematics, Novosibirsk, per their paper.
Evidence / artifacts (82 of 82 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (15)
1999-10-16A charged space as the origin of sources, fields and potentials arXiv physics/9910022, 6 pp plus references; Institute for Basic Research affiliation; psi as real charge density, rho_mass c^2 = rho Phi, charge dimension 3/2; whole paper deep-read with page images
2001-10-04The Lienard-Wiechert potentials satisfy the Lorenz gauge condition (and the Maxwell equations) Notes from the author's archived website: 4 Oct 2001 version and extended Institute for Basic Research version of 1 Mar 2003 (5 pp); copies in research/files, not read
2001-10-17Electrodynamics with the scalar field (with A. Waser) 3-pp preprint, biquaternion form, from the author's archived website; abstract read: a single point charge cannot source S because the Lienard-Wiechert S is zero. Later version Hadronic J. 27(6):673-691 and chapter 18 of a 2016 book, not retrieved
2001-11-13Generalisation of classical electrodynamics to admit a scalar field and longitudinal waves (with A. Waser) Hadronic Journal 24:609-628, Hadronic Press, Palm Harbor FL; received 13 Nov 2001; origin of S, the LES wave and theorem (33); basis of the priority claim; 19-page scan, only p.1 read; cited 99 times (Google Scholar)
2002-01-24Generalisation of classical electrodynamics to admit a scalar field and longitudinal waves (conference draft) Word file by the author alone, template Conf_Proceedings.dot, archived 2003; list of consequences read (superluminal waves, possible classical photon tunnelling, a charge density wave that only induces S)
2002-12-12The revealed secrets of classical electrodynamics (author's web page) home.wanadoo.nl/raccoon, Wayback capture; 'Koen van Vlaenderen, Electrical engineer MD, The Hague'; says Tesla waves and overunity devices 'have been kept a secret'
2003-05-21A generalisation of classical electrodynamics for the prediction of scalar field effects arXiv physics/0305098, 13 pp; S field, extended Gauss and Ampere laws (18-19), LES waves, J S force, static-charge power term, cited experiments, priority claim against Monstein-Wesley; whole paper deep-read with SymPy checks
2003-05-26One-page check of the Lorenz condition for Lienard-Wiechert potentials (Landau notation) Author's archived website, Wayback capture; copy in research/files, not read
2004Chapter in 'Has the Last Word Been Said on Classical Electrodynamics?' Rinton Press book; confirmed by an Academia.edu snippet and ref. 40 of viXra 1512.0297; not retrieved
c.2006Gerhard Bruhn's 'Remark' on my scalar field theory is wrong (reply to Bruhn) Author's comments interleaved in red in Bruhn's text; Wayback capture 2006-04-23; 'S is introduced not for mathematical reasons ... for describing new effects'
2015-01Classical Electrodynamics in agreement with Newton's third law of motion 25 pp, viXra 1505.0132; longitudinal Ampere force J B_l, three waves (a >> c, b = c, c), 4/3 problem, far-field claim, Section 5 experiments review; pp.1-21 deep-read, pp.22-25 digest only
2015-12-11General Classical Electrodynamics, a New Foundation of Modern Physics and Technology viXra 1512.0297, 31 pp, Institute for Basic Research; 'Coulomb premise' a >> c, b = c; energy conversion 'in the footsteps of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Henry Moray'; p.1 read
2016General Classical Electrodynamics Universal Journal of Physics and Application 10(4):128-140, HRPUB (author-pays), DOI 10.13189/ujpa.2016.100404; Ethergy B.V. Research, Alkmaar; Whittaker reciprocal force law; abstract and Section 4 experiments list read
2018-04General Classical Electrodynamics, part two ResearchGate preprint on the energy density of sources; abstract snippet only; full text not retrieved
2023-10-11Scalar field theory and technologies (SEM2023 lecture, Prague) and Q&A YouTube, channel NAMI-Tech, 48.6 min plus about 21 min Q&A; description mentions Moray's radiant energy source and devices converting the scalar field into electricity; not watched or transcribed
Patents and patent office (6)
1901-11-05Tesla US 685,953, Method of Intensifying and Utilizing Effects Transmitted Through Natural Media Printed as 1905 in the 2003 paper; grant date 5 Nov 1901 web-checked by the arbiter
2016-04-05US 9,306,527 B1, Systems, apparatuses, and methods for generating and/or utilizing scalar-longitudinal waves Inventor L.M. Hively, assignee Gradient Dynamics LLC, filed 2015-05-29; antennas for the same longitudinal wave; does not cite van Vlaenderen; page metadata and abstract read· Patent holder's characterization of what the device does
2026-10-04Google Patents search, inventor 'vlaenderen' No patents by the author; one unrelated 1980 German patent
unknownTesla US 512,340 Cited in the 2003 paper's references as support for longitudinal waves; date not in the review files
unknownTesla US 568,176 Cited in the 2003 paper's references; date not in the review files
unknownTesla US 685,012 Cited in the 2003 paper's references; date not in the review files
Company and business records (1)
2026-10-04Ethergy B.V. register entry OpenCorporates mirror of KvK 59508701, active B.V., head office Amsterdam; the papers give Ethergy B.V. Research, Hobbemalaan 10, Alkmaar; identity not confirmed; officers and filings not seen
Witness accounts and correspondence (3)
1979Harvey Fletcher affidavit on T.H. Moray's radiant energy device Cited by the author (2015 ref 9; 2016 ref 36, thmoray.org/images/affidavit.pdf) as confirming the device 'functioned as claimed'; host unreachable; text not obtained· Hosted by Moray's family and supporters
c.2005-10G.W. Bruhn, On Koen van Vlaenderen's Seventh Field Component Again TU Darmstadt web page; modified sources conserve charge iff S solves the homogeneous wave equation (same as 2003 eq. 24); 'Maybe that some reasons can be found for the validity of condition (II)'; saved copy read· Critic of the theory
unknownG.W. Bruhn, A Remark on van Vlaenderen's Seventh Field Component TU Darmstadt web page; S is 'completely superfluous' in standard theory and the 'Tesla' results are not correct; saved copy read· Critic of the theory
Experiments and replications by others (26)
1926T.H. Moray, radiant energy receiver Cited (2016 ref 35) for a 'Phi photoelectric effect'; 'kilo Watts of useful electricity, day and night', germanium cold-cathode tube, first stage at least 200,000 V, per the author; no calorimetry on record
c.1985Cavalleri et al., repeat of Graneau-Pappas Reported a conventional explanation; Physics Letters A listing (sciencedirect 0375960185905912); search summary only
1989Chernetsky hydrogen discharge tube Plekhanov Institute report per the contrarian; excess energy attributed by the author to the Phi photoelectric effect; no input/output figures; not read
1992R. Saumont, longitudinal force measurement Physics Letters A 165 (1992) 307-313; cited in the 2016 paper; not read
1996P.N. and A.N. Correa, abnormal glow discharge (PAGD) reports Labofex Scientific Report Series 1996; excess energy claims; not read· Inventors of the device
1996L. Johansson, longitudinal forces, Lund Institute of Technology Thesis-level study reporting longitudinal forces; web page via the contrarian (dflund.se); cited in the 2016 paper
c.1999G.F. Ignatiev and V.A. Leus, On a superluminal transmission at the phase velocities Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk; 2.5 km wavelength, 0.5 km fibre reference, 1.12c across terrain and season; 2-pp text from the author's site read; 2003 paper adds 'transmitted energy was unusually high'; Nova Science 1999 chapter not found
2000Tzontchev, Chubykalo and Rivera-Juarez, Coulomb interaction speed Hadronic Journal 23 (2000); speed about c; apparatus not described in the author's text; not read
2001Woods et al., Podkletnov gravity-impulse replication attempt Null with a note that many conditions were not met; search summary only
2002-08-15C. Monstein and J.P. Wesley, Observation of scalar longitudinal electrodynamic waves Europhysics Letters 59(4):514-520; ball-antenna longitudinal polarisation; subject of the author's priority claim; not read
2003Hathaway et al., superconducting gravity-impulse null No weight change to 0.001%, with the disk turned mechanically at lower speed; tested the weight effect, not the 64c timing; search summary only
2004J.R. Bray and M.C. Britton, Comment on Monstein-Wesley Europhysics Letters (2004); title only
2004Monstein and Wesley, Remarks to the Comment by Bray and Britton Europhysics Letters 66(1):155-156; title only
2007Caprez, Barwick and Batelaan, absence of Aharonov-Bohm time delays Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 210401; no force-type delays; the author calls the null 'premature'; abstract web-checked
2008K. Rebilas, On the origin of 'longitudinal electrodynamic waves' Proposes ground plasma currents for the Monstein-Wesley result; title only
2012-11de Sangro, Finocchiaro, Patteri, Piccolo and Pizzella, Measuring propagation speed of Coulomb fields arXiv:1211.2913, EPJ C 75:137 (2015); field 'rigidly carried by the beam'; cited by the author for a >> c; abstract read
2013Wang et al. (2013); Nimtz and Stahlhofen, evanescent-field superluminal results Cited in the 2016 paper as superluminal Coulomb near fields; not read
2013Butterworth, Allison, Cavazos and Mullen, The Monstein-Wesley Experiment Reconstructed J. Scientific Exploration 27(1):13-23; duplicate apparatus; pattern 'resemble[s] MW's theoretical pattern more closely than did their own experiment'; 'a yet-unidentified mechanism'; abstract read
2019-03L.M. Hively and A.S. Loebl, Classical and extended electrodynamics Physics Essays 32(1):112-126; primary report of preliminary tests with propagation 'through thousands of skin-depths of solid copper'; paywalled· Hively holds US 9,306,527
unknownAmpere's hairpin experiment and the Ampere, Gauss and Weber force experiments Cited for the longitudinal Ampere force and, per the 2015 paper p.16, as open-circuit experiments; no sources or numbers given; conventional account (Lorentz force plus diverging currents) also on record
unknownGraneau and Graneau-Pappas exploding-wire and hairpin experiments Cited for longitudinal forces; strong mercury jets reported with the hairpin blocked; not read
unknownNasilowski, exploding-wire striations Cited in the 2003 paper (pressure 'substantially greater than the pinch pressure'); no numbers; not read
unknownT.E. Phipps Jr., Observations of the Marinov motor Apeiron 5(3); the 2016 paper says the motor 'works as claimed'; not read
unknownE. Podkletnov and G. Modanese, impulse gravity generator, at least 64c Up to 2 million volt discharge from a superconducting electrode; 63 +/- 1 ns trigger difference; claimant's own timing; not read
unknownPublished replies to de Sangro et al. Argue the data show the Lienard-Wiechert field; search summaries only
unknownNekrasov, Strebkov and Avramenko, single-wire resonant energy transmission 2015 ref 6; 'very efficient', no figures; author's discriminator: ground return means TEM, none means LEM; not applied; not read
Related theory by others (23)
1994Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff, inertia from the zero-point field Phys. Rev. A 49, 678; cited by the 1999 paper as the ZPF mass model
1996W.A. Hofer, Beyond Uncertainty (Material Wave Theory) quant-ph/9611009; the 1999 paper builds on it
1999V. Petkov, mass of a charge as its electrostatic energy physics/9909019; cited by the 1999 paper
2002J.D. Jackson, From Lorenz to Coulomb and other explicit gauge transformations Am. J. Phys. 70, 917-928; fields are the same in any gauge; bears on the far-field claim; abstract only
2004C.H. Thompson, The phi-wave aether Rinton Press 2004; cited in the 2015 conclusions and viXra 1512.0297
2004G. Nikolaev (Tomsk), scalar magnetic field and induction law Named B_l the 'scalar magnetic field'; his account of the Aharonov-Bohm effect is adopted; cited in 2015 and 2016 papers
2009A.I. Arbab and Z.A. Satti, On the generalized Maxwell equations and their prediction of electroscalar wave Progress in Physics; says the author's eq. (35) becomes identical to their eq. (43); snippet only
2011A.I. Arbab, The analogy between matter and electromagnetic waves EPL; cites the 2001 paper
2012L.M. Hively and G.C. Giakos, Toward a more complete electrodynamic theory Int. J. Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering
2016V.M. Simulik, Longitudinal electromagnetic waves in the framework of standard classical electrodynamics arXiv:1606.01738; discusses van Vlaenderen and Waser
2017A.I. Arbab, Extended electrodynamics and its consequences; Quantized Maxwell's equations Mod. Phys. Lett. B 2017; Optik 2017; claims to explain the scalar function in van Vlaenderen
2017G. Modanese, Generalized Maxwell equations and charge conservation censorship; Time in quantum mechanics and local non-conservation of the probability current Mod. Phys. Lett. B 2017; Mathematics 2018
2019E.I. Nefyodov and S. Smolskiy, Electromagnetic fields and waves Springer textbook chapter citing the 2001 paper
2020D. Reed and L.M. Hively, Implications of gauge-free extended electrodynamics Symmetry 12:2110; same scalar field, J.C force and rho C power term; cites 'van Vlaederen' 2001-2003; read in Chrome· Hively holds US 9,306,527
2021Minotti and Modanese, earlier extended-electrodynamics papers Symmetry 2021 (current discontinuities in molecular devices); Quantum Reports 2021 (energy flux); titles only
2023F. Minotti and G. Modanese, Gauge waves generation and detection in Aharonov-Bohm electrodynamics Eur. Phys. J. C 83:1086, arXiv:2310.13968; S physical, sourced by non-conserved currents; cites van Vlaenderen and Waser 2001; reference list and abstract read
2023Minotti and Modanese, A scalar e.m. field cannot cause dissipation in a medium Symmetry 2023; title only
2024F. Minotti and G. Modanese, Simple circuit and experimental proposal for the detection of gauge-waves J. Phys. Commun. 8, 055003, arXiv:2403.10580; proposal only, no results; cites the 2001 paper
2025-12-15A.K. Tomilin and V.A. Panchelyuga, Longitudinal electromagnetic waves Metaphysics (RUDN, Moscow), Russian with English abstract; experiment review; cites the 2001 paper; abstract and reference list read
2026Minotti and Modanese, 2026 papers EPJ Plus 141, 788 (quantum collapse and local charge conservation); EPJ C 86, 593 (scalar-tensor gravity and superconductors); Fluctuations preprint; titles only
unknownMoyssides, Peoglos and Hillas, longitudinal-force papers Cited in the 2015 references; not read
unknownD.E. Rutherford, energy density correction (4/3 problem) Unrefereed web page (2015 ref 20); the 4/3 resolution needs its doubled self-energy; not read
unknownA. Waser, Nikola Tesla's Radiations and the Cosmic Rays Cited by the 2016 papers; not read
Later accounts and media (3)
c.2014Moray and Fletcher material on the web rexresearch Moray page; 'The Sea of Energy' 5th ed. (lists a 1927 affidavit); J.E. Dalton 2014 PDF with a 'Harvey Fletcher Affidavit' section; search results only
2026-10-04Google legal-removal notice on a Moray/Fletcher query Two results removed after a legal request (LumenDatabase); removed items unknown; recorded, not interpreted
2026-10-04Google Scholar citing list of the 2001 paper 99 citations; first page of 99 read; citing authors include Arbab, Simulik, Hively, Modanese, Minotti, Nefyodov
Records named but not yet examined (5)
unknownKvK extract and filed annual accounts of Ethergy B.V. Founding date, SBI activity code, Alkmaar link; would decide the absence-of-evidence question
unknownEspacenet and WIPO filings with applicant Ethergy or inventor van Vlaenderen Not reached in the time limit
unknownarXiv moderation correspondence, referee reports and submission histories after 2003 Would show why publication moved to viXra and HRPUB; none on record
unknownLagrangian behind the 2003 power and force theorems (33)-(34) Named by the arbiter as a paper-only check the author could supply; matter-side equation of motion not written
Left out: the review's own AI-written analyses, duplicate copies (PhilArchive, Academia.edu, the Wayback W. Heitler textbook excerpt), the author's ResearchGate profile, and unrelated namesakes (a Belgian chess player and company co-founder). Full catalogue: van Vlaenederen Koen sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Build the Minotti-Modanese gauge-wave circuit, or repeat the Hively-Loebl copper test independently with a closed grounded shield, a distance scan and a stated null; and repeat Monstein-Wesley beyond lambda/(2 pi) with isolated battery receivers and ground-current controls.
Deciding records: Hively-Loebl 2019 test report; Monstein-Wesley 2002 with the Bray-Britton comment and Rebilas 2008; the full 2001 Hadronic Journal scan; the Fletcher affidavit; Rutherford's energy density correction; the SEM2023 lecture and Q&A; the Ethergy B.V. KvK extract and any Espacenet filings.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: two 1 A m current elements 0.1 m apart give a 1e-5 N Grassmann imbalance, balanced either by the author's J B_l push or by field momentum; Part D shows a 231 N Coulomb force that swamps it in a real open circuit.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter The static-charge power term is a covariant four-force; energy closes only if the charge's rest mass changes at dm/dtau = qS. The paper never says where the energy goes and gives no magnitude for S. arbiter.md section 8.2
Contrarian All parties agree on the condition: S needs non-conserved sources. The claim and its critics agree on the mathematics and disagree about whether nature ever supplies the source. contrarian.md section 3
Physicist The extended equations are a genuinely different theory, not a reinterpretation, and such theories exist in the mainstream literature. The question is empirical: does nature contain a free S field? So far nothing has detected one. physicist.md section 0
Arbiter Monstein-Wesley is the cleanest anomaly in the file: sceptics found the pattern, rejected both explanations, and said 'a yet-unidentified mechanism'. It does not test an S wave. arbiter.md section 3, claim 2
Investigator Ethergy B.V. (KvK 59508701, active) is the author's R&D affiliation, yet no patents, products or papers were found, while his 2023 lecture discusses devices converting the scalar field into electricity. KvK filings and Espacenet would decide. sites.md, Leads for review, historical record
AI noteThe author's own 2001 preprint already states that a single point charge cannot be a source of S, the same condition his critic Bruhn later pressed as an objection.
Rank 17Aspden-Hearld
no changeA - UntestedB - Open questionD - InfluentialPrimer · Arbiter · SourcesCard updated 2026-10-05
Maxwell admitted the force between two moving charges is not fixed by experiment; Aspden filled the gap with a mass-ratio term nobody has ever tested directly.
Invention / theory background
Harold Aspden (Ph.D., Trinity College, Cambridge) argued from 1960 to a 2005 essay that Maxwell's undetermined term in the force between moving charges carries the ratio of their masses, giving heavy ions an unbalanced push paid for by a vacuum lattice aether. His self-published Physics Unified (c.1980) builds gravity, Mercury's perihelion, alpha, particle masses and the 2.7 K background on that lattice. Paulo and Alexandra Correa cited his 1969 paper in three plasma-discharge patents.
Ranking explanation
Rank 12 for criteria A, B and D. Like van Vlaenderen (11), Aspden's core is a precise, never-tested addition to electrodynamics, and its plasma consequence is open at second order; his influence through the Correa device is wide. He sits below 11 because much of his numerical programme has since been tested and failed, and the record shows neglect rather than resistance. He sits above Bearden (13), whose headline claim is refuted by calculation. Interest is not proof.
Key supporting elements
Maxwell's own Treatise says closed-circuit experiments leave the force between single moving charges undetermined. Aspden's extra term integrates to zero around any closed loop, so no circuit experiment rules it out (arbiter: Established).
Ions hotter than electrons are real: Roth's bumpy torus per the essay, beam-heated plasmas and coronal holes. Coronal heating is not fully settled in mainstream physics (arbiter, [memory, medium]).
Sethian, Hammer and Wharton (Phys. Rev. Lett. 1978) measured electron-ion energy transfer 1000 times faster than classical and themselves suggested, without particular justification, the ion/electron mass ratio, the size of Aspden's factor.
Most of the arithmetic recomputes as printed (alpha 137.035915, m_p/m_e 1836.15232, G, 2.56 K, deuteron, pion, muon g). The revised alpha 137.035953 sat 0.7 standard uncertainties from the 1979 Williams-Olsen measurement.
His plasma papers passed refereed journals (J. Franklin Inst. 1969, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 1977 and 1986, Phys. Lett. A 1985). His explicit CMB formula predicts a solar-system gradient and a 0.08 K annual swing nobody has checked.
Key contradictions
The essay's case for net ion heating fails at first order: the extra force on a near-static ion is the time derivative of 1/r, so a complete electron flyby gives exactly zero impulse (mathematician, arbiter, example.py).
The corona 'factor of 160' is 1,000,000 K divided by the 6,000 K photosphere, two places, not ions against electrons; and the million degrees itself comes from iron lines excited by electron collisions.
Solar pp-chain and CNO neutrinos (Borexino 2020) identify the fusion reactions directly, against the essay's 'I am sure it is not'. Sethian's abstract reports electron cooling and ion heating at constant total energy, not a net gain.
Alpha 137.035915 is about 3,800 standard uncertainties from CODATA 2022 (137.035953: about 2,100). Each particle match uses 3 to 5 choices made with the target known, and every one stayed with its pre-1980 value as measurements moved.
Mercury's perihelion is matched only by picking the distribution that agrees with general relativity (n = 0 gives 28.7 arcsec per century). The same CMB formula with the Galaxy's potential gives 270-450 K, not 2.7 K.
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Verdicts by claim (8 of 57 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Closed-circuit experiments cannot fix the isolated-charge force term
Establishedhistorical, Maxwell's own remark
The force law with the -(M/m)(v.r)V term is the true law for isolated charges
Never properly testedthe law itself; tension with beam data unsourcedInternally inconsistentthe derivation as a proof of uniqueness
The extra term makes plasma ions hotter than electrons
Never properly testedthe mechanism, never quantifiedRefuted by calculationthe essay's four-case argument, first orderInternally inconsistentcorona factor of 160
The sun is not powered by fusion
Tested, not supportedsolar neutrino detection
Lattice aether as preferred frame and energy source for the Correa device
Never properly testedCorrea excess power, no neutral calorimetryNot testable as statedpreferred frame, null by constructionTested, not supportedRydberg factor 2 - gamma, [memory, medium]
Gravity from lattice electrodynamics: Mercury's perihelion, G and a 2.587 GeV graviton
Internally inconsistentperihelion and parameter-free GTested, not supportedG 0.1 percent low; graviton not foundNot testable as statedthe mechanism
Alpha, m_p/m_e and particle masses follow from lattice geometry with no free parameters
Tested, not supportedat modern precisionHistorically superseded but instructivec.1980 agreementInternally inconsistentno free parameters
The 2.7 K background is a local lattice temperature set by gravitational potential
Refuted by calculationstated form, Galaxy's potentialNever properly testedsolar-system gradient and annual swing
Author of the force law, the vacuum lattice theory, Physics Unified and the 2005 plasma essay
Ph.D., Trinity College, Cambridge (book title page). The primer gives 1927-2011 and a long career as a patent manager at IBM UK, both from model recall (medium confidence, not web-checked). Self-published from 1960 (Sabberton, Southampton); refereed papers 1969-1986; wrote a 1996 report on the Correa invention.
Paulo and Alexandra Correa
Inventors of the pulsed plasma-discharge device that Aspden took as 'power from space'; the only uptake of his 1969 paper he names · Patent holders (US 5,416,391; 5,449,989; 5,502,354); excess-energy claims come from their own publications; their aetherometry.com site hosts the essay
Not in the review files beyond the patents and their Akronos/Labofex publications claiming excess energy (e.g. '483%' overall efficiency).
James Clerk Maxwell
Noted in his Treatise that closed-circuit data allow 'any value of Q', the undetermined term Aspden revived
Not in the review files beyond the Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (3rd edition) as quoted by Aspden.
J. D. Sethian (with D. A. Hammer and C. B. Wharton)
Measured anomalously fast electron-ion energy transfer, Aspden's chief quoted support
Not in the review files beyond Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 451 (1978): beam-heated plasma, electrons cooling and ions heating 1000 times faster than classical, total perpendicular energy constant.
Peter and Neal Graneau
Exploding-wire and arc experiments Aspden cites as support
Not in the review files beyond their 1983 and 1985 papers. Kiloampere pulses break 1 mm copper wire into about 100 pieces; they credit Ampere longitudinal forces, others credit conventional forces. Ampere's law is not Aspden's law.
J. Reece Roth
Reported heavy ions hotter than electrons in a bumpy-torus plasma, cited by the essay
Not in the review files beyond IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. PS-6 (June 1978), which was not obtained.
Paul Gerber
1898 retardation theory of Mercury's perihelion that Aspden says he completes
Not in the review files beyond a secondary web source: a fitted gravity speed of about 305,000 km/s, Seeliger's objection, and a 1917 republication arranged by Ernst Gehrcke in an anti-Einstein priority campaign, which the book omits.
E. W. Silvertooth
Laser aether-drift experimenter whose null result Aspden reports from private conversation
Not in the review files beyond the 1976 two-laser experiment (detectors 50 cm apart, 79 cycles expected at 30 km/s, no shift seen), told to Aspden and unpublished.
Evidence / artifacts (89 of 89 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (15)
1960The Theory of Gravitation H. Aspden, Sabberton, Southampton; first statement of the structured space medium and a lattice particle of 3.7e-29 g, 'firmly asserted' (book p.197)
1966The Theory of Gravitation, second edition Sabberton; introduces the 2.587 GeV G-frame particle deduced from G and hadron data (book p.197)
1969Physics without Einstein Named in facts.json as the book Physics Unified supersedes; that relation and the year are from model recall, low confidence
1969Paper in Journal of the Franklin Institute 287, 179 The revised force law and anomalous cathode reaction forces in the vacuum arc; the paper the Correa patents cite; the arbiter's first record to obtain
1975Paper with Eagles in Nuovo Cimento giving m_p/m_e = 1836.15232 Cited in the book (page image p.122-123)
1977Paper in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science PS-5, 159 Anomalous acceleration forces exerted by electrons on ions (essay)
1977Paper in International Journal of Theoretical Physics 16, 401 g-factor average relation (book p.146)
1978Paper in Speculations in Science and Technology 1, 59 Psi-particle work (book p.124)
1979Paper in Lettere al Nuovo Cimento 26, 257 Psi decay thresholds 3551, 3503, 3455, 3415, 3340 MeV; published after the psi discoveries (book p.128)
c.1980Physics Unified Sabberton, Southampton; 212-page scan, all pages OCR'd; deep-read pp.7-36, 54-80, 94-200 and 211 with equations checked on page images
1985Paper in Physics Letters A 111, 22 Discusses the Graneau experiments under the revised law (essay)
1986Paper in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science PS-14, 282 Cited in the essay
1996Power from Space: The Correa Invention 35-page report, Aspden's website www.aspden.org (essay)
2005-10-30A Problem in Plasma Science 2-page web essay; PDF is a 6/11/2019 printout from aetherometry.com; read in full
–Aspden article in Intercom Popular article cited in Chapter 9 of the book; date not given in the review files
Patents and patent office (3)
1995-05-16US 5,416,391 P. and A. Correa, plasma-discharge apparatus; cites Aspden 1969· Patent holders
1995-09-12US 5,449,989 Correa; Google Patents page linked by the arbiter; data not obtained· Patent holders
1996-03-26US 5,502,354 Correa; data not obtained· Patent holders
Experiments and replications by others (34)
1875Gore self-rotation experiment Refuted by Maxwell and Stokes; the book's basis for 'no self-torque' (p.12)
1887Michelson-Morley experiment Null result; the book's E-frame follows the laboratory so the null is automatic
1893Lodge rotating-disc experiment Null result read by Aspden as the E-frame not rotating
1903Trouton and Noble, charged-capacitor torque experiment Proc. Roy. Soc. 72, 132; cited for Maxwell's law over Lorentz's; special relativity also predicts the null, and eq. 14 predicts a larger couple for a real capacitor
1915Einstein-de Haas gyromagnetic effect Book p.46
1923Sucksmith and Bates gyromagnetic ratio Source of Aspden's k = 2; the factor is electron spin g = 2
1925Michelson-Gale-Pearson experiment Earth-rotation Sagnac effect, which special relativity also computes
1930Kobel, cathode reaction forces in cold-cathode discharge Phys. Rev. 36, 1636; cited support for anomalous ion forces
1932Kennedy-Thorndike experiment Null, reproduced by the E-frame construction
1938Ives-Stilwell experiment Transverse Doppler; book pp.66-68
1958Townes et al. opposed-beam maser test 1.08 cps beat, 0.05 cps daily variation; by Aspden's own scaling this already limits his expected 0.3 km/s signal
1962Mandelberg and Witten, hydrogen Doppler test 0.498 +/- 0.025 at v/c < 0.01; tests only the beta^2 coefficient
1970Altschuler et al., ball lightning energy density Nature 228, 545; 2-5e9 J/m^3, against Aspden's 8e9 from a freely chosen speed
1972Jones, light through a rotating glass rod (Fresnel drag) Proc. Roy. Soc. A328, 337
1972Hafele-Keating flying clocks Book pp.189-191 says it should be repeated at different times of year; numbers not computed
1972Eagles and Burton computer check of lattice sum r/d = 0.302874 National Standards Laboratory (book pp.113-115); the sum depends on summation convention
1975Zinsser, 'Kinetobarische Effekte - ein neues Phanomen?' Umschau 5, 152; anomalous torque, cited with no description of the experiment
1975Taylor and Cohen value of alpha 137.03592 AMCO-5, Paris; book footnote p.119
1976Silvertooth two-laser experiment No phase shift seen; told to Aspden privately, unpublished (book p.65)
1976-08Fermilab report of a state at 2.250-2.270 GeV Matched Aspden's 2.260; known via Calder; may be Knapp et al., PRL 37, 882 (model recall, unverified); later fate unverified after two failed web checks
1977Apostolakis et al., resonance near 2.60 GeV Phys. Lett. 66B, 185; the candidate for Aspden's 2.587 GeV graviton
1977Rapidis et al., psi(3770) Discovered before Aspden's 1979 'prediction' of 3.772 GeV
1977-10Smoot, Gorenstein and Muller, U-2 microwave background anisotropy Phys. Rev. Lett. 39, 898; 390 +/- 60 km/s, which Aspden reads as aether drift and uses in Appendix III
1978van Apeldoorn et al., search for the 2.60 GeV state Phys. Lett. 72B, 487; failed to confirm it, as the book itself reports
1978Sethian, Hammer and Wharton, anomalous electron-ion energy transfer Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 451; abstract checked on the web: faster equilibration, total energy constant
1978-06Roth, bumpy-torus plasma with ions hotter than electrons IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. PS-6, No. 2
1979Williams and Olsen value of alpha 137.035963(15) Book footnote; 3.2 sigma from eq. 157, 0.7 sigma from the Appendix III revision
1979Perl, tau lepton at 1.785 GeV New Scientist; compared with Aspden's 1782 MeV
1983P. and P. N. Graneau, wire-rupture experiments Phys. Lett. 97A, 253
1985P. and P. N. Graneau, exploding-arc experiments Appl. Phys. Lett. 46, 468; the fragmentation is real, its cause contested
–Sagnac experiment Discussed in Chapter 3 with Michelson-Morley
–Champeney, Isaak and Khan, Moessbauer rotor Proposed by Ruderfer; null reproduced by nested E-frames (book p.64)
–Snyder and Hall, neon Doppler test 0.502 +/- 0.003; cannot separate Aspden's factor from special relativity
–Pound-Rebka gravitational redshift Book p.190, explained by atom-lattice energy exchange
Theory and literature the book relies on (16)
1873Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism Vol. 2, the undetermined term Q; quoted on book p.12 (checked by the arbiter)
1893Heaviside's advice on the spatial distribution of interaction energy Cited on book p.35-36
1898Gerber, 'Die raeumliche und zeitliche Ausbreitung der Gravitation' Zeitschrift f. Math. u. Phys. 43, 93
1917Gerber republication and Seeliger-Oppenheim exchange Ann. d. Phys. 52, 415; 53, 31 and 163; 54, 38; arranged by Gehrcke (web, secondary)
1951Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity Source of Aspden's vector notation (essay)
1960Vonnegut on tornado energy J. Geophys. Res. 65, 203; a speculation quoted as corroboration
1963Ritchie on ball lightning Book p.197
1966Phillips, 'Is the Graviton a Goldstone Boson?' Cited as support (book p.198)
1967Steiner on geological and galactic periodicities J. Geol. Soc. Australia 14, 99; also Geology 1973
1970Brillouin, Relativity Reexamined Speed of gravity and mass of interaction energy
1970Bailey and Picasso, a 3.8 GeV 'leptonic boson' for muon g-2 Cited as encouragement (book p.198)
1974MacGregor quark mass fit Aspden's printed 336.9 MeV equals this fit, not his own equations
1975Koshiba, 'Does Hadronic Ether Exist?' Cited as support (book p.198)
1977Calder, The Key to the Universe BBC popular book, p.122; source for the 2.260 GeV report
1978Bardeen and Tye, a light Higgs near 50 keV Cited as support (book p.198)
1978Matsuki, Higgs scalar effects on gravity Cited as support (book p.198)
Later accounts and media (7)
–Correa publications on aetherometry.com Excess-energy claims for the pulsed abnormal glow discharge (PAGD) device, e.g. '483%' overall efficiency (contrarian, web)· Inventors and patent holders
–Rex Research Correa page rexresearch.com/correa; proponent compilation cited by physicist, arbiter and primer
–aetherscience.org Energy Science Report 8 page Cited by physicist and arbiter as a Correa source; whether it is Aspden's 1996 report is not established in the review files
–Eugene Mallove web page on the Correa work eugenemallove.com, cited by the arbiter
–Enthusiast forum discussions of informal Correa verification and non-verification attempts Found by the arbiter's search; disputed, not peer reviewed
1985Physics Letters A article in the Graneau wire-fragmentation debate ScienceDirect 0375960185905912; seen as abstract and search summary only; authorship not stated in the review files
–Wikipedia, Paul Gerber Secondary source for Gerber's fit, Seeliger and Einstein critiques, Roseveare on light deflection, Gehrcke's role
Tests by others used in the verdicts (11)
1977Schwinberg and Dehmelt, Penning-trap electron g-factor Aspden's series about 23 sigma off it (model recall, medium)
1977CERN muon g-2 result Aspden's muon g already about 4.7 sigma below it (model recall, medium; web check failed)
2003Saathoff et al., stored-ion Ives-Stilwell test Li+ at beta = 0.064, a few parts in 1e7; excludes the Rydberg factor 2 - gamma (model recall, medium)
2007Reinhardt et al., stored-ion time-dilation test Model recall, medium; web check failed
2018Gaia local escape speed estimates 445-580 km/s (arXiv 1807.04565 and ApJ ac4244); gives the 270-450 K Galactic term
2020Borexino detection of CNO-cycle solar neutrinos Nature 587, 577
2021CMB temperature-redshift T(z) compilation arXiv 2106.00119; beta consistent with zero
2022MICROSCOPE final equivalence-principle result arXiv 2209.15487; about 1e-15
2022CODATA 2022 constants (alpha, m_p/m_e, G) NIST web pages
–Geomagnetic polarity timescale About 183 reversals in 83 million years, irregular, Cretaceous superchron; last reversal about 780,000 years (Wikipedia via deep read)
Records named but not yet examined (3)
1976University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center Silvertooth-type experiment 'Under way' per the book (p.65); outcome unknown
–Existing beam-ion and ion-trap force measurements The arbiter's cheap test of claim 1: any measured force along the ion's velocity of size (M/m)vV/c^2 times Coulomb
–FIRAS, WMAP and Planck monopole data fitted for a solar-distance or annual signal Would test the 0.08 K peak-to-peak swing of eq. 230
Left out: earlier AI-written reviews, the book's popular and newspaper sources in Chapter 9 (Markert, Hill, Stoneley, The Times), and standard textbooks named in the primer. Full catalogue: Aspden-Hearld sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Measure the force between isolated charges of very different mass, such as an electron beam passing a trapped ion, looking for a force along the ion's track of size (M/m)vV/c^2 times Coulomb. Separately, run blind neutral-lab calorimetry of a Correa discharge device with true input and output power.
Deciding records: Aspden, J. Franklin Inst. 287, 179 (1969) and his 1977, 1985 and 1986 plasma papers; Kobel 1930; Graneau 1983 and 1985; Roth 1978; the data behind the three Correa patents; Aspden's 1996 report Power from Space; the fate of the 1976 Fermilab 2.26 GeV report.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: one electron flying past a proton gives zero net energy at first order; the Sun and Earth potential gives T = 2.56 K but adding the Galaxy gives 267-453 K; alpha swings from 137.06 to 137.01 between integers 1841 and 1845. Then test Aspden's Earth magnetic-moment formula on Jupiter.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter No source on file shows any claim was dismissed without a test. Aspden says his papers were ignored, though they appeared in refereed journals. Neglect, not documented suppression, is what the sources support; no funding block, retraction or data omission is documented. arbiter.md, The contrarian's distinctions, Dismissed without testing
Contrarian Strongest honest case: closed-circuit data leave a gap (Maxwell said so), the Ampere-versus-Lorentz question for longitudinal forces in metals is not entirely closed, and the Graneau fragmentation is real. A momentum-carrying medium is not absurd; Maxwell's own field momentum works that way. contrarian.md, Claim 1, Strongest honest case
Physicist Sethian, Hammer and Wharton saw electrons cool and ions heat with total perpendicular energy constant: faster equilibration, not ions gaining net energy from outside. That is weak or no support for an unbalanced force pumping ion energy. physicist.md, Corrections to Step 1, item 4
Arbiter Every particle comparison value predates the book, and wherever the measurement later moved, Aspden's number stayed with the old value. That pattern is what fitting produces. Yet much of the arithmetic reproduces exactly: the freedom, not the algebra, fails. arbiter.md, QE revision Q3
Primer Genuinely open: does Aspden's term give a net ion energy gain at second order or with correlated motion in a current-carrying discharge? Nobody has done the kinetic calculation; a Monte Carlo of many encounters is a good project. primer.md, section 7, Genuinely open
AI noteThe book's revised alpha (Appendix III) depends on the lattice's speed through space, so the model implies an annual change in alpha of about 0.02 ppm as Earth orbits. The book never states it and nobody has checked it.
A Taiwanese engineering professor rebuilt relativity's results with an ether that rides along with each planet; it matches GPS, but its own distinctive cavity prediction was later measured null.
Invention / theory background
Ching-Chuan Su, professor of electrical engineering at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, published 2000-2006 a 'local-ether' model: light moves at c relative to an ether fixed to Earth's centre near Earth and to the Sun between planets. A matter-wave equation makes mass a frequency, gravity becomes an optical index, magnetism a Galilean force law, and quasar redshifts gravitational. Papers appeared in Eur. Phys. J. C, Europhys. Lett. and J. Electromagn. Waves Applic.
Ranking explanation
Rank 16 for open questions, things a reader can calculate, and a small continuing literature. Below Aspden, whose revived force law is untested; Su's sharpest prediction, the 62 Hz cavity term, has since been tested and not supported. Above Haisch-Bernard, whose net-power claim is refuted by calculation: Su still leaves open questions (aberration, his F2 term beside a 1976 anomaly, electronic-clock redshift) and offers clean worked calculations.
Key supporting elements
Every number Su matches (GPS Sagnac correction, Hafele-Keating, Ives-Stilwell, light bending, Shapiro delay, neutron Sagnac and gravity phases) is correct; the reviewers found the algebra right throughout the deep reads.
The GPS observation is real: the Sagnac correction is applied in the Earth-centred frame and Earth's 30 km/s orbital motion is not; relativity gives the same, so GPS cannot adjudicate either way.
Su stated departures as numbers (62 Hz, about 1 degree, -11.5 Hz) and named his own unsolved problem (annual aberration) and his unfavourable data ('not good quantitatively'), behaviour the Contrarian calls falsifiability-minded.
Edwards, Kenyon and Lemon (1976) reported an unexplained coil potential quadratic in current with electron sign: the form and sign of Su's F2 term, though 24-320 times larger than F2 with uniform current.
Published in refereed journals, cited 46 and 32 times; Gift (2021) calls the nested ethers 'a reasonable working hypothesis' (a proponent); Field 2019 and Kipreos 2024 (IJMPA) examine preferred frames and cite Su.
Key contradictions
Herrmann et al. (Berlin, 2009) measured the lab-fixed term at twice the turntable rate at about 1e-17 over a year, roughly 4e4 below Su's 4.5e-13; an incidental test, not a dedicated one.
An ether carried by the Earth cannot yet give annual stellar aberration; Su conceded it, and no rule says where Earth's ether ends.
Su's one-way turntable effect cancels when his own clock formula is applied to atomic clocks; his transverse radar Doppler shift is the standard formula evaluated at a different instant.
His wave equation, expanded, gives a different gravitational redshift for electronic than for hyperfine transitions, contradicting his own universal formula; he never sized it.
The quasar fit uses a weak-field formula at Phi/c^2 = 4.1 with a chosen density: 1.3e16 solar masses, escape speed 2.9 c, free-fall time 272 years.
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Verdicts by claim (8 of 40 shown)
Claim
Verdict
A local ether carries light (Earth-centred frame near Earth, heliocentric between planets)
EstablishedECI-frame Sagnac, no orbital term (not evidence for an ether)Not testable as statedether as the explanation at first orderTested, not supportedannual aberration with an Earth-carried ether
Tested, not supportedHerrmann et al. 2009, incidental test
Gravity is an optical index, not curvature
Establisheddeflection, delays, GR's numbers by constructionNot testable as statedno curvature neededNever properly testedsecond-order redshift and frame effects
Matter waves obey the preferred-frame equation; mass is a frequency
Establishedde Broglie and clock relations, as SR in the ECI frameNot testable as statedpreferred-frame reading; mass as origin of inertiaPlausible, untestedhyperfine and nuclear extension, as a derivation
Gravitational redshift is (1 - Phi_g/c^2) for every transition
Establishedhyperfine clocksInternally inconsistentelectronic transitions, from Su's own equation
Magnetism can be Galilean (augmented-potential force law)
Establishedlow-speed reduction to Lorentz force; Fresnel dragNever properly testedextra terms F1-F3 incl. F2 after Edwards et al. 1976; Barnett; magnetic-medium drag
Other predictions differing from relativity
Internally inconsistentone-way turntable link with atomic clocksRefuted by calculationtransverse radar Doppler as a differenceNever properly testedBragg asymmetry, -11.5 Hz offset, third-order rotor
Quasar redshifts are gravitational, with preferred values from halving
Internally inconsistentformula at Phi/c^2 = 4.1Tested, not supportedKarlsson periodicity premise (contested)Not testable as statedabrupt-boundary argument
Originator of the local-ether model and Quantum Electromagnetics · Originator; his accounts of relativity, GPS practice and others' experiments are his characterisations
Born 1955 in Taiwan; B.S., M.S., Ph.D. in electrical engineering, National Taiwan University (1978, 1980, 1985); ITRI 1980-82 (IC fabrication); NTHU faculty from 1985, professor of EE; antenna and microwave papers in IEEE journals 1988-2003; local-ether papers 2000-2006; record stops 2006.
James Marsen
Promoter of Su's work; source of the c.2007 death date; proposed orbital Michelson-Morley tests · Advocate of the model; author of his own 'Tron Theory' with a 'very similar' ether
Education and career not in the review files. Wrote viXra 1906.0336 (2019) and 2105.0110 (2021) and presented Su's model to the John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society in June 2021.
Petr Beckmann
Proposed the same local-ether postulate in 1986, apparently independently of Su
Not in the review files beyond his works: Einstein Plus Two (1987) and the journal Galilean Electrodynamics; described as 'the late Prof.' by Marsen.
Stephan J. G. Gift
Independent author arguing from GPS timing for an Earth-bound ether; endorses Su's hierarchy of ethers · Proponent of preferred-frame readings of GPS
Not in the review files. Papers 2006, 2012 (viXra) and Applied Physics Research 13(1) (2021) on the same point.
A. Brillet and J. L. Hall
Ran the 1979 laser isotropy test whose 2-omega residual (about 34 Hz, per Su) is Su's one old comparison
Not in the review files; their paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 549, Boulder) was obtained only as an abstract, so their reasons for calling the term spurious are unread.
S. Herrmann et al.
Berlin rotating-cavity experiment (2009) whose lab-fixed amplitudes bound Su's cavity term about 4e4 below prediction
Not in the review files beyond the paper: Phys. Rev. D 80, 105011, data May 2007 to June 2008, designed to test sidereal modulation, not Su.
W. F. Edwards, C. S. Kenyon and D. K. Lemon
Utah State University experimenters who reported a coil potential quadratic in current (1976, 1992), the record bearing on Su's F2
Not in the review files beyond the papers; they did not test or cite Su.
Halton Arp and Geoffrey Burbidge
Sources of the quasar-ejection view and cases Su adopts for his redshift mechanism · Proponents of quasar-galaxy association
Not in the review files beyond their cited papers (Arp 2001, Arp and Russell 2001, Arp et al. 2002; Burbidge and Napier 2001).
Evidence / artifacts (122 of 122 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (34)
2000A local-ether model of wave propagation complying with the Sagnac correction in the global positioning system IEEE AP-S International Symposium 2000; earliest statement of the model; cited by 10 (Google Scholar); not obtained· Author and originator of the model
2000Generalisation of radar Doppler shift for target of arbitrary velocity relative to transceiver Electronics Letters 36, 1812, doi 10.1049/el:20001281; source of the transverse radar Doppler item; not obtained· Author and originator of the model
2000Second-order radar echo time paper J. Electromagn. Waves Applic. 14, 1525; cited in claims.md as carrying derivations; not in the folder· Author and originator of the model
2000/2002APS March and April meeting abstracts Su's talks 2000-2002, listed by the Natural Philosophy Wiki; not reached in the time limit· Author and originator of the model
2001A wave-propagation model for gravitational effects on light deflection and radar echo time J. Electromagn. Waves Applic. 15(2), 259-268 (f5b); index n_g = 1 + 2GM/(c^2 r); 1.75 arcsec, 43-60 ps GPS delay, about 230 microseconds Earth-Venus; OCR scan, equations from page images, numbers recomputed· Author and originator of the model
2001A local-ether model of propagation of electromagnetic wave Eur. Phys. J. C 21, 701-715 (also as f1a); foundation paper: GPS Sagnac, Japan-USA and Japan-Korea links, Michelson-Morley, 62 Hz cavity prediction, aberration admitted unsolved, CMBR second-order test; pp.1-15 deep-read; cited by 46· Author and originator of the model
2001A local-ether wave equation and speed-dependent mass and quantum energy Eur. Phys. J. B 24, 231-239 (f6); f = f0 sqrt(1 - v^2/c^2), Hafele-Keating, GPS clocks, Hughes-Drever, -11.5 Hz prediction, universal redshift formula eq. 25; pp.1-9 deep-read· Author and originator of the model
2001Explicit definitions of electric and magnetic fields in potentials and derivation of Maxwell's equations Eur. J. Phys. 22, L5-L8, doi 10.1088/0143-0807/22/3/101; not obtained· Author and originator of the model
2001On the Sagnac effect in wave propagation J. Electromagn. Waves Applic. 15(7), 945-955; not obtained· Author and originator of the model
2001-07Modifications of the Lorentz Force Law Invariant under Galilean Transformations IEEE AP-S 2001 Digest vol. 1, Boston, p.208 (f2b); scan from the Wayback copy of Su's site; abstract-level reading· Author and originator of the model
2001-07Modifications of Maxwell's Equations Invariant under Galilean Transformations IEEE AP-S 2001 Digest vol. 1, p.212 (f3b); Wayback scan; abstract-level reading· Author and originator of the model
2001-10-15Reinterpretation of the Michelson-Morley experiment based on the GPS Sagnac correction Europhys. Lett. 56(2), 170-174 (f1b); downloaded from the Wayback Machine; orbital term absent, rotational term too small; read by the Mathematician; cited by 32· Author and originator of the model
2002A local-ether wave equation unifying gravitational and electromagnetic forces J. Electromagn. Waves Applic. 16(3), 403-410 (f5a); gravitational index in the matter-wave equation, identity of inertial and gravitational mass; OCR scan, equations from page images· Author and originator of the model
2002A local-ether wave equation and the consequent electromagnetic force law J. Electromagn. Waves Applic. 16(9), 1275-1290 (f4a); m0 = hbar omega0/c^2, augmentation operator, force law; OCR scan, equations from page images· Author and originator of the model
2002Book contents, chapter abstracts and publication notice (web version) contents.htm, ch1-ch8.htm, publish.htm from Su's site, Wayback 2002 captures; lists 'Unsolved and Predicted Propagation Phenomena'; 'publish of this book is in preparation'· Author and originator of the model
2002-08-23Local-ether wave equation of electric field and interferometry experiments with moving medium and path arXiv physics/0208082 (f3a); Fresnel drag from polarisation current, Krisher fibre link, Sagnac index-dependences, no drag in a magnetic medium; pp.1-12 deep-read· Author and originator of the model
2002-08-23Modifications of Schroedinger's equation complying with the effect of Earth's rotation on quantum energy in atoms and with the electromagnetic force arXiv physics/0208083 (f4b); downloaded twice (arXiv, Wayback); abstract only; likely source of the unsized atom-radiation prediction· Author and originator of the model
2002-08-23Resonant absorption between moving atoms due to Doppler frequency shift and quantum energy variation arXiv physics/0208084 (f7); Ives-Stilwell, ammonia masers, Mossbauer rotor; third-order rotor prediction about 1e-18; pp.1-12 deep-read· Author and originator of the model
2002-08-23Reinterpretation of matter-wave interference experiments based on the local-ether wave equation arXiv physics/0208085 (f8a); neutron Bragg-angle asymmetry about 1 deg; compared with Staudenmann et al. 1980, 'not good quantitatively'; pp.1-12 deep-read· Author and originator of the model
2002-10-01Reinterpretation of the effects of the Earth's rotation and gravity on the neutron-interferometry experiment Europhys. Lett. 60(1), 1-6 (f8b); matches standard Sagnac and COW phases; rotation-yes, orbit-no test; OCR scan read from page images· Author and originator of the model
2002-11-05Modifications of the Lorentz force law complying with Galilean transformations and the local-ether propagation model arXiv physics/0211019 (f2a); augmented potentials, extra terms F1-F3, CRT example; pp.1-12 deep-read, QE deep read pp.8-11· Author and originator of the model
2003A local-ether wave equation unifying quantum mechanics, electromagnetics, and gravitation IEEE AP-S 2003; cited by 2 (Google Scholar); not obtained· Author and originator of the model
2005Reinterpretation of Fizeau's experiment with moving medium in accord with the Sagnac effect due to Earth's rotation J. Electromagn. Waves Applic. 19(4), 559-567 (f3c); Su concedes first-order Fizeau cannot discriminate; pp.1-9 deep-read· Author and originator of the model
c.2005Quantum Electromagnetics: outline of the book outline.pdf, 9 pp.; 11 predictions on p.8, four not derived in any folder paper; QE deep read pp.4-9· Author and originator of the model
c.2005Quantum Electromagnetics: web summary page summary.htm; one-page summary listing experiments 'accounted for' and predicted effects· Author and originator of the model
c.2005Author biography page Ching-Chuan Su.html (same text as autobio.htm on the Wayback copy): born 1955, NTU degrees 1978/1980/1985, ITRI 1980-82, NTHU from 1985· Author and originator of the model
2005An Ignored Mechanism for the Longitudinal Recoil Force in Railguns and Revitalization of the Riemann Force Law Listed by the Natural Philosophy Wiki; not obtained· Author and originator of the model
2005-12-20Reexamination of Barnett's experiment based on the modified Lorentz force law arXiv physics/0512179 (f2d), Wayback copy; predicts non-zero induction outside a rotating solenoid or with a short one; unsized; partly read· Author and originator of the model
2006Mechanisms for the longitudinal recoil force in railguns based on the Lorentz force law IEEE Trans. Magn. 42, 2193, doi 10.1109/tmag.2006.878010; last Crossref record; not obtained· Author and originator of the model
2006-01-02A wave interpretation of the Compton effect as a further demonstration of the postulates of de Broglie arXiv physics/0506211 v3 (f8c); reproduces the Compton shift; unsized 'direct radiation' at lambda_C/(gamma - 1); pp.1-7 deep-read· Author and originator of the model
2006-04Connections between the Riemann and the Lorentz force laws Found. Phys. Lett. 19(2), doi 10.1007/s10702-006-0376-z (f2c); relative-speed force law obeying action-reaction; Wayback copy; abstract-level reading· Author and originator of the model
2006-08-16A proposed mechanism for the intrinsic redshift and its preferred values purportedly found in quasars based on the local-ether theory arXiv physics/0608164 (f5c); z = 2.07 vs 2.114 for the NGC 7319 quasar with an assumed density; halving series vs Karlsson peaks; publication status unknown; pp.1-11 deep-read· Author and originator of the model
unknownCompanion gravitational-redshift paper Cited in f6 as ref. 15, 'submitted'; not in the folder or found· Author and originator of the model
2008-03Quantum Electromagnetics: A Local-Ether Wave Equation (book) NTHU Press, ISBN 9789574110971 (ISBN dated 1 Feb 2005; NTHU Press edition 1 Mar 2008); HyRead e-book and a scholar.archive.org PDF listed; full text not obtained· Author and originator of the model
Experiments and replications by others (36)
1851Fizeau, flowing-water interferometer Re-derived by Su (f3a, f3c) via polarisation current; same first-order result as special relativity
1887Michelson and Morley Su's reinterpretation: rotational second-order term about 1e-12, 'too small to detect' (EPJC, f1b)
1912Barnett, induction with a rotating solenoid Basis of Su's 2005 preprint; original not read
1912/1917Kennard, unipolar-induction experiments Described only by Su; ambiguous; unread
1914/1942Harzer 1914; Dufour and Prunier 1942, Sagnac loops with moving media Cited by Su via Post 1967 for index-dependences; same coefficients as first-order special relativity
1925Michelson and Gale, Earth-rotation Sagnac interferometer Listed by Su among results accounted for; primer evidence table
1925Bothe and Geiger coincidence experiment Arbiter web check (Wikipedia): photon-electron coincidence, against a wave-only reading of Compton scattering
1925Compton and Simon coincidence experiment Arbiter: memory, medium; not web-checked
1958Cedarholm et al., ammonia-maser ether-drift test Null beat frequency; Su's formula independent of lab velocity (f7)
1960Hay et al., Mossbauer rotor Cited by Su (f7) as a demonstration; no data quoted
1960-1961Hughes-Drever isotropy experiments Null; Su's agreement comes from symmetry of the ECI speed, not a calculation (arbiter QE revision)
1962Mandelberg and Witten, Ives-Stilwell experiment Su's v^2/c^2 = 7.26e-5 and 7.24e-5 reproduced; same as special relativity; wavelengths possibly representative, not raw (Contrarian)
1963Champeney et al., Mossbauer rotor Cited by Su; no data quoted
1963Kundig, Mossbauer rotor Not cited by Su; named by the Contrarian as a record to read
1964Turner and Hill, Mossbauer rotor Cited by Su; no data quoted
1964Bertozzi, kinetic energy of fast electrons Electrons to about 15 MeV agree with relativistic mechanics; possible tension with Su's high-speed F1, not worked through by anyone
1971/1979Shapiro 1971, Anderson 1975, Reasenberg 1979 radar time-delay tests Cited by Su (f5b) without measured values; agree with the gamma = 1 coefficient (memory, medium)
1972Hafele and Keating, flying atomic clocks Su quotes HK's predicted -40 and +275 ns, not the measured -59 +/- 10 and +273 +/- 7 ns (memory, high)
1974Edwards, report preceding the 1976 Phys. Rev. D paper Named in the QE deep read; not read
1976Edwards, Kenyon and Lemon (Utah State University), possible electric fields from steady conduction currents Phys. Rev. D 14, 922; superconducting coil potential quadratic in current, n = 2.02 +/- 0.05, 'as yet unexplained'; same form and sign as Su's F2 but 24-320 times larger; scan read pp.924-928
1976Saburi, Yamamoto and Harada, Japan-USA satellite time comparison About 0.3 microsecond Sagnac-type error, cited by Su (EPJC)
1977Kimble, Dagenais and Mandel, photon antibunching Phys. Rev. Lett. 39, 691; abstract web-checked by the arbiter; Su does not discuss it
1977-1985CMBR dipole and seasonal-modulation observations Su's EPJC refs 41-43; cited for the CMBR 'local ether'
1979Brillet and Hall, improved laser test of the isotropy of space Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 549 (Boulder); per Su a 2-omega term of about 17 x 2 Hz 'attributed to a persistent spurious signal' against his 62 Hz; abstract only obtained
1979Dresden and Yang, neutron interference with moving lattices Cited by Su (f8b) as precedent
1980Staudenmann, Werner, Colella and Overhauser, neutron interferometry Su's one Bragg-angle comparison; zero offset and wavelength source unknown; named by the arbiter as deciding; not obtained
1980Vessot et al., hydrogen-maser redshift (Gravity Probe A type) link Discussed by Su (f6); same formula as general relativity
1989Lee et al., Japan-Korea time comparison About 40 ns Sagnac error cited by Su (EPJC)
1990Krisher et al., 21 km hydrogen-maser fibre link Phase stable over days; Su predicts a turntable test (f3a)
1990Krisher et al., spacecraft 2.3 GHz links Basis of Su's -11.5 Hz item; Su says the data cannot test it (fitted oscillator term)
1990Bartlett and Maglic, reported null test of current-induced electric fields Rev. Sci. Instrum. 61; recalled (memory, low-medium); the arbiter's search did not find it
1992Lemon, Edwards and Kenyon, observed potential difference Phys. Lett. A 162, 105; cited via the abstract of arXiv:1009.0474; not read
1997Littrell et al., neutron interferometry geometry Su's eq. 8 (f8b)
2003Cassini, PPN gamma = 1 + (2.1 +/- 2.3)e-5 Arbiter web check; Su's index reproduces gamma = 1 by construction
2007Ashby et al., hydrogen masers vs caesium fountains Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 070802; |alpha_H - alpha_Cs| < 2.1e-5; both hyperfine clocks, so not a test of Su's electronic-transition coefficient; search summary
2009Herrmann et al. (Berlin), rotating optical cavity test at 1e-17 Phys. Rev. D 80, 105011, arXiv:1002.1284; lab-fixed 2-omega year means C0 = -0.2 +/- 11.7, S0 = -10.2 +/- 14.4 (1e-18), about 4e4 below Su's prediction; text read by the arbiter
1971Karlsson, preferred quasar redshift peaks Premise of Su's halving series; peak 0.60 has no counterpart in Su's series
2001Arp, Arp 220 companions and NGC 383 group Cited at second hand in f5c; Su notes NGC 383 sits uneasily with axis ejection· Proponent of quasar-galaxy association
2001Arp and Russell, clusters and quasars aligned across M82 Cited at second hand in f5c· Proponents of association
2001Burbidge and Napier, periodicity reported in other samples Contested; cited via Wikipedia by the arbiter· Proponents of association
2002Arp et al., NGC 3628 filament to quasars z = 0.995 and 2.15 Cited at second hand in f5c· Proponents of association
2002Gutierrez et al., NGC 7320 abrupt redshift change The observers read it as evidence for projection; cited at second hand
2002Hawkins, Maddox and Merrifield, no periodicities in 2dF data 1647 galaxy-quasar pairs; arXiv astro-ph/0208117 (web)
2004Gutierrez and Lopez-Corredoira, NEQ3 filament z = 0.1935, 0.1939, 0.2229; cited at second hand· Proponents of association
2005Galianni et al., NGC 7319 quasar z = 2.114, 8 arcsec from the nucleus, V-shaped filament; basis of Su's worked example
2005Lopez-Corredoira and Gutierrez, MCG 7-25-46 H-alpha at z = 0.003 stops where z = 0.098 begins; cited at second hand· Proponents of association
2005Tang and Zhang, 2dF and SDSS periodicity tests No periodicity found; cited via Wikipedia
Related theory and citing work by others (23)
1967E. J. Post, Sagnac effect review Rev. Mod. Phys. 39, 475; first-order coefficients Su offers as a test match it
1973Le Bellac and Levy-Leblond, Galilean electromagnetism Il Nuovo Cimento B 14, 217; the textbook magnetic limit is already Galilean covariant (memory, medium)
1986/1987P. Beckmann, local-ether proposal; Einstein Plus Two; journal Galilean Electrodynamics Same postulate (light at c relative to the dominant local gravitational field); Su's EPJC text does not cite him; text not read
2001OPTIS satellite test proposal arXiv gr-qc/0104067; proposal only, flight status not found
2006/2012S. J. G. Gift, earlier papers incl. one-way light speed from interplanetary tracking (viXra 2012) Same Earth-bound-ether point; 2012 paper cites Su; not read· Proponent of preferred-frame readings
2010D. L. Khokhlov, spatial and temporal wave functions of photon Applied Physics Research; cites Su (OpenAlex)
2015Fiscaletti and Sorli, dynamic quantum vacuum and relativity viXra; cites Su (OpenAlex)
2015Jing and Dong, GEO satellite motion in TWSTFT Two-way satellite time transfer; cites Su's EPL Sagnac formulation; how it is used unknown
2016Jing and Guang, antenna direction in TWSTFT IEEE Frequency Control Symposium; cites Su's EPL paper; not read
2017A. Hauschild, Basic Observation Equations Springer Handbook of GNSS ch. 19; cites Su's EPL paper; not read
2018J. Marsen, Tron Theory Describes its ether as 'very similar' to Su's model (Google snippet)· Advocate of Su's model
2018/2021Zihua Weng, coordinate transformations and refractive indices arXiv; AIP Advances 2021; cites Su's EPL paper
2019J. H. Field, The Sagnac and Hafele-Keating experiments Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 34, 1930014; preferred frames near a gravitating body; cites Su; abstract only
2019J. Marsen, A Michelson-Morley type experiment should be performed in low Earth orbit and interplanetary space viXra 1906.0336; 7.6 km/s and 30 km/s signals predicted; reads Brillet-Hall residual as possibly Su's signal; read· Advocate of Su's model
2019J. Wu, H.-W. Tsao and Y.-R. Huang, Reviewing Michelson interferometer experiment and measuring the speed of starlight J. Mod. Phys. 10, 539; cites Su's EPL paper; wave-ether model with zero drag; abstract and p.1 read
2021S. J. G. Gift, Detection of the ether using the Global Positioning System Applied Physics Research 13(1), 12; ECI frame as an Earth-bound ether; calls Su's nested ethers 'a reasonable working hypothesis'; read· Proponent of preferred-frame readings
2021J.-E. Persson, The misunderstood Sagnac effect; The wave-particle dilemma in light Physics Essays 34; cites Su; not read
2022M. M. Tran, The c-equivalence principle Universal J. Phys. Research; cites Su
2024E. T. Kipreos, Assessment of the experimental support for differential simultaneity Int. J. Mod. Phys. A; alternate transformation compatible with current experiments; cites Su; abstract only
2024G. Scalera J. Electromagn. Anal. Appl.; cites Su
2024/2025B. Kovac, two papers J. High Energy Phys. Grav. Cosmol. 2024; Open J. Philosophy 2025; cite Su
2024L. Li and J. Yan, multistatic UAV SAR synchronisation IEEE GRSL; cites Su's EPL paper
2025W. Ma and Z. Xu, distributed MIMO-SAR synchronisation IEEE GRSL; cites Su's EPL paper
Company and business records (2)
2005/2008ISBN and book-trade records for ISBN 9789574110971 isbn.tw and Amazon.com.au: 1 Feb 2005, publisher Ching-Chuan Su; govbooks and sanmin: NTHU Press, 1 Mar 2008, 230 pp.; search listings read
2008-05-09NTHU alumni e-news item announcing the book ROC year 97 March edition, NT$900; seen only as a Google result, page did not open
Later accounts and media (10)
2002/2023Wayback Machine captures of Su's site qem.ee.nthu.edu.tw 38 URLs, captures 2002 to 2023, including 2017; six papers not in the folder recovered
2021-05-19J. Marsen, The Local-Ether Model and Quantum Electromagnetics Theory of Prof. Ching-Chuan Su viXra 2105.0110; written 'to promote the work of the late Prof.'; sole published source that Su 'passed away in approximately 2007' and the website was removed· Advocate of Su's model
2021-06-12J. Marsen, CNPS talk 'The Local-Ether Model - A viable alternative to Einstein's Relativity' YouTube 6tbT8Wh6R24; title and snippet only· Advocate of Su's model
2025-11CosmoQuest 'Against the Mainstream' thread on Su's book Advocacy post calling Su 'the late Prof.'; closed 27 Nov 2025 with no discussion
2026Natural Philosophy Wiki page 'Ching-Chuan Su' Sympathetic secondary page (dissident-science society); death 'about 2007' citing Marsen; bibliography; Beckmann precedent· Dissident-science community promoting the model
2026-10-06Live site qem.ee.nthu.edu.tw Now redirects to the NTHU EE department home page
2026-10-06Crossref and arXiv bibliography of Su DOIs 2000-2006; no record after 2006; no arXiv paper after Aug 2006
2026-10-06Google Scholar and OpenAlex citation records Scholar: EPJC cited 46, EPL 32, EPJB 12; OpenAlex lists about 20 citing works; Scholar cited-by lists blocked by CAPTCHA
2026-10-06Google searches for a Comment, Reply or obituary No published Comment or Reply found; no obituary or university notice; one result removed under a legal request (Lumen), content unknown
unknownResearchGate copy of a Su paper with 'Einstein Plus Two [1]' in its snippet Whether Su himself cited Beckmann there is unclear; not checked
Records named but not yet examined (6)
2007-2008NTHU EE department or alumni notice, newspaper obituaries Would decide whether Su died c.2007; need his Chinese name, which is not established (the arbiter's guess returned nothing)
unknownNTHU personnel and institutional-repository records Faculty record, retirement or death notice; not reached
unknownTheses advised by Su (Taiwan NDLTD) Not reached; needs the Chinese name
unknownFront matter of the 2008 book Who saw the book through the press if Su died c.2007
unknownGoogle Scholar cited-by lists for the EPJC and EPL papers Deciding record for reception and rebuttal; blocked
unknownReferee correspondence on Su's papers Unobtainable; would show how the papers were received
Left out: the review's own AI-written analyses, the duplicate copy f1a and the duplicate biography and f6 web pages, site images, Su's unrelated antenna and microwave papers, and mainstream textbooks given only as further reading. Full catalogue: Su-CC sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A rotating-cavity comparison at two latitudes reporting the lab-fixed 2-omega amplitude (Su predicts 1.2e-12 times cos^2 latitude); a copper-coil repeat of Edwards et al. at Su's 0.1 microvolt F2 level with current distribution measured; an optical-clock redshift comparison against Su's electronic-transition coefficient.
Deciding records: Brillet and Hall 1979 full paper (phase and size of the 2-omega term); Staudenmann et al. 1980 (zero offset, wavelength); Bartlett and Maglic 1990 and Lemon et al. 1992; physics/0208083; the 2008 book; an NTHU notice or obituary (needs Su's Chinese name); Scholar cited-by lists.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: derive the round-trip time on an arm moving through an ether, get Su's 62 Hz at 40 deg latitude, see Lorentz contraction cancel it, then compare 4.5e-13 at Berlin with Herrmann's 1e-17 year mean.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter A constant lab-fixed term would not average out over a year; that is exactly what distinguishes it from the varying systematics. The measured year mean is about 1e-17, a factor of roughly 4e4 below the prediction. arbiter.md, section 1, D1
Primer Same numbers, different story, is not evidence. In every case his formula is relativity's formula evaluated in the ECI frame; the lesson is to ask, for every confirmation, whether the rival theory predicts the same. primer.md, section 7
Contrarian Published, not suppressed: the core papers appeared in refereed journals, so the 'blocked from publication' narrative does not apply. Ignored rather than refuted: no Comment or Reply was found. contrarian.md, How the claims were received
Arbiter The strongest honest reading is that a published, unexplained anomalous signal (Edwards, Kenyon and Lemon 1976) has Su's F2 form but not his size, and no neutral, controlled test of F2 exists. arbiter.md, QE revision, Q2
Investigator The death c.2007 rests on one advocate source (Marsen 2021); no obituary or university notice was found. The book appeared from NTHU Press in March 2008, yet Su's site was still captured in 2017. sites.md, Leads for review 4; arbiter.md section 5
AI noteSu's model keeps time dilation of clocks but drops length contraction of rods; the primer shows that this single omission is what creates the 62 Hz cavity signal, and adding contraction removes it exactly.
A granted US patent for tapping zero-point energy with gas flowing through nanometre gaps; the co-inventor tested it himself and reported an unexplained but far-too-small signal.
Invention / theory background
Bernard Haisch (Calphysics; Digital Universe Foundation) and Garret Moddel (University of Colorado) patented 'Quantum Vacuum Energy Extraction' (US 7,379,286, granted 2008, assignee Jovion). Built on stochastic electrodynamics, where the zero-point field holds the electron in orbit, it says atoms entering a 0.1 micron Casimir gap drop 1-10 eV as heat and are re-energised from the vacuum on exit. The folder also holds their 2010 abstract and Forward's 1984 Casimir foil 'battery'.
Ranking explanation
Rank 14 for open questions (B) and checkable arithmetic (C). It sits below Bearden (13), whose ideas run far deeper through alternative science, and above Kennard (15), a settled 1917 result, because it still holds an unexplained infrared signal, a 2019 trend in the predicted direction and an unbuilt asymmetric design. It lacks criterion A: the claim was tested by its own proponents, not dismissed.
Key supporting elements
The zero-point field, the Casimir force and cavity-shifted atomic levels are real, measured physics; the patent's SED numbers (455 A, 6.6e15 Hz, Larmor balance at the Bohr orbit) are correct as arithmetic (primer, arbiter).
Dmitriyeva and Moddel (2012) 'clearly observed' infrared emission; their controls ruled out Joule-Thomson cooling, turbulence and adsorption, and friction did not fit cleanly: 'None of these clearly fit the data'.
Moddel and Dmitriyeva (2019, Fig. 9): helium through 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 micron pores gave the highest signal from the 0.1 micron filter, the one trend in the direction the cavity hypothesis predicts.
Henriques (Coimbra MSc, 2014), an independent test, reported 'some evidence of radiation' for xenon passing through aluminium-coated nanopores; his detector was judged too insensitive to decide.
The patent's FIG. 8 asymmetric absorber is, per the arbiter, the inventors' best-engineered answer to the exit objection; nobody has built it, and it rests on Cole and Puthoff (1993), unread.
Key contradictions
The 1-10 eV is an assumption ('we assume'); the ordinary atom-wall shift at 50 nm is 1e-9 to 1e-7 eV, seven to ten orders smaller, and the cited SED paper (Cetto and de la Peña 1988) reports quantum-sized shifts.
The 2012 signal was about 1000x below prediction, strongest for helium and uncoated plastic (reverse of prediction), and 'the power out was less than the power in', in the authors' words.
A position-dependent energy returns zero over an in-and-out loop, and thermal crossings outnumber drift 540-3100 times, so the gas equilibrates with the walls (arbiter, physicist, mathematician).
The pumping check prints 1700 Pa as '17 atmospheres' and 1.7 mW; 17 atm gives about 1.7 W, 3-170% of the preferred 1-10 W device's output.
Haisch in 2009: they had 'not yet been able to prove anything in the laboratory'; after 2012 no new gas-flow experiment appears and Jovion's 2023 site has an empty Progress link.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 18 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Atoms lose 1-10 eV entering a 0.1 micron Casimir cavity (Casimir-Lamb shift)
Refuted by calculationstrong form, against cavity QEDTested, not supported2002, 2012, 2014, 2019 attempts
A sub-eV cavity shift or flow-driven infrared emission (weak form of claim 1)
Never properly testedtested by proponents, who stopped
Re-absorption on exit gives continuous net power from flowing gas
Refuted by calculationstrong form, moderate confidenceTested, not supported2012 power balance, out < inNever properly testedweak form via a non-thermal zero-point reservoir
FIG. 8 asymmetric absorber makes release local and re-supply global
Never properly testednever builtRefuted by calculationif the global source is thermal
Moving-wall variants (stretched polymer, MEMS plate) yield net energy
Refuted by calculationconservative force over a closed cycle
SED explains atomic stability; the balance holds for all atoms
Historically superseded but instructiveSED hydrogen ground stateNever properly testedall-atoms and cavity-decay extension
Patent power estimates and 1.7 mW pumping power
Internally inconsistentpumping, 1700 Pa vs 17 atmRefuted by calculationoutputs as predictions, to the extent claim 1 is
Establishedthe Casimir forcePlausible, untesteddevice as energy storeRefuted by calculationas a net source, which Forward does not claimNever properly testedmetal values at 1-20 nm, as of 1984
Co-inventor of US 7,379,286; author of the 2010 abstract and the calphysics.org zero-point page · Co-inventor; patent assigned to Jovion Corporation
Affiliated with the Digital Universe Foundation (2010 abstract) and the Calphysics Institute; co-author with Rueda, Puthoff and others of zero-point-field inertia papers (Phys. Rev. A 1994 onward) and of the STAIF 2006 quantum-vacuum review. Education and earlier career not in the review files.
Garret Moddel
Co-inventor; ran the only published gas-flow test (2012) and the 2019 assessment · Co-inventor; declares Jovion stock, 'no active role' in the company
University of Colorado Boulder faculty. Later moved to Casimir-cavity metal-insulator-metal devices (Phys. Rev. Research 2021; US 11,133,758 family). His site also lists a low-energy nuclear reactions research area. Education not in the review files.
Olga Dmitriyeva
First author of the 2012 test and co-author of the 2019 paper
PhD, University of Colorado, 2012, on heat from loading hydrogen isotopes into palladium nanoparticles (LENR), with the zero-point radiation test as a second aim; Chapter VIII treats measurement artefacts.
Harold E. Puthoff
SED theorist cited by the patent (1987; Cole and Puthoff 1993); with Haisch suggested the cavity shift; ran a 2002 synchrotron test
Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin. His group's synchrotron test of cavity ground-state shifts was 'so far without success' (2002). Co-author of the Davis-Puthoff AIAA chapter. Education not in the review files.
Robert L. Forward
Author of the 1984 foil-stack vacuum-fluctuation battery paper in the folder
Hughes Research Laboratories; the 1984 paper was funded by the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (contract F04611-83-C-0013) and Hughes Aircraft. Other career details not in the review files.
Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Henriques
Independent tester: SED simulation and nanopore spectroscopy experiment
MSc in Engineering Physics, University of Coimbra, 2014, supervised by Luis Manuel Panchorrinha Fernandes and Fernando Domingues Amaro.
Jordan Maclay
Theorist the patent invokes for a 0.1 micron cylindrical cavity
Described in the patent only as someone 'who has done theoretical Casimir cavity calculations'; no publication cited. Not in the review files otherwise.
Cetto and de la Peña
SED authors whose 1988 work, cited by the inventors' side, finds ordinary small shifts
Authors of SED analyses of environmental effects on spontaneous emission and the Lamb shift (Phys. Rev. A 37, 1952; Phys. Scr. T21, 27; both 1988). Not in the review files otherwise.
Evidence / artifacts (78 of 82 listed, 95%)
Own works and inventions (30)
1994Inertia as a zero-point-field Lorentz force (Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff), Phys. Rev. A 49, 678 First of Haisch's zero-point-field papers listed on calphysics.org; the theoretical programme behind the patent. Not read.
1995Rueda, Haisch and Cole, ApJ 445, 7 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
1996Ibison and Haisch, Phys. Rev. A 54, 2737 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
1997Haisch and Rueda, ApJ 488, 563 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
1998Rueda and Haisch, Found. Phys. 28, 1057 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
1998Rueda and Haisch, Phys. Lett. A 240, 115 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
2000Haisch and Rueda, Phys. Lett. A 268, 224 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
2000Dobyns, Rueda and Haisch, Found. Phys. 30, 59 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
2001Haisch, Rueda and Dobyns, Ann. Phys. 10, 393 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
2005Rueda and Haisch, Ann. Phys. 14, 479 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
2006Review of experimental concepts for studying the quantum vacuum (Davis, Teofilo, Haisch, Puthoff, Nickisch, Rueda and Cole), STAIF 2006 p.1390 Cited as ref. 3 of the 2012 test paper; probably describes the planned Casimir-cavity experiment (the Investigator's reading). Not read.
2009Something from nothing: an evaluation of vacuum energy extraction methods (Moddel talk, SSE Charlottesville) On YouTube per Moddel's publication list; not watched.
2009Teasing energy from zero-point fluctuations (Moddel talk, SSE Europe, Viterbo) From Moddel's publication list; not obtained.
2009Assessment of proposed electromagnetic quantum vacuum energy extraction methods (Moddel and Dmitriyeva, arXiv:0910.5893 v1) The 2009 first version; later versions carry the 2019 Atoms text. v1 not retrieved separately.
2009-09Quantum vacuum energy extraction (Dmitriyeva and Moddel talk, Workshop on New Frontiers in Casimir Force Control, LANL CNLS, Santa Fe, 27-29 Sept 2009) Abstract book saved in research/files/ (23 pages, image only); the abstract has not been OCR'd or read.
2010A Demon, a Law, and the Quest for Virtually Free Energy (Moddel, EdgeScience No. 2, pp.10-13) Popular article in Moddel's list; not read.
2010-06Indirect Extraction of Zero-Point Energy from the Quantum Vacuum: Patent 7,379,286 (Haisch and Moddel abstract) Project folder, one page. Coins the Casimir-Lamb shift; no numbers or experiments. Probably the SSE meeting, Boulder, 10-12 June 2010 (Investigator's inference, not stated).· Haisch and Moddel, inventors; Jovion Corporation, assignee
2010-06Test of zero-point energy emission from Casimir cavities (Dmitriyeva and Moddel abstract, SSE Boulder) Companion abstract: work supported by a HUB Lab contract to Jovion; 'None of the sources considered could explain the results fully.' Saved in research/files/.· Moddel, co-inventor
2012-03Test of zero-point energy emission from gases flowing through Casimir cavities (Dmitriyeva and Moddel), Physics Procedia 38, 8-17 He, Ar, N2, Xe through 0.1-0.4 micron polycarbonate pores; IR signal 'clearly observed' but about 1000x below prediction, trends reversed, power out below power in; Mylar-hole, friction, adsorption and turbulence controls. SPESIF 2012, Univ. of Maryland.· Moddel, co-inventor and Jovion-affiliated
2012Mechanism of heat generation from loading gaseous hydrogen isotopes into palladium nanoparticles (Dmitriyeva PhD thesis, Univ. of Colorado, 119 pp.) Aims: LENR and observing zero-point radiation from Casimir cavities; Appendix A reprints the 2012 paper; Chapter VIII on measurement artefacts. Structure read, not the whole text.
2013Sunahata, Rueda and Haisch, arXiv:1306.6036 Listed in Haisch's bibliography on calphysics.org. Not read.
2014New Energy Technologies: What Can We Believe? (Moddel talk, SSE 2014) From Moddel's publication list; not obtained.
2018-07Harvesting Energy from Vacuum Fluctuations (Moddel talk, SED2018, Boston University) From Moddel's publication list; not obtained.
2019-05Extraction of Zero-Point Energy from the Vacuum (Moddel and Dmitriyeva), Atoms 7, 51 Gas-flow SED scheme 'does not appear to violate' thermodynamics but detailed balance and the exit 'potential hill' are unresolved; new Fig. 9: 0.1 micron pores gave the largest He signal; 'tantalizing but ... inconclusive'. Moddel declares Jovion stock.· Moddel, Jovion stockholder
2021-01Casimir Photoinjector (Moddel talk, Advanced Propulsion and Energy III) From Moddel's publication list; not obtained.
2021Optical-Cavity-Induced Current (Moddel, Weerakkody, Doroski, Bartusiak), Symmetry 13, 517 Later MIM-device line; not read.
2021-04Casimir-cavity-induced conductance changes (Moddel, Weerakkody, Doroski, Bartusiak), Phys. Rev. Research 3, L022007 Observed conductance rise with thinner Casimir cavities and 'anomalous offsets in the current and voltage' in metal-insulator-metal devices. A different mechanism from the patent. Abstract only.· Moddel, co-inventor
2021-08Unlocking Zero-Point Energy (Moddel talk, YouTube) Not watched.
–Haisch's presentation videos on ZPE extraction (jovion.com) Announced on jovion.com/zpe; no video captured. Date unknown.· Jovion Corporation
–Haisch, Zero-point energy page, calphysics.org Haisch's own statement: SED harmonic-oscillator step 'a weakness', autoionization cutoff problem, Casimir-ZPE link 'debatable', no over-unity device 'has passed a rigorous, objective test'; ZPE 'not a thermal reservoir' (citing Cole and Puthoff 1993).· Haisch, co-inventor
Patents and patent office (13)
–US 5,018,180 (Shoulders) Named in the patent and set aside as not dealing with energy release from atoms in Casimir cavities (the applicants' characterisation). Not read.
–US 5,590,031 (Mead and Nachamkin) Set aside by the applicants on the same one-line ground. Not read.
–US 6,477,028 (Pinto) One of three Pinto patents the applicants dismiss; as they describe it, proposes making a Casimir system 'non-conservative'. Not read.
–US 6,593,566 (Pinto) Second Pinto patent named in US 7,379,286. Not read.
–US 6,665,167 (Pinto) Third Pinto patent named in US 7,379,286. Not read.
2004-09-27Provisional application behind US 7,379,286 Priority date per Google Patents; number and text not obtained.· Haisch and Moddel, inventors; Jovion Corporation, assignee
2008-05-27US 7,379,286 B2, Quantum Vacuum Energy Extraction (Haisch and Moddel) Project folder, 21 pages OCR, all deep-read. Application 11/236,142 filed 2005-09-26; pre-grant publication US 2007/0241470 A1. Power estimates 21-21500 W, never measured; FIG. 8 asymmetric absorber; 20 claims, none mentioning net gain.· Haisch and Moddel, inventors; Jovion Corporation, assignee
2008-06-10Assignment records for US 7,379,286 (Jovion, then Regents of the University of Colorado) Google Patents: assigned to Jovian/Jovion 2006-03-27 (reel/frame 021076/0035, effective 2007-05-07) and to the Regents 2008-06-10. Google lists the patent Active to 2026-11-30; a '2011-12' legal event is unresolved.
2021-09-28US 11,133,758 B2, Quantum vacuum fluctuation devices (Moddel), and family Priority 2019-05-10; WO2020229944A1, WO2020231874A1, EP3966925A1, CN, BR, MX; related US 11,251,723, 11,563,388, 11,837,971. MIM diode beside a Casimir cavity; projected, not measured, 'up to 250 W' per 10x10 cm array. Bibliographic data only.· Moddel, inventor
–US 11,258,379 B2, Quantum noise power devices (Moddel) Seen in search results with other Moddel titles; not opened.· Moddel, inventor
2018US 2018/0059704 A1, ZPE magnetic battery Third-party application citing Haisch-Moddel; not opened.
2019US 2019/0207537 A1, Piezoelectric Zero-point Power Units Third-party application mentioning '7,379,286 issued to Haisch and Moddel'; not opened.
2023US 2023/0208321 A1, Thrust Production via Quantized Inertia Third-party application mentioning a Casimir cavity, citing Haisch-Moddel; not opened.
Government records (2)
2006DARPA funding via SPAWAR Grant N66001-06-1-2026 Acknowledged in the 2012 and 2019 papers as support for the prior work. Award record and final report not obtained.
c.2008University of Colorado proof-of-concept investment (POCi) Per a 2009 PESWiki update quoted by nextbigfuture: contingent on proof-of-principle milestones for a prototype Casimir cavity device under a research grant to Moddel.
Company and business records (4)
2010HUB Lab contract to Jovion Corporation (2010-2012) Acknowledged in the 2010 SSE abstract and the 2012 paper; HUB Lab's identity not established.
2019Coolescence funding acknowledgement Named as a funder in the 2019 Atoms paper; a LENR company per the review files.
2023jovion.com (Jovion Energy Corporation website) Live, (c) 2023; mission 'based on the Casimir-Lamb shift'; 'Progress' link empty, no news posts, no test results. Investors page not read.· Jovion Corporation, assignee
–Hathaway Research International project page, Energy Extraction from Casimir Cavities HRI, Mississauga, Ontario ran an experiment on flowing gas through a Casimir cavity, with Haisch and Moddel named for the theory. No dates, sponsor, numbers or results found. Read through a fetch summary only.
Experiments and replications by others (6)
2001Chan et al. (Bell Labs), MEMS torsion plate driven by the Casimir force, Science 291, 1941 Cited in the patent's FIG. 7 text ('we are not making use of the Casimir force to change this spacing'); not in its reference list. Not read.
2002Puthoff, Little and Ibison, Engineering the zero-point field and polarizable vacuum for interstellar flight, JBIS 55, 137-144 Synchrotron experiments on Casimir-cavity ground-state shifts, 'so far without success'. Moddel and Dmitriyeva describe it as an H2 test in a 1 micron cavity 'without a definitive result'.
2003Roy et al., J. Appl. Phys. 93, 4870-4879 (gas flow through nanoporous material) The patent scales its flow data for the pumping estimate; dated 1993 in the patent body, 2003 in its reference list. Not read.
2003Cole and Zou, SED simulations of hydrogen (2003 and 2004 papers) Cited by the patent; ground-state-like distribution for a limited time. Abstract seen by the contrarian only.
2014-09Henriques, Study of atomic energy shifts induced by Casimir cavities (MSc, University of Coimbra) Independent 2-D and 3-D SED hydrogen simulation and gas-through-aluminium-coated-nanopore spectroscopy (150-550 nm): 'some evidence of radiation' for Xe, nothing above noise with pre-excited Xe; PMT judged too insensitive. Abstract only.
2015Nieuwenhuizen and Liska, SED hydrogen with relativistic corrections, arXiv:1506.06787 Abstract: self-ionisation persists. Checked by the arbiter.
Related work by others (13)
1975Boyer 1975 (SED treatment of the zero-point field) In the patent's reference list; basis of the SED orbit picture. Not read.
1984Forward, Extracting electrical energy from the vacuum by cohesion of charged foliated conductors, Phys. Rev. B 30, 1700-1702 Project folder, deep-read. Foil-stack 'vacuum-fluctuation battery'; treats the field as probably conservative (a battery, not a source). Funded by Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory contract F04611-83-C-0013 and Hughes.
1987Puthoff 1987 (SED ground state of hydrogen) In the patent's reference list. Not read.
1988Cetto and de la Peña, Phys. Rev. A 37, 1952 Abstract read by the arbiter: SED environmental shifts 'coincide with previous quantum calculations', i.e. small shifts. Full text not read.
1988Cetto and de la Peña, Environmental effects on spontaneous emission and Lamb shift, according to SED, Phys. Scr. T21, 27-32 Cited by Moddel and Dmitriyeva: 'under particular simplifying assumptions this shift is not predicted'. Not read.
1993Cole and Puthoff, Extracting energy and heat from the vacuum, Phys. Rev. E 48, 1562 The inventors' basis for 'no thermodynamic violation' and the non-thermal reservoir premise on which the FIG. 8 design turns. Unread by every reviewer.
1994Milonni, The Quantum Vacuum (book) In the patent's reference list. Not read.
1999Plossl and Krauter 1999 In the patent's reference list (title not in the review files). Not read.
2002Park and Summers 2002 In the patent's reference list; title not in the review files. Not read.
2004Goho 2004a and 2004b Two entries in the patent's reference list; titles not in the review files. Not read.
–Davis and Puthoff, On Extracting Energy from the Quantum Vacuum (AIAA book chapter 19) Reproduced on jovion.com; PDF uploaded Nov 2023. Not read.
–BlackLight Power 'hydrino' claims (orbits below the ground state) Linked to Jovion's work by a 2009 blog commenter (Francis Roarty); his characterisation, not the inventors'.
2025Kotov et al., Casimir-Lifshitz theory for cavity modification of ground-state properties Mainstream theory citing Moddel et al. 2021; its stance is unknown. Not opened.
Later accounts and media (3)
2009-02-03Jovion Corporation Gets Patent for Zero Point Energy Extraction (Brian Wang, nextbigfuture.com) Quotes a PESWiki update: about $200k spent (POCi, DARPA, private), about $10M sought; Haisch: 'not yet been able to prove anything in the laboratory', sporadic signals 'can't be ruled out as experimental error'.
2009-02-04PESWiki update on Jovion (original) Known only as quoted by nextbigfuture; original not reached.
2026spacefed.com claim that the inventors 'have constructed such devices and tested' them through Jovion Seen in search results; not reached (time limit). No source for the claim yet.
Records named but not yet examined (7)
–Jordan Maclay's cylindrical Casimir cavity calculation The patent says it 'implies' a 0.1 micron cylinder would give the desired decay; no publication cited, not in the reference list. What Maclay calculated is unknown.
–Puthoff group synchrotron run data (facility, date, results) The 2002 paper gives no data.
–USPTO Patent Center maintenance-fee and assignment history for US 7,379,286 Would settle whether the '2011-12' event was a fee lapse and the chain of title.
–DTIC or DARPA final report for SPAWAR Grant N66001-06-1-2026 Named by the arbiter as deciding why the gas-flow line went quiet.
–Hathaway Research International test report Outcome of the HRI Casimir-cavity experiment.
–Jovion Corporation / Jovion Energy Corporation state filings (CA, CO, DE) Not reached (time limit).
–University of Colorado technology-transfer and POCi records Licensing and milestone records; not obtained.
Four works cited only inside Forward (1984) as background are counted but not listed: Casimir 1948, Lifshitz's dielectric theory, Israelachvili and Tabor's mica measurements and Arnold et al.'s silicon measurements. Full catalogue: Haisch-Bernard sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: A pore-size scan (0.05 to 10 micron) at fixed flow and pressure drop, with matched-impedance non-cavity controls, metered pump power, closed calorimetry and a detector checked for pressure pickup; a cavity effect switches off for large pores, heating does not. Or UV spectroscopy of xenon in a 25-250 nm reflecting slit.
Deciding records: The DTIC or DARPA final report for SPAWAR grant N66001-06-1-2026, USPTO maintenance-fee and assignment history, the Hathaway Research report, Jovion filings, CU technology-transfer files; and full texts of Cole and Puthoff 1993, Cetto and de la Peña 1988 and the Henriques thesis.
Try it yourself: Recompute the patent's pumping power: 1.69e6 Pa times 1e-6 m3/s is 1.7 W, not 1.7 mW. Then estimate the Casimir-Polder shift U = 3 hbar c alpha/(8 pi z^4) for xenon (alpha = 4.04e-30 m3) at 25 nm and compare with 1 eV. example.py does both.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter The verdict rests on size, not geometry: the patent never computes the shift, the ordinary atom-wall energy at 50 nm is 1e-9 to 3e-8 eV, seven to ten orders below the assumed 1-10 eV. arbiter.md, QE revision, section 2
Arbiter No claim contains 'net', 'gain' or an output figure, and the FIG. 8 asymmetry appears in no claim; the granted scope is 'release then re-intake', weaker than the title's generators from batteries to power plants. arbiter.md, QE revision, section 3
Contrarian No evidence of funding or publication being blocked. The only negatives are the proponents' own, with weak instruments: the claim failed to give a clear signal in every attempt known, and the attempts were not designed to be decisive. contrarian.md, How the idea fared
Primer The inventors deserve credit for candour: the co-inventor's papers list the conventional explanations, state power out was below power in, and call the data inconclusive; Haisch said nothing was proven in the lab. primer.md, section 4 and 7
QE A misreading of the 2012 paper (a 'helium contradiction') went into three files; the sentence belongs to the Mylar Joule-Thomson control. The arbiter withdrew it; it is mild evidence the membrane signal is not Joule-Thomson cooling. qe.md, Verdict and Recheck; arbiter.md, QE revision 1
AI noteThe patent passed to the Regents of the University of Colorado two weeks after grant (2008-06-10), and the co-inventor's lab ran its zero-point test alongside low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR) work, later funded partly by Coolescence.
A 1917 spinning capacitor showed a magnet's field does not turn with the magnet; but Kennard's own printed rule gives a theory value well below the one he matched.
Invention / theory background
Earle Hesse Kennard, then an instructor at the University of Minnesota, put a brass cylindrical condenser inside a 1150-turn solenoid and could spin either or both. Lorentz's theory says the condenser charges when it turns, even with the coil; the rival 'moving-line' theory says field lines turn with the magnet, so only relative motion counts. He found charging when both turned and about nothing for the coil alone, and argued for a stationary aether.
Ranking explanation
Kennard meets B and C. It sits just below Haisch-Bernard, a patent whose co-inventor tested it and saw a far smaller effect, and above Hopper-WJ because Kennard's open item is concrete and closable: his quoted charge, -6.22 V0, is not reproduced by his own printed rule (about -4.0 to -4.4 V0), and one numerical re-solve decides it. A mainstream work with no suppression story, so it does not rank higher.
Key supporting elements
The charge reverses sign with both current and rotation sense in every row (+14.4, -15.6, +16.4, -18.0 mm), which a drifting spurious cause would not do.
Barnett, Kennard's direct rival, wrote in his 1919 AIEE report that his corollary 'has been confirmed in each of two recent investigations; one by Kennard ... and one by Pegram'; the condenser 'was found to become charged'.
Chyba, Hand and Chyba (2025) call the result that an axisymmetric magnet's field does not 'rotate with the magnet' 'a standard part of the electromagnetics literature' (they have a stake: an Earth-rotation power claim).
Kennard was candid: he calls the results 'somewhat rough', reports four rejected and about as many abandoned sets, and says the condenser-alone run stopped when the solenoid short-circuited.
His divergence argument is correct mathematics: for rigid rotation in a uniform axial field div(v x B) = 2 omega B, not zero, so the free-space form of the moving-line theory contradicts div(Kf) = 4 pi rho.
Key contradictions
The -6.22 V0 charge is not reproduced from Kennard's own rule (earthed rotating points sit at Nn, proportional to r squared); applied throughout it gives about -4.0 to -4.4 V0 and a theory ratio of 0.15-0.16 (measured 0.242).
The four 'both rotating' runs give 0.242, standard error 0.005, which is 2.1 standard errors above 0.231; groups span -1.2 to +4.9 percent and the 13 A and 25 A groups differ by 8 percent, unexplained.
The solenoid-alone null (+1.2 mm, standard error 0.8, against 16.1 mm) bounds a residual only to about 10 percent, with no speed record; Su (2005), who has a rival local-ether theory, says a short solenoid could leave one.
The aether conclusion omits the inertial frame from its list of alternatives, and both readings predict identical charges; Kennard's own 1912 paper said his method 'is not capable of distinguishing' Lorentz from Hertz.
An unidentified abstract attached to Kennard's 1912 title on Semantic Scholar claims 'undisputable experiments that categorically disprove absolutistic Kennard-Bartlett-type interpretations'; the paper and its stake are not identified.
User follow-ups (1)
Q14AnsweredHow does Kennard's rotating-magnet experiment compare with Faraday's disk? Same physics, but Kennard's open circuit shows the field of a symmetric magnet does not spin; in practice the magnet can ride on the rotor, but brushes to a stationary return path remain.
How does the Kennard experiment compare and contrast with Faraday's disk (the unipolar/homopolar generator)? The outcome seems similar: the magnetic field does not spin with its source. What are the implications for theory and for practical designs of electrical equipment?
Asked 2026-10-08 · answered 2026-10-08 · 1.4 min web search
A14Same physics, different test: Faraday's closed-circuit disk shows only relative rotation of disk and return wire, so it cannot say where the EMF arises; Kennard's open circuit localises it in the moving conductor, proving the field of an axisymmetric magnet does not spin. Practically, the magnet may ride on the rotor, but brushes to a stationary return path remain unavoidable.
Known
Both rest on V = omega B r^2/2 = flux x rev/s; Kennard's rule 'potential of Nn' (p.5) is the Faraday-disk formula, and his apparatus used a Faraday disk as its speed meter (p.4).
Faraday 1851 (via McDonald): current when wires or magnet rotate alone; 'No current ... when the external wires and the magnet were rotated together.'
Kennard 1912: 'impossible to decide between these two views by any observations on closed circuits', hence the electrometer and open circuit.
Homopolar practice: one-piece magnet-plus-disk rotors; ANU 500 MJ, 2 MA machine (1962-1986); brush losses large at low voltage, hence NaK or gallium contacts; GA 3.7 MW Navy motor.
Kennard p.11: rotating a dynamo armature or its field magnets gives the same total EMF but different seat and charge distribution; he called the practical bearing 'small'.
Inferred
Standard reading: a steady axisymmetric B is unchanged by spinning its source, so 'rotating lines' has no content; v is relative to an inertial frame, which Kennard called the aether.
Relational reading (Guala-Valverde 2002, Kelly, Assis): only relative motion counts and the reaction torque is between magnet and closing wire; they class Kennard as 'absolutistic'.
Design: output needs relative rotation of rotor and return path, so sliding contacts and braced leads cannot be designed out; DePalma's N-machine claimed otherwise, and Kincheloe 1986 found it 'did not perform as claimed' yet reported 'anomalous results'.
Open
Pegram 1917 (Phys. Rev. 10, 591) and Faraday's own Arts. 3090-3118 not read directly.
Kincheloe's anomalous data have no follow-up test on record found.
Wikipedia's Faraday-paradox article says electrostatic tests were 'apparently' never performed, contrary to Kennard and Pegram.
A condenser spun inside a magnetised coaxial solenoid charges as Lorentz predicts, despite a co-rotating metal screen
Established
Measured ratio 0.242 against calculated 0.231 (5 percent), from a charge of -6.22 V0
Establishedeffect, sign, reversal and order of magnitudePlausible, untestedthe 5 percent agreement (-6.22 V0 not reproduced; downgraded after QE)
Rotating the solenoid alone gives no charge
Establishedas a null of about 10 percent of the full effect
Condenser-alone case inferred by superposition
Establishedthe logicNever properly testedKennard's direct run, abandoned when the solenoid failed
The moving-line theory is disproved
Tested, not supportedonly relative motion of magnet and conductor mattersInternally inconsistentfree-space EMF form with div(Kf) = 4 pi rhoRefuted by calculationsame version: div(v x B) = 2 omega B; the Laplace argument alone is not a full proof
Induction depends on rotation relative to an inertial frame, not relative to the magnet
Established6a
Rotation relative to the earth 'seems improbable' as the cause
Plausible, untested6b, alternatives other than the mainstream reading; a remark, not a test
Only a stationary Lorentz aether can explain the radial force
Not testable as stated6c, same charges as the inertial-frame readingHistorically superseded but instructivea reasonable inference in 1916
Experimenter and author of the 1912 and 1917 papers
Born 1885, Columbus, Ohio; died 1968. B.A. Pomona 1907; Rhodes Scholar, B.S. Oxford 1911; Ph.D. Cornell 1913; instructor, University of Minnesota 1914-1916; Cornell professor 1926; Kinetic Theory of Gases 1938; 1927 quantum-mechanics paper; US Navy David Taylor Model Basin 1941-1960 (AIP finding aid).
S. J. Barnett
Rival who held the moving-line view in 1912-13, then accepted the result · Direct rival in the dispute
Ohio State University physicist in 1912 (web-checked by the arbiter). His 1912 open-circuit experiments found the solenoid alone gives no charge; called Kennard's 1912 work 'inconclusive'; his 1919 AIEE report credits Kennard and Pegram and leaves the aether question open.
G. B. Pegram
Independent 1917 experimenter: condenser and connecting wire co-rotating with the coil charged
Not in the review files. His Phys. Rev. paper was not obtained; Chyba et al. credit the co-rotation result to him, Barnett 1919 to him and Kennard.
Fehrle
Reported confirmatory observations with a different arrangement (Ann. d. Phys. 1913)
Not in the review files. Kennard, a party to the dispute, calls the work 'marred by several results which must certainly be wrong'; Fehrle's paper was not read.
J. S. Townsend
Communicated Kennard's 1912 Oxford paper and gave 'assistance and advice'
F.R.S., per the 1912 paper. Otherwise not in the review files.
Henry A. Erikson and Christian Dane
Minnesota professor thanked for 'kindly interest and advice', and the mechanician who built the apparatus
Not in the review files beyond the 1917 acknowledgement; the Investigator's University of Minnesota searches found nothing.
C. F. Chyba, K. P. Hand and T. H. Chyba
Modern authors who call the result standard and build a power claim on the same principle · Claim electric power from Earth's rotation (2016, 2025), contested in a 2026 Comment
Phys. Rev. Research 7, 013285 (2025) reports a few microvolts from a ferrite shell; they read v as relative to a frame in which the flux density is B. Otherwise not in the review files.
C. C. Su
Modern re-analyst (arXiv 2005) of the Barnett and Kennard experiments · Author of a rival local-ether theory
Argues a short, non-uniform solenoid could leave a small residual and builds on the effect Kennard subtracted in 1912. Otherwise not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (73 of 74 listed, 99%)
Own works and inventions (9)
1912-06Unipolar Induction (Phil. Mag. (6) 23, 937-941) Oxford, communicated by J. S. Townsend; steel bar rotated in a stationary solenoid; 0.0 +/- 0.24 divisions against about 37 predicted by the moving-line theory; already contains the Laplace argument; DOI 10.1080/14786440608637294; Internet Archive OCR saved
1912-12-01Reply to Barnett, Physikalische Zeitschrift 13, 1155 Barnett 1919 credits Kennard (Phys. Zeit. 13, p.1156) with first pointing out a result in print; not reached (time limit)
1913-03-15Reply to Barnett, Physikalische Zeitschrift 14, 256 One of Kennard's three replies to Barnett; not reached (time limit)
1913-05The Effect of Dielectrics on Unipolar Induction (Phys. Rev. 1, 355-359) DOI 10.1103/PhysRev.1.355; cited in the 1917 paper section 7 as the full discussion; source of the +0.03 V0 amber-ring correction; the first place to look for the boundary convention behind -6.22 V0; not obtained
1916-06-30Electrical Action and the Gravitation Constant (Science 43, 928) Minnesota period; found by Crossref; authorship by name match only; not opened
1917-02On Unipolar Induction: Another Experiment and its Significance as Evidence for the Existence of the Aether (Phil. Mag. (6) 33, 179-190) Signed University of Minnesota, August 1916; the project document, 12 pp; pp.1-11 deep read from page images; cleaner Internet Archive OCR saved; DOI 10.1080/14786440208635625
1918-03-15Note on Three Devices for Use in Electrometry (Science 47, 271) Probably electrometer techniques from this work; authorship by name match; not opened
1922Electrodynamics of Moving Media (NRC Bulletin, 172 pp) With W. F. G. Swann, J. T. Tate, H. Bateman; HathiTrust full view; in-volume search failed; the key record for whether Kennard kept the aether reading
1927The Quantum Mechanics of Simple Types of Motion (Z. Phys. 44, 326) Springer snippet; shows his later move to quantum theory (the Kennard uncertainty relation)
Patents and patent office (2)
–Delafield, homopolar machine patent, US 278516 Early one-piece magnet-plus-disk design, named in the Wikipedia homopolar-generator article (follow-up Q14); patent text not read
–N. Tesla, dynamo patent, US 406968 Two discs joined by a metal belt so the pickups sit on the shafts, avoiding the high-speed rim contact; via Wikipedia (follow-up Q14); patent text not read
Witness accounts and correspondence (6)
1912S. J. Barnett, On Electromagnetic Induction and Relative Motion (Phys. Rev. (I) 35, 323) Barnett's open-circuit experiments (solenoid alone gives no charge); footnote calls Kennard 1912 'inconclusive' and 'based on incorrect theory'; PDF saved· Kennard's direct rival in the dispute
1912-09-01S. J. Barnett, objection in Physikalische Zeitschrift 13, 803 The 1912 null 'might conceivably be due to the non-rotation of the solenoid'; known through Kennard 1917, who calls it 'valid, but ... decidedly weak'· Kennard's direct rival
1913S. J. Barnett, On Electromagnetic Induction (Phys. Rev. 2, 323) 'Mr. Kennard's fallacies are quite apparent'; only the iron core rotated, so the fraction of moving lines is unknown; PDF saved· Kennard's direct rival
1913Fehrle, Annalen der Physik 42, 1169 Confirmatory observations with a different arrangement; Kennard says 'marred by several results which must certainly be wrong'; not reached
1919-10-10S. J. Barnett, A Report on Electromagnetic Induction (Trans. AIEE) Joint AIEE/APS meeting, Philadelphia; section 23 says Kennard and Pegram confirmed the corollary; the experiments prove 'either (1) that the ether does not exist ... or (2) that the ether exists'; PDF saved· Former rival
1922S. J. Barnett, Electric fields due to the motion of constant electromagnetic systems (Phil. Mag.) DOI 10.1080/14786441008634077; cites Kennard 1917; not opened
Experiments and replications by others (15)
1832M. Faraday, rotating conducting magnet, Experimental Researches Arts. 217-227 Current from a spinning cylindrical magnet with sliding wires; read through McDonald's summary, sec. A.17.9 (follow-up Q14); Faraday's text not read
1851M. Faraday, Experimental Researches Arts. 3090-3118 Current when wires or magnet rotate alone, 'No current ... when the external wires and the magnet were rotated together'; Art. 3118 says field lines do not rotate (McDonald's words); via McDonald, sec. A.17.7 (follow-up Q14)
1917G. B. Pegram, Unipolar Induction and Electron Theory (Phys. Rev. 10, 591) Independent run with condenser and connecting wire co-rotating with the coil; charging per Barnett 1919 and Chyba 2025; SciSpace blocked, McDonald copy password-protected
1977Bartlett, Monroy and Reeves, Spinning magnets and Jehle's model of the electron (Phys. Rev. D) The 'Kennard-Bartlett-type' line of experiments; not reached
1986-06-21R. Kincheloe, Homopolar 'Free-Energy' Generator Test (Society for Scientific Exploration; revised 1987-02-01) Stanford EE emeritus tested DePalma's one-piece N-machine: it 'did not perform as claimed', yet 'repeatable data showed anomalous results'; rexresearch copy saved (follow-up Q14)
2002J. Guala-Valverde, Spinning magnets and relativity: Jehle vs. Bartlett (Physica Scripta) Cites Kennard 1917; via Semantic Scholar
2002Guala-Valverde, Mazzoni and Achilles, The homopolar motor: A true relativistic engine (Am. J. Phys. 70) Torque experiments placing the reaction between magnet and closing wire; list Kennard among 'absolutistic viewpoints'; PDF saved and read, p.1053 (follow-up Q14)· Advocates of a relational reading
2002R. Achilles, companion homopolar paper (qsl.net Guala-Valverde folder) Seen beside the 2002 Am. J. Phys. paper (follow-up Q14); not opened
2014F. Muller, Unipolar induction revisited: new experiments and the 'edge effect' theory (IEEE Trans. Magn.) Cites Kennard; via Semantic Scholar and Google· Author of the edge-effect theory
2016C. F. Chyba and K. P. Hand, Phys. Rev. Applied 6, 014017 Earth-rotation power proposal using the same non-co-rotating field; PDF not saved· Proponents of Earth-rotation power
2017Chen, Li and Hui, An experimental study on unipolar induction (Acta Phys. Pol. A) Cites Kennard 1917; via Semantic Scholar
2025-03-19C. F. Chyba, K. P. Hand, T. H. Chyba, Phys. Rev. Research 7, 013285 Few-microvolt DC from a ferrite shell carried by Earth's rotation; calls the Barnett-Kennard-Pegram result 'a standard part of the electromagnetics literature'; PDF saved· Proponents of their own Earth-rotation effect
2026Veltkamp and Wijngaarden null result; Wijngaarden Comment and Chyba Reply (Phys. Rev. Research 8, 028001/028002) Contest the 2025 Earth-rotation result; per the Investigator, not read
–Unidentified paper: 'undisputable experiments that categorically disprove absolutistic Kennard-Bartlett-type interpretations' Abstract misattached to Kennard's 1912 title on Semantic Scholar (Google snippet); paper not identified, possibly the Bartlett or Guala-Valverde line· Unknown; argues a rival interpretation
–B. DePalma, N-machine (Sunburst one-piece homopolar generator) claims Claimed the disk-magnet reaction torque is 'not reflected back to the mechanical driving source'; known through Kincheloe's statement; DePalma's own texts (psychotronics.org, aetherforce) seen in search, not opened (follow-up Q14)· Inventor of the N-machine
Homopolar machines in practice (6)
1962Australian National University 500 MJ homopolar generator (1962-1986) Built under Sir Mark Oliphant; up to 2 MA; dismantled 1986; via Wikipedia (follow-up Q14)
1982Eriksson, current collection in superconducting homopolar machines Liquid-metal current collectors; search snippet only (follow-up Q14)
1998Walters, superconducting homopolar motors for Navy propulsion (Naval Engineers Journal) 'well suited to Navy propulsion systems due to their inherent low noise'; search snippet only (follow-up Q14)
2005General Atomics superconducting homopolar motor program for the Office of Naval Research 500 kW test stand motor and 3.7 MW motor; 2005 press release seen as a search snippet (follow-up Q14)
2016Fuger, homopolar machine paper Search snippet only (follow-up Q14); not opened
–Parker Kinetic Designs homopolar machines Railgun and weapons pulsed-power supplies and 10 MJ welding units; via Wikipedia (follow-up Q14)
Later accounts and media (31)
1915H. Howe, The Electrician 76, 169 In McDonald's bibliography of the debate; Princeton copy password-protected
1917Abstract in Jahrbuch der Radioaktivitat und Elektronik 14-15, p.377 Google Books snippet; German uptake the same year
1917Abstract in Fortschritte der Physik / Berichte der DPG 19, p.110 Google Books snippet
1924University of Wisconsin College of Engineering B.S. thesis on unipolar induction Google Books KalsAAAAMAAJ, full view; bibliography p.70 lists Kennard 1917 and 1913; title and author not reached
1952Banos and Golden, J. Appl. Phys. Cites Kennard 1917; via Semantic Scholar
1971Post and Bahulikar Cites Kennard 1917; via Semantic Scholar
1975Djuric, Spinning magnetic fields Cites Kennard 1917; via Semantic Scholar
1981A. I. Miller, Unipolar induction: a case study of the interaction between science and technology Springer, doi 10.1007/978-1-4684-0548-4_3; snippet says Pegram in 1917 'reminded Barnett and Kennard'; not reached
1990J. P. Wesley, Weber electrodynamics, part II unipolar induction, Z-antenna (Found. Phys. Lett.) Also 1992 and 1994 papers; Weber school, often called fringe by mainstream sources (their characterization)· Author of a rival electrodynamics
1991Bartocci and Capria, Symmetries and asymmetries in classical and relativistic electrodynamics Cites Kennard 1917
1992J. N. Vance, A force sink in classically defined non-inertial space (AIAA) Propulsion interest; cites Kennard 1917
1994Assis and Thober, Unipolar induction and Weber's electrodynamics Cites Kennard 1917· Weber-school authors
1996M. Millis, Challenge to Create the Space Drive (NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics) NTRS 19980021277; cites Kennard 1917 in a Mach's-principle context; PDF saved
1997J. P. Wesley, Empirically correct electrodynamics Cites Kennard 1917· Author of a rival electrodynamics
1998A. G. Kelly, Institution of Engineers of Ireland monographs 5 and 6 Cited by Wikipedia for 'not possible to tell if the magnetic field does or does not rotate' with a closed loop; not read (follow-up Q14)· Advocate of a relational reading
2001A. Adewole, Unification by induction Cites Kennard 1917
2003A. L. Kholmetskii, One century later: Remarks on the Barnett experiment (Am. J. Phys. 71, 558) and erratum Possibly the 'attempted theoretical refutation' Chyba et al. say had a calculational error; unverified; not read
2005C. C. Su, reexamination of the Barnett experiment (arXiv physics/0512179) Discusses Kennard 1912 and 1917; a short solenoid could leave a residual; PDF saved· Author of a rival local-ether theory
2007Montgomery, comments on Guala-Valverde Apeiron 15(3) comments on Guala-Valverde; via Semantic Scholar; PDF located in follow-up Q14 but not read
2007B. Mashhoon, nonlocal electrodynamics of accelerated systems (2007-2020) Cites Kennard 1917
2014D. Redzic, Eur. J. Phys. Cites Kennard 1917
2014K. T. McDonald, Blondel's experiment Cites Kennard 1917
2019K. T. McDonald, Is Faraday's Disk Dynamo a Flux-Rule Exception? Princeton, 131 pp; historical bibliography of the 1910s-1920s debate; PDF saved and used for its bibliography
2021Baumgartel, Smith and Maher (PIER) Ampere-force treatment; cites Kennard
2022Baumgartel and Maher (Sci. Rep.) Discusses 'Kennard's, Bartlett's and Barnett's experiments'; a re-analysis with the closing wire 'might be necessary'; PDF saved
2025Shang, Cao and Su, rotating dielectric disk (AIP Advances) Cites Kennard 1917
2026Wikipedia, Faraday paradox Says electrostatic tests 'apparently' never performed (citation needed, Feb 2019), contradicted by Kennard 1912/1917, Pegram 1917 and Barnett 1919; raw text saved (follow-up Q14)
2026Wikipedia, Homopolar generator One-piece rotors, early patents (Ferranti, Batchelor, Steinmetz, Thomson, Noeggerath, Eickemeyer, Forbes dynamo), liquid-metal brushes; raw text saved (follow-up Q14)
–Electromagnetism and Relativity (Digital Library of India scan 2015.147975) Mentions 'Kennard and Pegram'; author not checked
–A. I. Miller, Frontiers of Physics: 1900-1911, chapter 'The problem of whether magnetic lines of force rotate: 1831-1901' Springer; only the table of contents seen (follow-up Q14)
Records named but not yet examined (4)
1912Kennard reprints 1912-1928, AIP Kennard Papers AR 176, Box 10 Folder 3 AIP Niels Bohr Library finding aid read; access needs an application
1914University of Minnesota archives and Board of Regents minutes, 1914-1916 Kennard's instructorship, Erikson and mechanician Christian Dane; web searches found nothing
1926Lecture Notes on Electricity and Magnetism, Cornell Course 220, AIP AR 176 Box 4 Folder 4 How Kennard taught unipolar induction and the aether after relativity
1968Cornell memorial statement or obituary for Kennard Named by the arbiter as deciding whether he kept the aether view
Left out: copies of the 1917 paper (Wikimedia Commons, conspiracyoflight.com, Internet Archive), Kennard's unrelated 1922 papers and later books, Hertz 1890 (primer reading from memory), the 1910s-1920s works listed only in McDonald's bibliography (Wilson and Wilson, Blondel, Swann, Tate), and unopened Q14 search hits (Scribd, YUMPU, a Center for Inquiry PDF). Full catalogue: Kennard sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Derive the insulated inner cylinder's potential independently and re-solve the two-shell problem; then a repeat logging speed on whichever part turns, a direct condenser-alone run expecting a ratio near 0.231, and long against short solenoids to bound the solenoid-alone residual below 1 percent.
Deciding records: Kennard's 1913 Phys. Rev. paper and 1912-13 Phys. Zeits. replies (his boundary convention), Pegram 1917, the 1922 NRC chapter, the 1926 Cornell lecture notes (AIP AR 176, Box 4 Folder 4) and a Cornell memorial statement.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: 25 A and 1150 turns give about 1606 gauss, 0.0183 V, 14.9 mm and the 0.231 ratio; SymPy checks div(v x B) = 2 omega B; Step 11 re-solves the charge by finite differences for each boundary assignment.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Two readings are open: Kennard used a boundary assignment not stated in the paper, or the printed solution has a slip. On the second, the measured 0.242 would exceed the Lorentz value by 50 to 60 percent. I do not infer a real effect from this. arbiter.md, 9.1
QE The -6.22 V0 charge was never independently reproduced. The primer found a real tension, but the first arbiter verdict did not take it into account. This is the most important shortcut in the project. qe.md, 2. Shortcuts
Contrarian He answered Barnett's specific 1912 objection by building an apparatus where solenoid and condenser could each be rotated, and got both positive and negative results with the same apparatus, which is the right design. He did not hide the shortfalls. contrarian.md, Strongest honest case for Kennard
Physicist Kennard and Barnett agreed on the facts and fought over interpretation, in print, with some heat. There is no sign in the record of experiments blocked or data suppressed; the dispute was open in the journals. physicist.md, 4. Comments on the dispute
Investigator Kennard's unipolar line ends in 1917, but he did not vanish: the 1922 NRC moving-media report, quantum mechanics, Navy work. His 1922 chapter and 1926 Cornell lecture notes would show whether he kept the aether reading. sites.md, Leads for review, 4. Historical record
AI noteChyba et al. (2025) credit the co-rotation result to Pegram, yet Kennard's 'Both' rows (mean ratio 0.242) report exactly that case, and Barnett's 1919 report credits both men.
A professor's coil that cancels its own magnetism was said to give an unshieldable electric field tied to gravity; his own lab tables suggest an artefact; never neutrally tested.
Invention / theory background
William J. Hooper (1895-1971), Berkeley PhD and Principia College physics professor, held that the magnetic flux of a current moves with the drifting electrons, giving an electric field E = B x V. His patented generator, 4020 parallel wires with half the current each way, cancels B yet should add the fields. He said the field charged a capacitor through a grounded steel shield and that gravity is the same kind of electric field, so antigravity might follow.
Ranking explanation
Hooper meets A, B and C. Below Kennard (15), whose 1917 rotating condenser actually settled a unipolar-induction question that Hooper's moving-flux claim keeps reopening. Above Sykes (17), whose opposite-wound coils are close kin but whose coil result is ordinary physics; Hooper leaves raw 1969 microvolt tables, a three-part shielding verdict, an open-circuit test never run, one inconclusive NASA capacitor attempt, and a record that goes dark at his death.
Key supporting elements
Raw data exist: Gibson's 1969 tables show readings rising with current on several days (7 to 15 microvolts at 10 A, 60 to 125 at 30 A), roughly as current squared at room temperature, as the model says.
Hooper reported controls: quick 30-10-30-10 A steps gave 'substantially identical' readings, a gaussmeter and five-wire loop found no stray flux, and a balanced supply was built against lead-wire charging.
No neutral test of his actual observable exists: NASA's 1995 capacitor readings were 'too erratic', it used flat coils, not the 4020-wire bundle, and its thermal explanation is a suspicion, not a measurement.
The NBS letter Hooper quotes said both pictures fit every observation; Cravens (USAF, 1990) wrote that no critical experiment can disprove that flux rotates with its source; Klicker (1986) could not disprove Hooper.
Gibson's rebuttals (an interested party): the supply imbalance 'was always a negative factor'; the hot-generator rise was not wholly thermoelectric because of 'a substantial jump back at 25 amps'; readings went up and down with current.
Key contradictions
At the same 13 A the reading rose from 15 to 100 microvolts when 12.3 ohm was added outside the winding, rheostat or lamps alike. B x V cannot depend on an external resistor, and the readings track supply voltage.
Hooper's own formula predicts about 0.05 microvolts at 10 A; readings were 5 to 15, 100 to 300 times too large. His rescue, 100-fold fewer conduction electrons, conflicts with Hall-effect data.
The model predicts current squared, but AC was nearly linear and the dry-ice run fitted the 3.8th power; cooling lowered the reading, against his claim that drift speed rises when cold.
Every shielding experiment used a closed loop or kept the electrometer inside the same grounded box as the generator; no detector at rest beyond, or inside, a closed shield was ever described.
NASA (1995) saw no weight or gravity change within 0.02 g on 555 g; Hooper reported no weight observation himself; gravity as polarization falls 20 or more orders of magnitude short.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 25 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Flux moves with the drifting electrons, so a current gives E = B x V
Establishedweak form: motional emf of a conductor moving through BNot testable as stated'flux moves' as a description in symmetric geometryNever properly testedstrong form: measurable external E; model 100-300 times off his own readings
The non-inductive generator charges an external capacitor through a grounded shield
Establishedclosed-circuit emf is not removed by electrostatic shieldingNever properly testedopen-circuit detector at rest inside a closed grounded shieldNever properly testedgenerator effect; own tables favour an artefactRefuted by calculationmechanism outside Maxwell, only if the reading is a field
The capacitor measures drift velocity and electron density; drift speed rises up to 1e10 when cold
Refuted by calculation1e10 factor, temperature law, 100-fold fewer electronsTested, not supportedby Hooper's own dry-ice runInternally inconsistentone reading cannot give both V and nNever properly testeda capacitor drift meter in general
Gravity is the electric polarization of atoms by such a field
Refuted by calculation20+ orders short, wrong distance law, couples to polarizability not massEstablisheda nonuniform E field attracts neutral matter (dielectrophoresis)
A strong field cancels weight: weightlessness, antigravity, lift
Tested, not supportedflat coils, room temperature and iced (NASA 1995)Never properly testedpulsed FIG. 3 coil, superconducting version, liftRefuted by calculationpolarization estimate at attainable fields
The 1957-59 Fisher-Hooper rotor gravity-meter signal linked the field to gravity
Tested, not supportedby the experimenters' own acoustic controls
The field passes barriers for signalling and taps energy available everywhere
Never properly testedHooper's barrier signallingEstablishedthrough-barrier signalling by magnetic induction (another mechanism)Not testable as statedenergy from UHF atomic fields: no magnitude
Patent extras: desalination, hydrogen to helium, a mechanical rotor field
Never properly testeddesalination; ion drift far below diffusion at recorded fieldsNot testable as statedhydrogen to heliumNever properly testedrotor: no reading in any document
Inventor; author of both patents, New Horizons and the Similarities paper · President and director of research of Electrodynamic Gravity, Inc., assignee of his patents
Born 25 July 1895, Iron Mountain, Michigan; B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. (1925) at Berkeley, thesis on critical ionization potentials in hydrogen. Professor of Physics, Principia College, 1931-1964; NSF fellowships 1953 and 1956; industrial consulting. Died February 1971 (14 Feb in one source), before either patent was granted.
Frances G. Gibson
Laboratory assistant and secretary from March 1968; present at every experiment; sole source of the raw 1969 tables · Funder's wife; later company president; publisher and seller of Hooper's books
Wrote the 1983 monograph and compiled Experimental Notes (1991); kept Electrodynamic Gravity going until its dissolution in 1991. Once tried a vacuum-tube generator after Hooper's death, burned out the tube and stopped.
Warren W. Gibson
Financed the generator research, 1968-1971 · Funder of the company's work
Not in the review files beyond his funding role.
Joel Ellis Fisher
Collaborator on the 1957-59 spinning-magnet rotor and gravity-meter work
1891-1966. Railroad president (North-Western Terminal Railroad, Denver), later a Melville Shoe director; mountaineer and amateur geophysicist publishing on orogeny and glaciology; influenced Pascual Jordan's varying-gravity, expanding-Earth hypothesis (Kragh 2016). Died before the generator period.
Marc G. Millis
Lead author, with Gary Scott Williamson, of the only independent test (NASA TM-106963, 1995) · NASA propulsion screen looking for a usefully large effect
NASA Lewis Research Center. The review files note, from memory at medium confidence, that he led NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics work; his 1999 and 2005 papers cite the Hooper test.
Kyle Aaron Klicker
Wrote the 1986 thesis analysing Hooper's motional field; sympathetic theorist
Montana State University context. Took part in the 1985 shielding experiments summarised by T. Lamb; tried an experimental approach but was forced into analysis by hardware limits; book sold by Tesla Book Co.
D. L. Cravens
Author of the 1990 USAF Electric Propulsion Study, sec. 3.7 on non-inductive coils
SAIC, writing for the USAF Astronautics Laboratory, Edwards AFB. Otherwise not in the review files.
James E. Hartman
Wrote a 1996 enthusiast review saying Hooper and others witnessed gravitational forces
Not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (69 of 74 listed, 93%)
Own works and inventions (11)
c.1942WWII aircraft drift and ground-speed meter plan Voltage induced by flight across Earth's vertical field; the device did not work. Described only by Hooper (essay pp.1-2, New Horizons preface); no apparatus or readings given
1954-03-26Shielding experiments: Ironing Board, Trapeze, Aluminium Box New Horizons ch.3; Ironing Board (Jones and Hooper, Principia College): 100-turn coil, 19 trials, mean 10.64 microvolts vs 10.76 calculated; all closed-loop detectors; Trapeze and Box undated, qualitative
1957Fisher-Hooper spinning-magnet rotor gravity-meter experiments (1957-59) Essay p.3: a sound absorber removed the deflection, a buzzer alone reproduced it, 'our joint project collapsed'; rotor speed, meter type and readings not found
1958-11Equivalence of the Gravitational Field and a Motional Electric Field APS meeting, Chicago, 28-29 Nov 1958; abstract text not located
1963-03Rotation of Flux about a Magnetic Axis (published as Unipolar Electromagnetic Induction) APS meeting, St. Louis, 25-28 Mar 1963; bears on the moving-flux claim; not read
c.1969New Horizons for the B x V Theory of Gravity (typescript essay) Project folder hooper.pdf, 10 pp with summary and resume; OCR checked against page images; deep-read in full; no measured numbers
1969-12New Horizons in Electric, Magnetic and Gravitational Field Theory Book draft dated Sarasota Dec 1969, 1974 edition; 137-page LaTeX transcription (rexresearch, archive.org); originals at Principia College Library QC178 .H7 1974; main text and appendix deep-read
1970-02Abstract, Bulletin of the American Physical Society 15(2):209 Cited by Hooper (Similarities gives p.207); text not in the appendix or found online
1970Paper in the Boulder Conference proceedings, p.483 Cited by Hooper; not located
c.1970Similarities of the Motional Electric and Gravitational Forces Hooper's only quantitative account: 4020 conductors, 9 in, up to 30 A; 5 microvolts at 10 A; six controls; reprinted in the New Horizons appendix
1969-02-04Experimental Notes of Dr. William J. Hooper (lab notes to 1970-08-10) Compiled by Frances G. Gibson, 1991; includes a shielding experiment of 16 Dec 1969 and 'problem' entries of 6 Oct 1969 and 5 May 1970; known from the seller's catalogue; not online, not obtained
Patents and patent office (15)
1968-04-19US 3,656,013, Apparatus for Generating Motional Electric Field Parent Ser. No. 722,587; granted 1972-04-11 after Hooper's death; FIG. 11 yoke experiment, grounded-box rotor, desalination, 'transmuting hydrogen into helium'; no readings
1969-02-28US application Ser. No. 803,187 (electrical receiving methods) Second parent named in US 3,610,971; not among the assignee's granted patents; fate unknown
1969-04-15US 3,610,971, All-Electric Motional Electric Field Generator Project folder; granted 1971-10-05 to Electrodynamic Gravity, Inc.; five hardware claims only; examiner cited Shaw US2553875 and Varian US3259784 (non-inductive windings)
1969-08-14FR 2 039 172 A1 (French family member) Applicant Electrodynamic Gravity; published 1971-01-15; status withdrawn; text and reason for withdrawal not found
1972-05-16Certificate of Correction to US 3,610,971 Fixes mu0 (10^17 to 10^-7) and drift velocity (3.6x10^12 to 3.6x10^-2 cm/s); obtained after Hooper's death
–US5587618A, Direct current homopolar machine Cites Hooper's 1963 APS paper; seen as a search snippet
–US5844345A, homopolar motor with dual rotors Lockheed Martin Energy Research; cites US 3,656,013
–GB2355599A / US20030114313A1 Worsley, WWK Trust: force on a rotating superconductor; cites US 3,610,971
2004WO2004082118A1, static electric power generator Cites US 3,610,971
2005US20050030139A1 / US20050099761A1, Field converter for thrust generation PST Associates; cites both Hooper patents
–US9337752B2 Richard Banduric: complex and static electric fields to effect motion; cites both Hooper patents
–US10084395B2 Richard Banduric, same line of patents
–US10320312B2 Richard Banduric, same line of patents
–RU2458448C1, linear induction machine Siberian Federal University; cites US 3,656,013
–US10830589B2, magnetic-nanoparticle gyroscopic sensor Western Michigan University; cites US 3,656,013
Government records (3)
c.1942US Bureau of Standards review of the drift-meter plan Judged workable except inside a metal-clad aircraft; documented only by Hooper (New Horizons preface), no date, report number or reviewer
1990-08Cravens, Electric Propulsion Study, AL-TR-89-040 (AD-A227121), sec. 3.7 Non-Inductive Coils SAIC for USAF Astronautics Laboratory; excerpt only: 'no critical experiment which can disprove whether a magnetic flux rotates with its source'; DTIC down
2024-11House hearing document listing the Cravens study docs.house.gov, a UAP/DoD chronology; seen as a search result only
Company and business records (1)
1969-05-13Electrodynamic Gravity, Inc., Florida document 346159 Sunbiz: EIN 59-1292328; president Frances G. Gibson, San Jose (1990); annual reports 1989-91 (no images online); voluntary dissolution 1991-12-09
Witness accounts and correspondence (6)
1925Carl Eyring's examination of T. H. Moray's device Quoted by Hooper (New Horizons p.68) from Moray's own book: energy 'at least in part' from field energy 'in the earth itself'; no independent document
1944Fermi conversation at Principia College Hooper's paraphrase only: Fermi could recall no experimental evidence that the motional field is cancelled in a shield
–Letter from a National Bureau of Standards colleague Unnamed; quoted by Hooper (New Horizons p.45): equal-and-opposite fields or no field are both 'not in conflict with anything observed experimentally'
c.1970Confirmation by a 'disinterested expert in electronics measurements' Checked the Keithley readings with a Tektronix oscilloscope; unnamed, no readings; reported by Hooper only (Similarities p.87)
1983-02-10Gibson, The All-Electric Motional Field Generator and Its Potential Talk, Atlanta; only raw 1969 data (Tables, Figs 3-7): 7, 10, 15 microvolts at 10 A; 15 vs 100 at 13 A with added resistance; dry-ice I^4; admitted supply imbalance· Hooper's assistant, funder's wife, later company president and publisher
1986-08Graneau private remark at the IEEE Tesla Symposium Relayed by Klicker (ref. 13): a charged object reacted to steady current in a conductor; no data, no second source found
Experiments and replications by others (4)
1957Joel E. Fisher's gravity-meter signal over a spinning magnet rotor Reported by Hooper as Fisher's starting observation; Fisher's own report and any Gravity Research Foundation paper not located
1985Lamb, Unique Properties of Motional Electric Fields, EE 470 course paper Montana State; summarises shielding work by J. C. Stover and K. A. Klicker; closed-circuit detectors; known only from Klicker's ref. 24
1986Klicker, Motional Electric Fields Associated with Relative Moving Charge Thesis, Montana State context; could not reproduce the generator; electron-beam test abandoned; 14 microvolts at 30 A is a calculation; 'has not been able to disprove Hooper's claims'
1995-07Millis and Williamson, NASA TM-106963 / AIAA-95-2601 NASA Lewis; four flat self-cancelling coils, ambient and iced: no weight change within 0.02 g on 555 g, accelerometer null; capacitor readings 'too erratic'; not the 4020-wire bundle· Government agency screening for a propulsion-size effect
Later accounts and media (12)
1991Tesla Book Co. (TFCBooks) catalogue pages for Hooper's books Quotes Gibson's preface to Experimental Notes; also lists New Horizons, Gibson 1983 and Klicker· Seller of the books
1996-02-01Hartman, A Review of William J. Hooper and his All-Electric Motional Electric Field Generator Enthusiast review (web.archive.org); says Hooper 'along with others' witnessed gravitational and antigravitational forces; no witness named; no second source found yet
1998Childress, Anti-Gravity and the Unified Field, p.113 Lists New Horizons from Electrodynamic Gravity, Cuyahoga Falls OH; Google Books snippet
1999Millis, Acta Astronautica (Breakthrough Propulsion Physics programme) Cites the NASA Hooper test; search result only
2002King, Tapping the Zero Point Energy, p.31 Same Cuyahoga Falls listing; Google Books snippet
2005Millis, Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs, Annals NYAS Cites the NASA Hooper test; search result only
2016Kragh, Varying Gravity: Dirac's Legacy in Cosmology and Geophysics, pp.68-69 Historian identifies Joel Ellis Fisher (1891-1966), confirms the APS presentations and 'two US patents to Hooper', links Fisher to Pascual Jordan; excerpt read
2017-07Gilstrap, A New Way to View Electrodynamics ResearchGate preprint building on Hooper's 1968 'operational approach'; not opened
–DePalma, Free Energy and the N Machine Cites Hooper 1963 (ref. 15); search snippet
–Burridge item with Hooper's death date Scribd snippet: 'passed away suddenly on February 14, 1971'; the only source for the day
–Natural Philosophy Society wiki, William J Hooper Dissident-science wiki: born 1895 Iron Mountain MI, Berkeley degrees, NSF fellowships, died Feb 1971; no sources for dates
–rexresearch Hooper page Compiler site holding both patents, Gibson, New Horizons, Similarities, Hartman and the Cravens excerpt
Works Hooper cites (7)
1939Smythe, Static and Dynamic Electricity, p.500 Quoted by Hooper as the mainstream view: induced emfs in shields 'set up electric fields tending to counteract the fields induced inside'
1949Slepian (Westinghouse) on motional induction Cited in New Horizons pp.14-36
1954Moon and Spencer papers on Ampere's law (1954-55) Cited by Hooper; Klicker uses them as his baseline
1957Cullwick, Electromagnetism and Relativity Cited for flux moving with the charges
1958Burridge, article in American Mercury Cited as evidence that gravity is an electric field
1969Brauner, article in Endeavour Cited as evidence that gravity is an electric field
–G. I. Cohn, IIT thesis on Faraday's law Hooper draws on it; Klicker cites it for the opposite conclusion
Records named but not yet examined (10)
1957Gravity Research Foundation 'Gravity Day' programme May hold Fisher's rotor and gravity-meter data
1964Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 1964-1971, and Hooper obituary Google News Archive not searched
1966Fisher obituaries American Alpine Club publication and Alpine Journal 1966 pp.190-198
1968USPTO file wrappers for Ser. Nos. 722,587 and 816,366 Would show the examination and any secrecy order
1972-06Mead et al., Advanced Propulsion Concepts - Project Outgrowth, AFRPL-TR-72-31 USAF survey cited by NASA; not confirmed to name Hooper
1983Original generator and equipment Gibson 1983: 'All the original equipment is still available'; whereabouts unknown
–Ohio Secretary of State filings for Electrodynamic Gravity Addresses at 34 W. Tallmadge Ave, Akron and 543 Broad Blvd, Cuyahoga Falls
–Principia College archives and any Hooper papers Library and archive catalogue not reached
–Gibson family papers Funding and fate of the company after 1971
–Electrodynamic Gravity and Field Theory (49 pp) Scribd document; not opened
Left out: five further background works Hooper cites (Page and Adams, Bridgman, Tesla 1933, Dyson 1958, Jeans); not counted are copies and mirrors of New Horizons, seven unextracted citing patents, and search hits never opened. Full catalogue: Hopper-WJ sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Build the 4020-wire winding and a dummy winding of the same geometry; at fixed current vary series resistance, supply symmetry and lead potentials (B x V predicts no change); time the response to a current step; put capacitor and electrometer outside the grounded box; compare a second metal of known n.
Deciding records: Experimental Notes (the 16 Dec 1969 shielding entry, 6 Oct 1969 and 5 May 1970), USPTO file wrappers, AFRPL-TR-72-31, Ohio and Florida company filings, Lamb's 1985 Montana State paper, and the 1957-59 rotor data.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: drift speed in copper at 10 A (about 1.8e-4 m/s), Hooper's own predicted capacitor voltage (about 0.05 microvolts against 5 measured), the dry-ice exponent fit, the polarization force against weight, and whether Gibson's readings follow current or supply voltage.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Under B x V the reading depends on B and V, set by the current in the winding; a resistor in series outside it cannot change either at fixed current. Gibson's tables show it does, which is the strongest internal evidence for an artefact, though not a controlled test. arbiter.md, section 8.4
Mathematician Immunity to shielding is two claims. Closed-circuit motional emf, as in the 1954 Ironing Board test (10.64 against about 10.8 microvolts), is ordinary flux cutting that electrostatic shields cannot remove. The generator charging a capacitor beyond a shield is a different, untested claim. mathematician.md, Claim 2 (as adopted in arbiter.md section 2)
Contrarian I cannot give the shielding half the high-confidence 'debunked' label, because the experiments are not available to me. For the capacitor signal the in-record evidence weighs against the interpretation, but that is not a controlled refutation. No mainstream reply to the 1969-70 abstracts exists: ignored, not tested. contrarian.md, Own-rigour note and How the claims were treated
Physicist With no changing B, a steady E field is conservative, and a conservative field is exactly what conductors screen. There is no separate kind of steady E field that is both non-electrostatic and unshieldable. physicist.md, section 1, point 3
Arbiter Death of the sole investigator and the end of private funding fit the silence after 1971 without extra hypotheses. The gap means the effect is untested, not refuted; USPTO file wrappers and Ohio and Florida filings are the cheapest decisive records. arbiter.md, section 5
AI noteHooper died in February 1971, before either patent was granted; the 1972 Certificate of Correction that fixed a drift speed printed faster than light (3.6x10^12 cm/s) was obtained after his death.
The engineer who founded expanding-Earth theory in 1933 said gravity is ether flowing into matter and turning into new matter; his own growth law can be checked against today's measurements.
Invention / theory background
Ott Christoph Hilgenberg (1896-1976), a Berlin engineer who had worked as an oil-prospecting geophysicist in the USA, published Vom wachsenden Erdball in 1933: the continental shelves fit without gaps on a globe about 0.6 of today's diameter. His cause: space is an ether flowing into every mass as into a sink; that flow is gravity, and swallowed ether becomes new matter, so planets grow. The only folder source is a 2003 summary by expansion proponents.
Ranking explanation
New at 20 on criteria B and D: a founding figure of expansion theory with a 1888 precursor (Yarkovsky), an honour volume and globe workshops in more than ten countries, and real open questions (unread force law, the 1934 metre-bar paper, the thesis file). Below Hopper-WJ (19), whose helper's data and dark record give an anomaly (A); Hilgenberg's numbers miss independent measurements by 17 times or more. Above Sykes-Chris (21), whose coil result is ordinary physics.
Key supporting elements
His 1933 growth arithmetic is right: a 0.6 diameter ratio over 1 Gyr gives a rate of 5.1e-17 per second and his '15 million molecules per gram per second' checks out; only the unit 'g/sec' is a slip.
Flowing-space gravity has an exact image in general relativity: in the river model (Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates) space flows inward at sqrt(2GM/r) and reaches light speed at a black-hole horizon, as his 1974 picture says.
The inverse Magnus effect he studied at TH Berlin is a real laboratory effect; his curriculum says one of his 'four new fluid-dynamic effects' was 'completely proven by experiment'. No one else checked or challenged that work on record.
Three published accounts (Scalera and Braun 2003; German Wikipedia; Thielmann 2015) say his first doctoral thesis, on sink and source flow experiments, was rejected in 1937/38, mainly for conflicting with relativity. None cites the faculty file.
He listed openly what he could not explain, invited readers to repeat his paper-on-globe fit, devised variable-radius paleopole maps, and published geology in refereed journals and a 194-page 1974 monograph.
Key contradictions
His 1933 law gives 3.4 mm per year of radius growth today. Space geodesy (Wu et al. 2011) finds 0.1 +/- 0.2 mm per year, so his rate is 17 times the uncertainty.
Paleomagnetic palaeoradius work (McElhinny et al. 1978) limits change to under 0.8 percent in 400 Myr; a Permian radius of 4590 km is a 28 percent change, about 35 to 55 times too large.
He predicted that days shorten as the Earth grows. Devonian corals record about 400 days a year (days of about 21.9 hours), and the day now lengthens by about 1.7 ms per century.
The folder's figures (60 percent, 4590 km, 4 mm a year) fit no single law: the 1933 law gives 5570 km at the Permian; 4590 km needs 8.4 mm a year. None of his own works is in the folder.
If every body grew at his rate, the Sun's mass would rise 1.6e-9 a year against an ephemeris limit near 1e-13 (a reviewers' reconstruction). The new matter's rest energy would be 3e25 W, 8 percent of the Sun's luminosity.
User follow-ups
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Verdicts by claim (8 of 20 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Gravity is ether (space) flowing into masses that act as sinks
Plausible, untestedweak form, a reformulation of general relativityNever properly testedstrong form, a real consumed ether giving inverse-square attractionRefuted by calculationbodies carried by an incompressible sink flow (r^-5); not his reading as far as seen
Swallowed ether turns into new matter, so planets grow exponentially
Never properly testedexistence of any ether-to-matter conversionTested, not supported1933 rate (5e-17 per second, 3-4 mm per year)
The Earth's radius nearly doubled since the Paleozoic (60 percent, 4590 km, 4 mm per year)
Internally inconsistentthe printed figure setTested, not supportedstrong form, 0.72 R at the Permian or 3.4-4 mm per year nowPlausible, untestedweak form, under 0.8 percent in 400 Myr (not what he claimed)
The inverted Magnus effect, demonstrated in his TH Berlin experiments
Establishedthe inverse Magnus effect in laboratory fluidsNever properly testedhis own 1933 experiment, by others on record
Ether flow to the Sun spins planets up until an equatorial ring detaches
Tested, not supportedobservable consequences: spin-up, shorter days, a ringNot testable as statedmechanism, no torque law givenHistorically superseded but instructiveby the advocates' own judgement
Continents fit on smaller globes with paleopoles; trenches and Benioff zones need no subduction
Plausible, untestedgeometric fit on a 0.6-0.65 sphereTested, not supportedthat the Earth was that small and that subduction is not needed
His ether picture is analogous to general relativity; ether inflow at light speed is a black hole
Not testable as statedthe analogy and 'equivalent in every way'Plausible, untestedthe river-model correspondence as mathematics
The real question is expansion with or without new matter
Inventor of the ether-sink gravity and expanding-Earth theory
Born 18 Jan 1896, Grebenstein near Kassel; died 21 Sep 1976, West Berlin. WWI soldier. Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (folder document) or electrical machine engineering at TH Berlin 1919-1922 (German Wikipedia); the two are not reconciled. Oil-prospecting geophysicist in the USA, May 1925 to Sept 1928. Assistant and lecturer in Getriebelehre (mechanism theory), TH Berlin, 1934-1938. TH library work in and after the war; Oberbibliothekar at the Staatsbibliothek, East Berlin, 1947-1950. Dr.-Ing. TU Berlin 1948 on crustal fault structure. Later an independent researcher with a workroom at the TU geological institute.
Giancarlo Scalera
Co-author of the folder document and editor of the 2003 honour volume · Earth-expansion proponent
INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia), Rome. Made four replica Hilgenberg globes (now at the Museo di geofisica, Rocca di Papa) and wrote a 2021 abstract that is the first attempt found to put numbers on the ether's density, speed and flux; he offers geoneutrino data as corroboration.
Thomas Braun
Co-author of the folder document · Earth-expansion proponent
Osservatorio Sismologico OSCAR, Arezzo. Otherwise not in the review files.
Karl-Heinz Jacob
Organiser of the 2001 Lautenthal colloquium, co-editor of the honour volume, author of the 2001 TU intern memorial article · Earth-expansion advocate
Professor at TU Berlin (per the nuclearplanet acknowledgement); lent his copy of the 1933 book for the online scan; gave a lecture at the 2002 NCGT conference, La Junta, Colorado.
Helge Hilgenberg
Daughter; keeper of the estate and source for the biography · kinship
Born 1932. Holds the papers the 2003 authors drew on; permitted free reproduction of the 1933 book; wrote the biographical paper in the honour volume, the only cited source for the claim that he 'created' the postwar Technical University.
Rainer Fiedler-Volmer
Witness who knew Hilgenberg
Geology student at the TU Berlin institute in the early 1960s. In 2001 he described Hilgenberg as open to discussion and continuing 'undeterred by all the rejection and, sometimes even insulting, ignorance'.
Gerhard Bruhn
Critic in the 2001 TU Berlin forum
Professor of Mathematics, TU Darmstadt. Argued that expansion violates conservation of mass, that seismic tomography shows subduction, that a decreasing gravitational constant lacks quantitative support, and that meteorite infall is far too small to supply the mass.
Heinrich Quiring and Werner Zeil
TU Berlin geology professors who supported Hilgenberg for decades
Gave him a workroom at the TU Institut fuer Geologie und Palaeontologie (German Wikipedia); Zeil is called a long-time adherent of Earth expansion. Otherwise not in the review files.
Evidence / artifacts (91 of 91 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (29)
–Curriculum (one of his CVs), quoted by Scalera and Braun Says US savings over 20,000 Marks funded experiments at TH Berlin, three enclosed reports, 'four new fluid-dynamic effects', one 'completely proven by experiment (see the report of 1933)'; quoted p.9 of the folder document
1929Das Raetsel Gravitation geloest (Solution to the mystery of gravitation) Self-published, Kassel, 14 pp.; folder reference list p.16
1931Ueber Gravitation, Tromben und Wellen in bewegten Medien Self-published, Berlin, 78 pp. plus plates; full ether-sink gravity theory, his own sink/source experiments (pp.14-15), astronomical consequences (pp.43-50, 68-72); copy at the Met Office Library, UK, PAMPHLET P007(HILG), available for loan; not obtained
1932Ueber Wirbelringnatur atmosphaerischer Erscheinungen (vortex-ring nature of cyclones, anticyclones and squalls) Self-published, Berlin, 14 pp.; folder reference list
1933Ueber den Magnus-Effekt und seine Umkehrung Self-published, Berlin-Charlottenburg, 28 pp.; one of the experimental reports
1933Ueber die Umkehrung des Magnuseffekts (Z. Techn. Phys. 14, 211-214) Journal report of the TH Berlin inverted-Magnus experiments; apparatus, Reynolds number and lift sign unknown; named by the arbiter as deciding; not found
1933Vom wachsenden Erdball Verlag O. Hilgenberg, Charlottenburg, printed by Giessmann and Bartsch, 56 pp., 28 figures, 2 plates; dedicated to Wegener; 0.62-0.65 shelf-sphere ratio, growth law mu about 5e-17 per second, Mackenzie-Florida shear; archive.org Hilgenberg1933 and nuclearplanet.com; OCR pp.1-18 and two page images (scan n20-n21) read by the Investigator
1934Vergleich der Laengenzunahme der Meterprototypen mit der errechneten Zunahme des Erddurchmessers (Gerlands Beitr. Geophys. 42, 409-412) Compares recorded lengthening of metre prototypes with his computed growth of the Earth's diameter; an empirical laboratory-scale claim; title only; data and conclusion unknown
1938Schollen- und Gebirgsbildung als isostatischer Vorgang (Z. Geomorphologie X (4/5), 121-136) Folder reference list p.16
1939-08Sunspot relative-number maxima and geo- and astrophysical maxima (Ann. Hydrographie, 421-424) Folder reference list p.16
1939Ueber Stroemungsversuche mit Senken und Quellen, die das Wesen der Schwerkraft grundlegend erklaeren Self-published, Berlin-Charlottenburg, 72 pp.; same title as the doctoral thesis rejected in 1937/38; the place to look for a force law and ether density; not obtained
1940-08Zur Frage der Trift der Kontinente und der Permanenz der Ozeane (Ann. Hydrographie 68, 262-272) A continental-drift paper; folder reference list
1948-01-08Die Bruchstruktur der Erdrinde (Dr.-Ing. dissertation, TU Berlin) Greenland fault structure compared with fracture grids in brittle test bodies; published as Die Bruchstruktur der sialischen Erdkruste, Akad. Verlag, Leipzig-Berlin, 1949, 106 pp.
1951Die Bruchstruktur von Antarktika (Polarforschung 3, 65-67) Folder reference list p.17
1958Fault structure of Hungary and neighbouring countries related to former pole positions (Geofizikai Kozlemenyek 7, 199-207) Budapest; folder reference list
1959Quantenzahlen, Wirbelring-Atommodelle und Heliumsechserring-Aufbauprinzip des Periodensystems Self-published, 36 pp.; vortex-ring atom models; discussed in Farrell's books ('Neon Model', 'Krypton Model')
1962Rock Magnetism and the Earth's Palaeopoles (Geofisica Pura e Applicata 53, 52-54) Folder reference list p.17
1962Palaeopollagen der Erde (N. Jb. Geol. Palaeont. Abh. 116, 1-56) Paleopoles on variable-radius globes, which the authors call a first
1963Earth expansion, deep-sea trenches, and inclination of the shelf-sea floors Symposium, Hobart, Tasmania, 20-25 May 1963; printed again 1966 in N. Jb. Geol. Palaeont. Mh. 6, 138-145
1965Die Palaeogeographie der expandierenden Erde vom Karbon bis zum Tertiaer (Geol. Rundschau 55, 878-924) Five reconstructions and 30 projections at different paleoradii; source of the 4590 km Permian radius and 4 mm per year; time base and law unknown; deciding record
1966Bestaetigung der Kennedy-Channel-Scherung (Geotekt. Forsch. 22, 1-74) Megashear confirmed by the fault structure of Greenland and NE Canada
1966Reconstruction of the continents for the Carboniferous, Permian and Cretaceous from paleomagnetic data (N. Jb. Geol. Palaeont. Abh. 124, 254-258) Folder reference list p.17
1966On the near-polar position of the ice-covered parts of Gondwana (N. Jb. Geol. Palaeont. Mh. 7, 433-436) Folder reference list p.17
1967-02-07Why Earth expansion? Talk at TU Berlin, self-published, 16 pp.; date from Scalera 2021's references
1967The red shift of the Sun's light in relation to the swallowing constant of the ether stream hypothesis Unpublished manuscript sent to S. K. Runcorn; the one place he may have given the missing number (ether swallowed per unit mass per unit time); Runcorn's papers or the estate
1969Influence of the amount of Earth expansion on crustal ore formation and the position of the poles (N. Jb. Geol. Palaeont. Mh. 3, 146-159) Folder reference list p.17
1974Geotektonik, neuartig gesehen (Geotektonische Forschungen 45, 1-194) Almost 200 pp., section 3 in English; open letter to Wilson, Beloussov and van Bemmelen, no reply reported; ether-GR analogy and black-hole criterion; known through the authors' summary; ISBN 978-3-510-50011-6
1976Erdentstehung und Entwicklung: Erdschrumpfung oder Expansion? Unpublished manuscript, 57 pp.; selected parts translated at INGV and printed in the 2003 honour volume with an English 'Unpublished manuscript' (pp.178ff, range truncated by OCR); his own words in English; not in the folder
c.1933Model globes of increasing size Three wooden globes (four per German Wikipedia), later six paleoglobes; originals lost; copies 'damaged irreparably in 1968' by students (folder p.11)
Witness accounts and correspondence (8)
2001-05-09Stefan Cwojdzinski, reader response, TU intern Polish Geological Institute; several Wroclaw geologists work on expansion· expansion proponent
2001-05-18Rainer Fiedler-Volmer, reader response, TU intern Knew Hilgenberg at the TU geology institute in the early 1960s; persistence against 'sometimes even insulting, ignorance'; read in machine translation via the Wayback Machine
2001-05-20Hermann H. Oppermann, reader response, TU intern Dr.-Ing.; knew Hilgenberg at the geological institute
2001-05-21Ulf Thorweihe, reader response, TU intern TU Berlin; 'there is no discussion of the Earth Expansion Theory in modern geoscience'
2001-05-24Gerhard Bruhn, reader responses, TU intern (24 May, 26 Jun, 6 Aug, 10 Dec 2001) TU Darmstadt; mass conservation, tomography (cites Lausch 2000), Jordan's decreasing G lacks proof, meteorite input too small
2001-05-29Ruedi Seiler, reader response, TU intern TU Berlin; most arguments are 'gut-feeling'
2001-08-09TU Berlin Press Office reply (Kristina R. Zerges) Most readers ask 'for clarification of this hypothesis by science'
2002Erich Nerad, appendix on Hilgenberg's life and work Based on correspondence with the Institut fuer Gravitationsforschung (IGF); Word file linked from the TU intern page; not opened
Experiments and replications by others (11)
1925Dayton Miller, Mount Wilson ether-drift experiments Hilgenberg first cited them against relativity; the folder authors call them 'flawed by spurious effects'; Thielmann 2015 calls them a successful detection
–Westphal's one-dimensional sink and source experiments Hilgenberg's ref. 67 in the 1933 book; earlier experiments presented as an analogy for repulsion
1955Shankland, McCuskey, Leone and Kuerti, reanalysis of Miller's data Statistical fluctuation and local temperature effects; a reanalysis, not a replication; known via Wikipedia
1978McElhinny, Taylor and Stevenson, Nature 271, 316-321 Palaeoradius change under 0.8 percent in 400 Myr; Moon and Mercury limits; limits on decreasing G; abstract only read
2004Williams et al., lunar laser ranging limit on Gdot/G (4 +/- 9)e-13 per year; via a conference presentation
2010Hofmann et al., lunar laser ranging limit on Gdot/G (0.7 +/- 3.8)e-13 per year; via a conference presentation
2011Wu et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L13304 Mean Earth radius change 0.1 +/- 0.2 mm per year from space geodesy; read via a news report and bibliographic record
2022EPM2019 ephemeris limit on the Sun's mass change (arXiv 2201.09804) -13.4e-14 to -8.7e-14 per year; tests the reviewers' universal-rate reconstruction
2023Inverse (negative) Magnus effect in laboratory fluids (arXiv 2302.11260 and JFM work) Real viscous boundary-layer effect near Reynolds number 1e5; cited by two reviewers
–Devonian coral growth-line day counts About 400 daily lines per year, days of about 21.9 h; contradicts his predicted shortening of the day; via web summaries
2000-01E. Lausch, seismic tomography of subducted slabs (Spektrum der Wissenschaft, pp.16-21) Cited by Bruhn in 2001 as showing subduction
Related work by others (21)
1888I. O. Yarkovsky, Hypothese cinetique de la gravitation universelle en connexion avec la formation des elements chimiques Moscow, 137-139 pp.; later Russian editions 1899, 1912; ether inflow as gravity plus conversion into matter, the same principle 45 years earlier; in the folder reference list; dates disputed
1889R. Mantovani, Les fractures de l'ecorce terrestre et la theorie de Laplace Called by the authors the first to defend expansion as the cause of drift; Hilgenberg never names him
1909-09-19R. Mantovani, L'Antarctide (Je m'instruis 38, 595-597) Popular expansion article; folder reference list
1906C. A. and V. Bjerknes, Fields of Force (pulsating spheres in a fluid) Hydrodynamic analogy of attraction and repulsion; the 1933 book does not cite it; sign rule still unverified
1912A. Wegener, Die Entstehung der Kontinente (1912 articles; 1929 4th edition of the book) Vom wachsenden Erdball is dedicated to him; the authors say he left out Mantovani's expansion idea as 'extremism'
1920H. W. Hixon, Is the Earth expanding or contracting? (Popular Astronomy 28, 254-264) Folder reference list
1922M. Bogolepow, Die Entstehung des Antlitzes der Erde Russian work on planetary expansion from 1922; also Z. Dt. Geol. Ges. 82 (1930)
1924R. Mantovani, contact points between planetary dilatation and continental drift (C.R. somm. Soc. geol. France) Folder reference list
1927B. Lindemann, Kettengebirge, kontinentale Zerspaltung und Erdexpansion Fischer, Jena, 186 pp.; the only earlier expansion book Hilgenberg 'knew and quoted' in 1933, per the authors, who also say he may not have known earlier expansion theory
1927R. Mantovani, L'Atlantide et la decouverte de la dilatation planetaire Folder reference list
–Fricke, temperature-gravity relation of celestial bodies Hilgenberg's ref. 69; 214 K intrinsic surface temperature; supports his rising-temperature prediction
1953C. F. Krafft, The Ether and its Vortices; German translation with supplements by Hilgenberg, Der Aether und seine Wirbel Washington, 66 pp.; Berlin, Schikowski; vortex-ether lineage
–C. F. Krafft, Ether and Matter Tells readers to read Hilgenberg's 1939 and 1931 booklets; PDF on a third-party host, not opened
1960Egyed 1960, cited by the folder authors on planetary rotation Cited p.9 but missing from the reference list; which work is meant is unresolved
2000M. S. Turner, More than meets the eye (The Sciences 40 (6), 32-37) Quoted by the authors on vacuum energy to argue an ether energy density is not excluded
2002J. Maxlow, expansion tectonics (cited by Scalera 2021) Part of the advocates' rebuttal of the paleomagnetic test; not read· expansion proponent
2008A. J. S. Hamilton and J. P. Lisle, The river model of black holes (Am. J. Phys. 76, 519) Exact flowing-space form of the Schwarzschild solution
2009J. M. Herndon, Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics and the nuclearplanet.com Hilgenberg page Rival growth model with no new matter; hosts the 1933 PDF; says Hilgenberg's Earth expanded 'for unknown reasons'· promotes a rival model
–G. Scalera, Gravitazione idrodinamica: suo legame con l'espansione dei corpi celesti e con i redshifts; If Space is Material, What Inertia Should Be? Earth-Prints titles, not opened· expansion proponent
–G. Scalera et al., Are artificial satellites orbits influenced by an expanding Earth? The advocates' own treatment of the satellite test of the Earth's GM; Earth-Prints title, not read· expansion proponent
2021G. Scalera, La Gravitazione Idrodinamica come causa della espansione terrestre (GNGTS abstract) 'Central torrent' ether traced to Johann Bernoulli; first attempt at ether density, velocity and flux; geoneutrinos offered as corroboration; Earth-Prints handle 2122/14738; abstract record only· expansion proponent
Later accounts and media (17)
2001-05K.-H. Jacob, Theorie 'Vom wachsenden Erdball'. Zum Gedenken an Ott Christoph Hilgenberg, TU intern Getriebelehre post 1934-38; professorship 'thwarted' by refusing NSDAP membership; 10,000 books recovered from Gatow; Wayback Machine copy· colloquium organiser, honour-volume co-editor
2001-06TU intern, Unsere Erde: Theorien und Emotionen Follow-up article; linked, not opened
2001-07TU intern, Erdexpansion 'ad acta' gelegt Apparently the expert reply, by a 'Mr. Franz' and colleagues; not opened
2002-05Jacob, NCGT La Junta lecture summary and conference report New Concepts in Global Tectonics, La Junta, Colorado, 5-11 May 2002; PDFs linked from TU intern, not opened· advocates
2003Scalera and Braun, Ott Christoph Hilgenberg in twentieth-century Geophysics In Scalera and Jacob (eds.), Why expanding Earth?, INGV Rome, pp.25-41 (465-pp. proceedings of the 26 May 2001 Lautenthal colloquium); the only folder document; 18 pp., digest and deep read· expansion proponents
2003Helge Hilgenberg, biographical paper in Why expanding Earth? Source of the 'created the Technical University' statement; not in the folder· daughter
2003Expanding Earth Bibliographic Database (Scalera, honour volume pp.419-421) Indexed on the Chappell Natural Philosophy Society wiki, with Hilgenberg's titles in English
2006J. P. Farrell, SS Brotherhood of the Bell (German edition Die Bruderschaft der Glocke) Discusses the 1931 booklet, the Magnus booklets and the 1959 atom models; author with a speculative thesis; not read
–J. P. Farrell, The Philosopher's Stone Popular account mentioning Hilgenberg's vortex physics; not read
2007J. P. Farrell interview naming 'Hilgenberg, Krafft' Search snippet only
–All About the Disk Aircraft of the Third Reich Calls Hilgenberg 'within the mainstream of physics'; archive.org snippet only
2007-01-31Und sie bewegt sich doch! (ZDF/arte documentary, dir. Franz Fitzke, 45 min) First broadcast date; not viewed
2001Scalera's replica globes Four replicas made by Roman cabinetmakers, shown at Lautenthal 2001, lent to TU Berlin; now at Museo di geofisica, Rocca di Papa; 'globe workshops in more than ten countries'· advocate
–zillmer.com article on Hilgenberg Says the thesis was submitted in 1937; not opened beyond search
–GOM-Projekt Relativitaet / Friebe chronology of relativity-critical publications Lists Hilgenberg 1931 and Krafft 1953; same list on antidogma.ru
2015T. Thielmann, Die Wiederkehr des Raummediums Aether (in Aether: Ein Medium der Moderne, transcript, pp.75-98) Media scholar; thesis submitted 1937 and rejected; paywalled, first page read; footnotes may name the archive source
2026German Wikipedia, Ott Christoph Hilgenberg Tertiary; thesis rejected 1938 by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering mainly over relativity; NSDAP refusal; Quiring and Zeil; GND 1217674209
Records named but not yet examined (5)
1937TU Berlin Universitaetsarchiv, doctoral file (Promotionsakte) of the rejected first thesis Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 1937/38; would show referees and stated reasons; not reached
1934TH Berlin personnel file, Chair of Getriebelehre, 1934-1938 Would show whether a chair was blocked by his refusal to join the NSDAP
1947Staatsbibliothek Unter den Linden personnel files, 1947-1950 Oberbibliothekar post and 1950 dismissal as a West Berliner
1974Correspondence of J. T. Wilson, V. V. Beloussov and A. J. van Bemmelen Any reply to the 1974 open letter
1976Hilgenberg estate Papers held by Helge Hilgenberg; may hold the 1967 manuscript and correspondence
Not counted: the folder reference list's general expansion-history works (Snider-Pellegrini, Pilla, Placet, Carey, Owen, Pfeufer, Keindl and others), unopened Earth-Prints titles on cartography and fossils, catalogue pages, and books readers named in the 2001 forum (Meyl, Hurrell, Zillmer). Full catalogue: Hilgenberg-OC sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: His 1933 rate already fails space geodesy and paleomagnetism. Still open: a blind fit of continental outlines on a 0.62 sphere against the present sphere with matched cuts and slack, and a direct satellite and lunar-laser limit on the secular change of the Earth's GM.
Deciding records: The 1931 and 1939 booklets (force law, ether density), the 1965 Geol. Rundschau paper (time base for 4590 km), the 1934 metre-prototype paper, the 1967 swallowing-constant manuscript (Runcorn papers or estate), the 1933 Z. Techn. Phys. report, and the TU Berlin doctoral and personnel files.
Try it yourself: Compute dR/dt = R mu/3 with mu = ln(1/0.216)/t for t = 1 Gyr and 540 Myr (R = 6371 km) and compare with 0.2 mm per year; then the break-up spin period 2 pi sqrt(R/g), about 84 minutes. example.py reproduces both.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Mathematician Bodies carried by a plain incompressible sink flow feel an acceleration falling as r^-5, not r^-2, and the Moon test fails by five orders. Only a 'sink pushed by the stream' reading gives inverse square, and it forces every body to grow exponentially at the same rate. mathematician.md, Claim 1
Arbiter The physicist's 'Refuted by calculation' for no-new-matter expansion is too strong: squeezing the same mass into 0.72 R is an equation-of-state question nobody answered. Downgraded to Tested, not supported, on the paleomagnetic and geodetic evidence. arbiter.md, Corrections to the reviewers 1
Contrarian Publication was not blocked: his 1960s papers appeared in Springer, Schweizerbart and Italian journals and the 1974 monograph filled an issue. His TU workroom and professors' support show 'institutional tolerance along with scientific non-acceptance'. contrarian.md, section 4
Primer A falsifiable law gets tested where it is most extreme. An exponential law grows fastest now, so the present-day rate is its weakest point: his numbers give 3.4 mm per year; satellites see less than 0.2. primer.md, section 7
QE Still open after recheck: the 1933 book, which the corrected claims and worked example rest on, was read only through two page images and OCR of pp.1-18; the archive.org text awaits the owner's approval to download. The verdicts do not depend on it. qe.md, Recheck
AI noteIn 1934 Hilgenberg published, in a refereed journal, a comparison of the recorded lengthening of the standard metre bars with his computed growth of the Earth. Only the title is known; no step of the review has read it.
A cheap, public-domain recipe to sidestep Lenz drag with opposite-wound coils, built on Floyd Sweet's witnessed 1986 notes of 111 W from 1 mW; no calibrated power measurement exists.
Invention / theory background
Chris Sykes, an independent experimenter who runs hyiq.org and the aboveunity.com forum, self-published Guidelines to Bucking Coils (v2.7, 2016, 49 pages). He argues that two partnered output coils wound in opposition cancel the magnetic part of the output while the electric (vector potential) part adds, so the load does not drag on the input. He reads Floyd Sweet's Vacuum Triode Amplifier and a dozen other free-energy devices as the same principle.
Ranking explanation
Criteria A and C: a claimed anomaly that has never had a neutral metered test, and a circuit and coil experiment a reader can build or calculate for under 20 dollars. It sits below Hopper-WJ, whose generator effect is untested and whose record goes dark, because Sykes's net-gain claim is refuted by calculation and his document holds no power data. It sits above Verlinde-Erik, which offers less to test at home.
Key supporting elements
Sweet's 1986 lab notes are dated, signed and witnessed (Goldes, Roberts), name the meters, and record 111.32 W out against a stated 1 mW in, 'measured twice, observed by 3 persons', run 10 hours without noticeable heating; the arithmetic checks.
The weak form is ordinary engineering: opposed coils on a gapped core reduce coupling and stray field, and the mathematician's resonant-loop model reproduces Sykes's observation that input current falls as the output loop is loaded.
Positive informal reports exist, all self-reported or from forum members: Sykes's 2014 '1 Watt in ... slightly more Output', 'Marcel has succeeded' (2025), the forum's ABOVE-UNITY list, and Tinman's second-hand 'bucking coil arrangement dose indeed add energy'.
The vector potential A is physical: the Aharonov-Bohm effect shifts an electron beam's phase where B is zero, so Sykes's view that A is more than bookkeeping has a mainstream basis, though nobody derived drag-free load current from it.
Sykes gives full coil data, says the result is 'no new form of Energy', requires measurements with any COP above 1 claim, teaches scope mean not RMS for power, and kept a replicator's COP 0.82 on his forum.
Key contradictions
The Guidelines hold no power-in/power-out measurement for any Sykes device. A sceptic's 2015 request for scope shots and meter readings went unanswered in the pages read; the 'COP 1.7' figure is known only from that sceptic's attribution.
Passivity and reciprocity: in any fully metered circuit of coils and resistors with no power source inside, average input power is at least load power. Informal replications agree: dewetw at most COP 0.82, patrick1 'isnt OU', Itsu 'failed' (Sykes's account).
The 75 ms and 650 us 'charge times' are not measured: 75 ms is about three L/R times; 650 us about the drive pulse width. The aiding-coil 231 mH also exceeds the 222 mH physical ceiling.
Sweet's notes give two inputs 43 times apart (0.023 mW, 1 mW), multimeter readings at 400 Hz with no phase, an unmetered line-powered generator and a withheld part; the device has one output coil, not a bucking pair.
The document contradicts itself: 'Not Free Energy' and a shaft-driven alternator test beside 'Free Energy Future is here NOW', and generator 'drag' of 98-99% that is really the useful output; Sykes also wrote 'we have not succeeded, in general'.
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 24 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Opposed partnered output coils cancel B while A adds, so the load causes no Lenz drag on the input
Plausible, untestedweak form: less reflected load and stray fieldRefuted by calculationstrong form: no reaction or net gainInternally inconsistentA and Phi vocabulary; emf = Bvl with l as an area
In these devices current is not stepped down when voltage is stepped up (p.11)
Refuted by calculationread as output power above input; wording ambiguous
Lenz's law is the result of drawing current from separated charge, not its cause
Establishedno load current, no reactionRefuted by calculationpower delivered with no reaction
The magnetic field slows charge flow (75 ms vs 650 us)
Establishedobservation, explained by L/RNever properly tested'friction on charge' reading; this test cannot separate itNever properly testedSweet's 10x current at same temperature
With loose coupling, diode, load and resonance, input falls as output rises
Plausible, untestedinput current falls under resonant loadRefuted by calculationnet gain or negative input; never neutrally measuredNever properly testedgap, diode, 25 W load, LC tank as conditionsNot testable as statedmoving Bloch wall, operation at the BH knee
Alternator field fed from its own output gives output with no further field input
Establishedself-excitation, with shaft input as the author says
Sweet's VTA and devices of Moray, Meyer, Jensen, Koenig, Frolov, Melnichenko and others share this principle
Never properly testedSweet VTA and each device, incl. weight testNot testable as statedthe unifying principle and Bearden's language
Generators are 98-99% efficient and the converted 98-99% is Lenz drag to be removed
Internally inconsistentuseful output counted as lossRefuted by calculationremoving drag to raise efficiencyNot testable as statedopen system connected to the Aether
Author of the Guidelines; runs hyiq.org and the aboveunity.com forum (handle EMJunkie on overunity.com) · Promotes the method and the Sweet VTA; transcribed the Sweet lab notes he relies on; reports being deplatformed by PayPal
Independent experimenter; says he studied Floyd Sweet for 15 years; hyiq.org online in some form since 2001. Shares his work as public domain and says it 'Can not be Patented'. Education and career not in the review files; location not stated.
Floyd 'Sparky' Sweet
Inventor of the Vacuum Triode Amplifier (VTA, Space Quanta Modulator), which Sykes treats as the model device · Inventor; the 1986 notes record payments owed to him and a part he withheld
Described by Bearden (an interested party) as a transformer designer and expert. Wrote 'Nothing is Something' (1988) and co-authored the IECEC 1991 paper. Died 5 July 1995, aged 83, of a heart attack (search summary checked by the arbiter).
Thomas E. Bearden
Co-author with Sweet of the 1991 IECEC paper; source of the VTA weight-loss account and the '6 W' figure Sykes quotes · Promoter and co-author of the VTA
Says he 'did lots of experiments with Sweet, in Sweet's lab' on visits to California; his accounts were challenged as hearsay on rexresearch.com. Sykes rejects his magnet-conditioning account as 'nonsense'. Education and career not in the review files.
Mark Goldes
Witness at the 24 May 1986 VTA demonstration · Backer of Sweet; founder, chairman and CEO of Magnetic Power Inc. (search summary)
Not in the review files beyond the Magnetic Power Inc. role and being named in the lab notes.
Darrell (Darryl) Roberts
Author of the 1986 lab notes signed by Sweet; witness at the demonstration · Associate in the VTA work
Not in the review files.
dewetw
Forum replicator of Sykes's 2019 three-coil circuit
Built it on an N87 ferrite core with UF5405 diodes and non-inductive loads; saw the sawtooth waveform but 'never saw any result ... more than about 0.82 COP' (30 Oct 2019). Otherwise not in the review files.
Itsu
Replicator of the partnered-coil circuit (2015 build; 2020 replication on overunityresearch.com topic 3951)
Named by the sceptic MileHigh as a capable bench replicator. Sykes praised his 2015 build and called the 2020 attempt 'failed' (6 V 0.6 W load, coil length unknown). His own data are behind a login. Otherwise not in the review files.
Partzman
Forum critic of Sykes's 2020 circuit
Argued the posted schematic has the diodes reversed relative to Sykes's own scope traces, that the input coil's stored energy must return to the supply, and asked whether scope math was mean or RMS. Not in the review files beyond this.
Evidence / artifacts (71 of 79 listed, 90%)
Own works and inventions (15)
c.2010Device videos linked from the Guidelines and the 2015 thread (first device c.2010-11, second c.2012-13) YouTube IDs iJsVSMQqCOM, ZhQgch4L5XY, zSadMqEnO7I, Z-V1z2TdQJA; photos on Guidelines p.24 with no measurements. Not viewed.
c.2014Earlier material in overunity.com topic 14974, 'Magnet Myths and Misconceptions', from about p.76 Where Sykes first posted the idea; probably where 'COP 1.7' was claimed. Not read.
2014-02hyiq.org VTA Replication Project updates (11-02-14 and 03-11-14) 'Input is 1 Watt (5V 200ma) ... Globe rated 12V 300ma (3.6 Watt) ... slightly more Output ... Lenz-Less'; rated, not measured, load; Jensen UDT document found via Toby Grotz.· Inventor's own report
2015-01-16overunity.com topic 15395, 'Partnered Output Coils - Free Energy' (EMJunkie) 514 pages and 1.14M reads by Jan 2017, at least p.1772 by Mar 2021. Replies 1-12 read via Wayback: 'Lenz's Law is ONLY apparent when Current is drawn', 'Loose Coupling is a requirement', '3 configurations to work', 'Energy can not be created or destroyed'.
2016-02-26Guidelines to Bucking Coils: Lenz's Law Free Power Extraction, v2.7 (49 pp.) Project copy (2017 re-save) and the original Word export on hyiq.org. Digest plus page-image deep reads pp.4-42; pp.45-49 from the text layer only. Contains the pp.14-16 coil experiment, p.31-32 loose/tight rebuild, p.45 rotor sentence, p.47 lamp swipe prediction, p.48 alternator rig. Version 2.5 on academia.edu, docslib and rodscontracts not compared.
2017-03hyiq.org Support page Lists Sweet, Steven Mark, Don Smith, Kulabuhov, Figuera, the MrPreva experiment and Akula TPU as 'the same tech across the board'.
–hyiq.org Research pages 'Lenz's Law' and 'A Vector Potential' Sykes's 1:1 transformer explanation (as Guidelines pp.21-22); the vector-potential page cites Feynman Lectures Vol. II ch.15 and tau = L/R. Undated.
2019aboveunity.com 'Measurements' thread Page 1: 'Any COP > 1 Claims must be accompanied by Measurements'; 0.25 ohm shunt gave 59.5 W by RMS vs 17.1 W by scope mean; 'You should use Mean'.
2019-10-08aboveunity.com 'Chris's Non-Inductive Coil Experiment' (8 pages, 355 comments, to 2026) Page 1 read: three coils, two diodes, 10% duty 'Asymmetrical Regauging' at 3000 Hz; input 12 V 400 mA, output 'some data off screen'; 'still be Below-Unity'. Tagged ABOVE-UNITY by the forum.
2019-10Seven videos of the non-inductive coil experiment Video 4 shows a 'choking effect'. Not viewed.
2019-10Sykes's full scope captures for the 12 V 400 mA three-coil circuit Sykes said the output data were partly off screen. Named by the arbiter as deciding.
2020-04-24overunity.com topic 18464, 'Partnered Output Coils - Builders Group - Moderated!' Wayback snapshot 2021: recipe (25-turn input, 70-200-turn opposing outputs, 10% duty), benchmark at 80% transformer efficiency, 'Input can become Negative!', 'Delayed Conduction'.
2020Builders Group explanatory video series (11 videos) VUemDvugl4I ... CRduG2PNIgk. Not viewed.
2025-04Sykes's posts in aboveunity.com 'Floyd Sweet VTA Partnered Output Coils' Rejects Bearden's magnet conditioning as 'nonsense'; 'Asymmetrical Electromagnetic Induction'; 'Marcel has succeeded'; 'we have not succeeded, in general'.
2026aboveunity.com home page 705 members; 'We have been DEPLATFORMED by everyone'; 'PayPal De-Platformed me! They REFUSE to tell me why!' No second source.· Inventor's own account
Patents and patent office (6)
1908Clemente Figuera generator patent Its principle quoted on hyiq.org and credited in the Guidelines. Not read.
–US3820090 Wiegand wire Raised by a forum member and by Anor as a threshold-switching analogue. Not read.
–US2893107A and US6011475A (EAS markers) Industrial field-switching analogues listed by Anor. Not read.
–US4210859A Cited by forum member LordVeber as a DC-bias, orthogonal-field analogue for VTA conditioning. Not read.
1987-04-16US4806834A, Earl Koenig, 'Electrical circuit for inductance conductors, transformers and motors' Granted 1989-02-21; two mirror-image coils on a magnetizable bar. Abstract and metadata read; the patent claims and 13 related numbers not examined.
–Meyer patent drawing Fig. 3-23 (switching diode boxed) Reproduced on Guidelines pp.40-41 for the diode scheme.
Company and business records (1)
1986Magnetic Power Inc. files and Mark Goldes's correspondence Named by the arbiter as the deciding record for the VTA history. Not obtained.
Witness accounts and correspondence (11)
1986-05-19Lab notes by Darrell Roberts, signed and added to by Floyd Sweet (Generation 1 'Space Quanta Modulator') Tests 19 and 24 May, 4 and 6 June 1986, witnesses Goldes and Roberts; 17 scans numbered 5-48 with gaps, from 'an anonymous source'. Transcription by hyiq.org (2013) read in full; scans not seen. 19.1544 W / 0.023 mW; 111.32 W from 1 mW; withheld $1.50 'Vector Oscillator'; 'Checks still not in'.· Inventor and associates; transcribed by Sykes
–Floyd Sweet, 'Letter to Mark from Sparky' 6-pole 7.5-10 kW machine with a current-feedback winding; source of the Guidelines p.17 'duty factor' quote. Undated; PDF of 2011.· Inventor
–Hand-drawn Sweet VTA schematic, Guidelines p.11 EX 2000 T, P1/P2 240 T bifilar, FB 48 T, 120 V 60 Hz, 2-15 V battery; the '1:5' is feedback to bifilar winding. Source and generation not stated.
–Scanned page 25, 'The Space Quanta Modulator ... initial experimentation of Floyd Sweet', Guidelines p.13 Ferrite rod, three magnets, two coil sections, 2-100 kHz drive. Sykes could not verify its authenticity.
–Jeane Manning account of Sweet's self-oscillation in transformers Quoted on Guidelines p.12; the book is not named in the review files.
–Walt Rosenthal, 'Floyd Sweet's VTA' notes On rexresearch.com: magnets 4 x 6 x 0.5 in grade 5 or 8 ferrite; source of 'The VTA likes ... a minimum load of 25 watts' (Guidelines p.46).
–Bearden's account of the VTA weight-reduction test Load box of parallel 100 W lamps, '120 volt, negative AC sine-wave power at 60 Hz', weight recorded per 100 W step. No data tables seen.· Bearden, VTA promoter
–Hearsay dispute over Bearden's VTA accounts, with Bearden's reply Accounts called 'HEARSAY ... via telephone conversations with Sweet'; Bearden answers that he worked in Sweet's lab, names Bedini as reference. rexresearch.com.
–Bearden, letter to Dr Jon Noring; and 'Progress report on the Sweet Vacuum Triode' Listed in the rexresearch.com contents. Not read.· Bearden, VTA promoter
–Don Watson's VTA notes; Jerry Decker, 'A Possible Key to the VTA' Listed on rexresearch.com. Not read.
Experiments and replications by others (13)
2015Itsu's 2015 build, overunityresearch.com topic 2760 Sykes: 'Beautiful Work Itsu!' Login wall; Wayback has no copy.
2015Tinman's statement on bucking coils in mechanical devices 'a bucking coil arrangement dose indeed add energy to a system'; quoted by Sykes in 2020; original not read.
2015-01-16MileHigh's data request (topic 15395 reply #8) Asks for scope shots, load resistance, error bounds and power in/out for 'your alleged COP 1.7 device'; 10-point protocol.
2015-06-20underservice.org topic 265 'Partnered output coils' (crazycut06) Seen in search results only.
2015wistiti, energeticforum.com 'bucking coil inverter' thread Linked from topic 15395 reply #10. Not visited.
2019-10-16Jagau's note that scope and multimeter disagreed At 31:50 of a Sykes video; Sykes agreed DMMs are not accurate at these frequencies.
2019-10-23patrick1 replication report 'successful of course, but thats because it isnt OU'.
2019-10-30dewetw replication of the three-coil circuit N87 ferrite, 1:3 coils, UF5405 diodes, non-inductive loads; sawtooth reproduced; COP at most about 0.82. Sykes did not dispute the figure.
2019aboveunity.com 'Non-Inductive Coil Experiment Replication' thread Saved page 1 is mostly navigation; replication details not captured.
–Forum list 'Our Above Unity Machines' Titles only: Wistiti's Bucking Joule Thief, CD's rep, Baerndorfer, Captainloz's A-R-E, Aetherholic's COP>4.0, Yo's Ferro Resonance, Jagau, Ferrite at work. No power figures found.· The forum's own labels
2020Itsu replication, overunityresearch.com topic 3951 Known only through Sykes's account ('He has failed!', 6 V 0.6 W load, 'less than a basic Transformer Efficiency'). Login wall.
2020Partzman critique of Sykes's schematic Diodes reversed relative to the scope traces; input-coil energy must return to supply; mean vs RMS. Read as quoted in topic 18464.
2025Marcel (FringeIdeas) build Sykes: 'has succeeded, but now has the refinement phase'. No data found.
Related devices in Sykes's survey (pp.25-31, 43-44) (13)
–Moray, quoted account Lamp lit after about 10 minutes of tuning.
–Meyer VIC, video remark at 38:16 'add more turns on the Charging Chokes'. Video not viewed.
–Paul Raymond Jensen unidirectional transformer (UDT) document Found by Sykes via Toby Grotz (2014). Not read.
–Frolov, 'A Toroidal Over-Unity Generator' Figure with sum of H = H2 + H3 = 0; no power figure.
–Andrey Melnichenko, 'Generator on nonlinear inductance' (Russian PDF) Windings not reversed; Sykes says results still possible. The PDF was not read.
–Bill Alek SmartPAK diagram Caption 'EFFICIENCY >> 100%', no numbers.
–Markov bidirectional current transformer Picture only.
–Utkin device Picture only.
2011-11-01Mishail1971 sketch NE555, IRF640, 56 and 240 turns.
–Kromrey generator Credited only.
–W. J. Hooper's laboratory work on EM stresses Via Bearden's quote, p.19; no review followed it up.
–George I. Cohn, 'Electromagnetic Induction' PDF linked from hyiq.org, cited on Guidelines p.9. Not downloaded.
Later accounts and media (7)
1988-06-24Floyd Sweet, 'Nothing is Something: The Theory and Operation of a Phase-Conjugated Vacuum Triode' 18 pp., typeset by Sykes 2011; E = (B x V) + (-B x -V) = 2(B x V); 'opposite H-fields cancel and E-fields add'.· Inventor
1991-08Sweet and Bearden, 'Utilizing Scalar Electromagnetics to Tap Vacuum Energy', IECEC 26th, Boston The one conference publication in the VTA record; on rexresearch.com, searched but not studied.· Inventor and promoter
1991-08Bearden and Rosenthal paper in the same IECEC proceedings Cited on rexresearch.com. Not read.
2000-07-29Graham Gunderson on longitudinal-wave polarization (KeelyNet) On rexresearch.com; Sykes cites Gunderson in 2020.
–Profiles of Sweet and Goldes (hyiq.org Reference, naturalphilosophy wiki, amasci.com sweetvta page) Seen as search summaries by the arbiter: witnesses, Magnetic Power Inc., Sweet's death in 1995.
–YouTube phVE5V3pCTc, 'Partnered Output Coils - Why it's Important to have Current Flowing!' Search result only.
2026-09Anor's analysis of the Sweet VTA numbers (aboveunity.com) Separates 1986 notes from 1991 report; drive field 'triggers; it does not deliver'; proposes a 10 K heating test; 'The 1 kW and 5 kW claims do not sit comfortably with the stated wire gauges'.
Records named but not yet examined (5)
–Sykes's own statement of 'COP 1.7' Attributed to him by MileHigh in 2015; not found.
–Description of Sweet's withheld 'Vector Oscillator' part A $1.50 Radio Shack part putting microamps into both coils; whether it was metered is unknown.
–Any funder's or laboratory's correspondence with Sweet, and IECEC 1991 conference files Would show why the VTA never had an independent test.
–Wayback CDX listing of overunity.com topics 15395 and 18464 Would show how much of the 2015-2021 debate survives after the domain went up for sale and the archive went behind a paywall.
–Payment processor's notices to Sykes Would test the 'PayPal De-Platformed me' account.
Left out (8 items): works by names in the later lineage that the review only mentions (Kapanadze, Akula TPU videos, Don Smith, Steven Mark, Kulabuhov, the MrPreva experiment), hyiq.org Reference profiles not opened, the hyiq.org About page, and mainstream references such as the Hitachi Aharonov-Bohm experiment. Full catalogue: Sykes-Chris sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Build the three-coil circuit, battery powered or metered at its DC supply, record time-aligned v(t) i(t) at every port averaged over whole cycles, and add calorimetry over several minutes, with the circuit and procedure agreed by Sykes beforehand. Pass: energy in equals energy out within error. Separately, rebuild Sweet's 1986 device with a battery oscillator and the same metering.
Deciding records: Itsu's own posts and data (overunityresearch.com topic 3951); the original scans of Sweet's 1986 notes and the 'Vector Oscillator' description; Goldes's and Magnetic Power Inc. files; Sykes's full scope captures and schematic for the 12 V 400 mA circuit; a page-image read of Guidelines pp.45-49.
Try it yourself: Run example.py. By hand: Sykes's aiding coil, L = 0.231 H with 8.8 ohm total, gives tau = L/R = 26 ms, so three tau is 79 ms, his '75 ms'. The opposed coil, 0.24 mH, gives 27 us, not 650 us. Then check an ideal 1:5 step-up: 1 A out needs 5 A in.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter The calculation is stronger, with one stated scope: for any fully metered passive circuit, average input power is at least load power. But nobody has published a calibrated, complete power-in/power-out measurement of a Sykes circuit; the calculation closes the claim only if all ports are metered. arbiter.md, Claim 1, Which argument is stronger
Contrarian With 1 in 10 builds working and loading, loose coupling and winding direction all required, any failure can be attributed to the build: the effect is real when it appears and a build error when it does not. That is the structure of an unfalsifiable claim. contrarian.md, section 3, How these claims were treated
Contrarian The 1986 Sweet notes list specific instruments and figures. They merit a re-run, not a wave of the hand. The weak points (unmetered generator mains power, reactive input, meter accuracy) are testable. contrarian.md, section 5, Where I do not accept the mainstream reflex
Arbiter The 1986 device in the notes has one 12-turn output coil set at 90 degrees so output currents do not couple with the excitation coil. It is not a bucking pair, so the claim that Sweet's VTA shares Sykes's principle is not shown for the documented device. arbiter.md, QE revision, Claim 5
QE One defect remains open: Guidelines pp.45-49 (rotor experiment, lamp swipe, alternator rig) have no page-image deep read. It does not touch the energy-balance verdicts, but it is the first-priority gap for the Claim 2 and 4 evidence. qe.md, Recheck
AI noteSweet's own notes say he withheld a $1.50 Radio Shack part, his 'Vector Oscillator', while 'Checks still not in - 13 days late'. So the witnessed 1986 device was incomplete on paper, which cuts both ways for any rebuild.
Selected Projects
Named by the owner for a full card whatever their rank.
Rank 13Eskridge-Amy
no changeA - UntestedB - Open questionC - TestableD - InfluentialPrimer · Arbiter · Sites log · SourcesCard updated 2026-10-07
She said her NASA-engineer father's unpublished 2015 superconductor test threw off strange forces; his NASA memo reports a spinning bismuth disc changing weight by 0.3 g. Neither was properly checked.
Invention / theory background
Amy Eskridge (1987-2022), a University of Alabama in Huntsville chemistry graduate, co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science to fund gravity-modification research privately. Her 2018 HAL5 lecture surveyed Podkletnov's and Poher's superconductor claims and said her father Richard, a NASA Marshall propulsion engineer, tested a Poher-type device in 2015, unpublished. His 2021 NASA memorandum proposes a 'spin-coupled force' and reports a bismuth-rotor weight change. She published no paper, equation or data, and died in 2022.
Ranking explanation
Meets all four criteria: an unpublished NASA test and a 0.3 g rotor result, both Never properly tested and never dismissed (A); the 2015 test, the rotor and the Institute's silence after 2020 left open (B); a nuclear-polarization calculation the reader can do (C); a much-discussed figure in gravity modification (D). Below Kilner, whose cheap blind test was designed in 1912; above Bearden, whose self-powered claim fails an energy budget. Her suppression story has no records examined.
Key supporting elements
NASA-published author biographies say Richard Eskridge and Michael Schoenfeld 'researched the anomalous gravitational effects of electrically pulsed superconductors', matching her 'my dad did that' account of the 2015 Marshall test.
The first-hand voice in her Q&A: a magnet over a second superconductor 'went far away', 'strange effects ... forces coming off the disc', and a disc 'pristine' after the blast, which it offers against a thermal explosion.
The NASA memorandum's 211 g bismuth rotor lost 0.3 g anti-spin and gained 0.3 g co-spin (7 Oct 2016); the motor reverses by phasing, not current; magnet field measured unchanged; effect returned 'with equal force' with new magnets.
Her method point holds: the published Podkletnov nulls were static (Li 1997) or slow and unpowered (Hathaway 2003, 400-800 rpm against 5,000), so the original was never copied.
Sokol (Falcon Space, an interested party) reports 'a positive correlation between Dynamic Nuclear Polarization and changes in sample weight'; Institute adviser Glen Robertson began a new Podkletnov replication in 2025 (per APEC). No data seen.
Key contradictions
The same first-hand voice: 'we never reproduced the waves' and, with a double Faraday cage, 'we did not reproduce Boyer's [Poher's] signals'. No control discharge with a warm disc; boiling nitrogen and a 0.08 T pulsed field not excluded.
By the memorandum's own force law, a 0.2 T magnet at room temperature aligns about 4e-7 of bismuth nuclei, predicting 1.5e-4 g, about 2000 times less than the 0.3 g reported.
The rotor effect faded with use; the rotor was taken apart between modes; no spin-zero control was run; the authors raised buoyancy and air currents, later suspected the magnets, and call the data 'rudimentary and preliminary'.
Poher-type devices tested by others: Lorincz and Tajmar found an electromagnetic artifact under a double Faraday cage and acoustic noise; Dembovskis (2024) did not confirm Poher's accelerations.
Tajmar offered to test her samples and she did not send them; her 'funded by the German Air Force ... publishes no results' has no source, and his group publishes detailed nulls and artifact analyses.
Never properly testedoriginal conditions: 5,000 rpm, RF drive, composite discTested, not supportedreduced versions: static, slow, no RF
Poher-type pulsed superconductor impulse device produces a force
Tested, not supportedartifact under shielding; positives only in Poher's reports
Her father's unpublished 2015 NASA Marshall test of a Poher-type device gave anomalous effects
Never properly testedinformal, no controls or data on record; not dismissed
The POAMS spin-coupled force of the NASA memorandum
Internally inconsistentin application: three results for one nucleusNever properly testedorbiting-gyroscope prediction, against rigid-body mechanics
A spinning bismuth rotor changed weight by 0.3 g, consistent with the theory
Never properly testedthe 0.3 g effect itselfRefuted by calculation'matches the theory': about 2000 times too large at 0.2 T, room temperature, no microwaves
Dynamic nuclear polarization lowers weight (Alzofon), the next thing to test
Never properly testedAlzofon's own regimeTested, not supportedNMR variant (Dresden 2024)Plausible, untestedas a 2020 research programme
Mainstream nulls are not decisive; Tajmar used a monolayer and is funded to publish nothing
Plausible, untestedlogic: modified setups do not exclude the originalNever properly testedmonolayer premiseNot testable as statedGerman Air Force funding
She was surveilled, burgled and threatened because of this work
Never properly testedthe events: no records examinedNot testable as statedNSA list of five and 5,000 agents
President, chairwoman and co-founder of the Institute for Exotic Science; lecturer and advocate for gravity-modification research · Her Institute sought equity investment for this research
Born 19 Sep 1987, died 11 Jun 2022 (ruled a suicide). UAH degree in chemistry (obituary: double major with biology); UAH Materials Science PhD student in 2018; says she nearly finished a biotechnology PhD. MEMS and gyroscope testing at AMRDEC, Redstone Arsenal; CEO of HoloChron. Published no paper, patent or data.
Richard H. Eskridge
Her father; Institute co-founder and lead scientist; ran the 2015 MSFC test by her account; first author of the NASA POAMS memorandum · Co-founder of her Institute; assignee of the plasmoid-thruster patent
33 years at NASA Marshall; retired Dec 2016 as Chief Technical Advisor of the Propulsion Research Lab. Research included 'superconductor impulse gravity generators', fusion and electric propulsion; co-inventor of US7808353B1 (PT-1 plasmoid thruster). Told NewsNation her death was not suspicious: 'Scientists die also'.
Chris Milam
CEO of Quantum Machines LLC, which requested and funded the POAMS Space Act work; present at the 7 Oct 2016 bismuth test · Thought POAMS could underpin a propulsion system; holds the V5 rotor data
Not in the review files beyond the memorandum's account.
Mark Sokol
Co-interviewer in 2020; head of the New Jersey lab pursuing Alzofon's weight-reduction experiment · CEO of Falcon Space (Hawthorne, NJ) and co-founder of the APEC conference that reports his work
Works with the Alzofon estate on S-band and X-band DNP rigs; claims a DNP-weight correlation (poster with David Chester, not found). Says he was 'havana attacked' during her 2020 visit.
Martin Tajmar
Critic and tester: she confronted him at Estes Park in 2018 over his superconductor nulls; he offered to test her samples
TU Dresden. Rotating-superconductor gravitomagnetic experiments 2006-2011; with Lorincz, a scaled Poher-device replication found an artifact; co-author of the 2024 NMR test of Alzofon's claim, which reported a null and a heating artifact.
Eugene Podkletnov
Source of the rotating-disc 'gravity shielding' claim she treated as the field's central anomaly · Author and patentee of his own claim
Reported 0.05-2% weight loss over a rotating YBCO disc (1992, 1997); 2001 patent and impulse-generator paper with Modanese; dispute with Tampere University and a withdrawn preprint; consultant to the UAH-MSFC disc work. No visual record of the original was found.
Claude Poher
French researcher whose discharged static YBCO disc device her father tested at Marshall in 2015, by her account · Author of his own claim
Presents the device as independent of Podkletnov's (the 'universons' idea) and claims positive results; others found artifacts. Not otherwise in the review files.
Ning Li
UAH physicist whose stopped superconductor-gravity work is the main 'disappearance' case in her lecture
Worked with NASA Marshall in the 1990s (Physica C 1997 static test); founded AC Gravity LLC 1999; $500,000 DoD contract 2001 (her slide). Published nothing after 2002; injured by a vehicle on the UAH campus in 2014; died 27 Jul 2021.
Evidence / artifacts (108 of 116 listed, 93%)
Own works and inventions (12)
2017-01'Amy Pettigrew' Medium blog posts (@amypgrew) Posts of 30 Jan and 5 Feb 2017 by a 'CEO/Co-founder at Black Label Data LLC', chronic-pain patient advocate; Anomaly Archives files them under her name; identity not verified
2018-12HAL5 program page for 'A Historical Perspective on Anti-Gravity Technology' Huntsville Alabama L5 Society announcement; her self-reported bio: UAH chemistry degree, Materials Science PhD student, President of the Institute, CEO of HoloChron Engineering
2018-12-06A Historical Perspective on Anti-Gravity Technology (HAL5 slides) 35 pp., Huntsville-Madison County library; no references; slide p.29 'tested at NASA MSFC, 2015' (Poher device); p.34 'promising results always disappear into the classified realm'; deep-read with page images
2018-12-06HAL5 lecture recording and Q&A (YouTube --2dfdJElBg) 1 h 08 min, machine captions, no speaker labels; 'my dad did that' (00:29:39); an unnamed first-hand voice on the 2015 MSFC test (00:49:38-00:52:44); 'I believe in the ether'; deep-read in full
2020-02'Institute For Exotic Science' promotional video New District Media House, 3:40, YouTube 77_39zgEv24; transcript not read
c.2020'Institute for Exotic Science - 60 Second Spot' New District Media House; listed by Anomaly Archives; not opened
–'New Antigravity Research Institute', Parts 1 and 2 Galactic Gregs YouTube channel; listed by Anomaly Archives; not opened
c.2020-05Interview with Jeremy Rys and Mark Sokol (YouTube l0O4cEIkUZc) 3 h 15 min machine captions, uploaded 2024 by Rys; Tajmar monolayer story, 'six forces', planned 28 May New Jersey test, surveillance account, Maxar calendar entry; deep-read in large part· Both interviewers planned a 'disclosure' documentary; Sokol runs the New Jersey DNP lab
2021The Proof is Out There (History), six episodes 2021-2022 Credited as President, Institute for Exotic Science; IMDb nm13210059; segment content not seen
2022The Proof Is Out There: Skinwalker Edition, one episode IMDb credit; content not seen
2022The Proof Is Out There: Bermuda Triangle Edition, one episode IMDb credit; content not seen
2024The Proof Is Out There: Alien Edition, one episode Aired after her death, probably earlier footage; IMDb credit; content not seen
Patents and patent office (6)
1928US 1,655,144, shown on her slide p.12 as Tesla's 'space drive' Actually a grain-treating machine by Hallgarth and Chandler; slide image taken from William Lyne's book; checked on Google Patents in the QE round
1928-01-03US 1,655,114, Tesla, Apparatus for Aerial Transportation Vertical take-off 'helicopter-plane'; the nearest real Tesla patent; no space drive in it
1971US 3,626,605, Wallace 'kinemassic field' patent Cited by the NASA memorandum as the Wallace effect; her slide p.18 marks Wallace 'unsubstantiated'
2001Podkletnov gravity-shielding patent Named on her slide p.26 with the claimed 2% weight reduction; not obtained· Podkletnov's own claim
2010-10-05US7808353B1, Coil system for plasmoid thruster Inventors R. H. Eskridge, M. H. Lee, A. K. Martin, P. J. Fimognari; filed 2006 by NASA; US only; expired for fees; the only Eskridge propulsion patent; none by Amy, the Institute or HoloChron
2018-10-03Assignment of US7808353 from NASA to Richard H. Eskridge Seen as an event on Google Patents; USPTO reel and frame, and terms, not checked
Court and state records (7)
2018-07-16HoloChron LLC, Alabama entity 000524283 Formed in Houston County; organizer Lucus S. Michels, Seattle; annual reports 2019-2021; dissolved 2022-12-28; read on the al.ltddir.com mirror of the state register
2018-07-16HoloChron Holdings LLC, Alabama entity 000524282 Formed the same day by the same organizer; dissolved 2020-12-27
2018-07-19HoloChron formation certificate, annual reports and dissolution filings Scanned at the Alabama Secretary of State; would show what the companies did; not read
2018Institute for Exotic Science Delaware public benefit corporation filings She said it was registered in Delaware (lecture); entity search needs a CAPTCHA; not tried
2018AC Gravity LLC (Ning Li) Alabama entity and licence Licence renewed through 2018 per the Huntsville Business Journal; filings named by the arbiter as deciding the Ning Li question
–Record of the 'court case' she says ended her biotechnology PhD Interview 02:05:28, 'a sexual harassment thing ... a really horrible court case'; a filed case would leave a record
2022-06Death investigation report Ruled a suicide; Madison County Sheriff per the Sentinel, Birmingham police per Wikipedia (conflict unresolved); no public report
Government records (13)
1969Mansfield Amendment, Public Law 91-121 section 203 Limited DoD research to work with 'a direct and apparent relationship to a specific military function'; does not mention gravity; her slides date it 1973; checked by search summary
1973Senate roll-call vote on a 1973 Mansfield amendment voteview RS0930410; what it changed was not retrieved
2001Ning Li's $500,000 DoD contract Her slide p.24; contract record not obtained
2015-07-01Space Act Agreement SAA8-1519855, NASA MSFC and Quantum Machines LLC Funded the POAMS work; proprietary period now ended; known from the memorandum p.5· Quantum Machines thought POAMS could underpin a propulsion system
2015MSFC records of the Poher-type pulsed YBCO test Notes, accelerometer traces ('excess of 500 Gs') and whatever was sent to management ('we told management about this'); no NTRS report found (search inconclusive); FOIA named by the arbiter
20151,000,000 frames-per-second film of the discharge Described by the first-hand voice as showing 'a wave coming off' an emitter
–Space Act Agreement with a 'France' partner Memorandum p.37 lists France among Nelson's partners; whether it was Poher is an inference
2017-12AATIP / DIA reference documents Covers shown on her slide; contents not examined
2018-12-17SAM registration of the Institute, entity FTWBFXR1NE21 Amy as President, Joppa, Alabama, per the Sentinel Network; not verified at SAM.gov
2021-11NASA/TM-20205010911, A Study of the Pope-Osborne Angular Momentum Synthesis Theory (POAMS) R. H. Eskridge, M. A. Nelson, M. P. Schoenfeld; she is not named; eq. 28a; 211 g bismuth rotor 0.3 g on 7 Oct 2016; author bios on pulsed-superconductor gravity work (pp.37-38); deep-read· First author is her father; work funded by Quantum Machines
–MSFC property-disposal and GSA auction records Would test her claim that cancelled prototypes are 'melted down for scrap' (interview 01:16)
2024-11-13Michael Shellenberger written testimony, House Oversight UAP hearing HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-ShellenbergerM-20241113.pdf; includes her death; not read
2026FBI and congressional inquiry into a 'missing scientists' cluster Reported by CNN, NewsNation and the Huntsville Times; Rep. Eric Burlison named; no record seen
Company and business records (9)
2018-11-11Institute for Exotic Science website (Wayback capture) Public benefit corporation; staff Amy, Richard Eskridge (co-founder, 33 years at MSFC), Shantel Butler, Samuel Reid, Glen Robertson, Robert Becker· Promotional page of a venture seeking investors
2019-07-23Institute website, rebranded 'Technology for a space economy' (Wayback capture) Now 'for-profit'; Richard's bio lists 'superconductor impulse gravity generators'; Bill Dent and Seth Wahle on staff· Promotional page
–LinkedIn posts quoting a HoloChron mission statement 'To create a public-facing persona to disclose anti-gravity technology'; original source not found
2019-12-17Maxar plasma-thruster patent negotiation She reads it from her calendar (interview 00:57:56); possibly US7808353B1 (arbiter's inference); correspondence not obtained
2020-09Cease-and-desist letter sent on behalf of the Institute, citing NASA Reported as stopping Falcon Space's presentation at the online Estes Park workshop; posted on X by @Alien_Scientist; text not seen
2020-05-28Falcon Space test logs for the planned New Jersey 'Alzofon' experiment Caption reads 'alzheimer's experiment'; link to Alzofon via APEC; no result in any document· Falcon Space (Sokol)
2021-12holochron.com Only an 'under construction' page, per the owner's notes
–Institute bank and investor records She said equity investment was 'closing right now' (2018); named by the arbiter as deciding
–V4 and V5 bismuth rotors and their data Held by Quantum Machines after NASA work stopped for lack of funding (memorandum p.35)· The funder
Witness accounts and correspondence (6)
2020-09@Alien_Scientist posts of the cease-and-desist X status 1306981668419301379 and 1307975074050441216; X needs a login; not opened
2025-10-27Mark Sokol's account of being 'havana attacked' during her 2020 visit Red Panda Koala's UFO History Archive video, via Anomaly Archives; recording not checked· Interviewer and DNP-lab head
–Franc Milburn's claim she was targeted with directed-energy weapons by a private aerospace company Via Anomaly Archives· Retired UK intelligence officer active in the UAP field
2026-04-20Richard Eskridge to NewsNation Declined interview; does not think her death suspicious: 'Scientists die also, just like other people'· Her father and collaborator
2026-04-21Family statement to CNN 'a marvelously intelligent person' who suffered from 'chronic pain'; Google snippet only; WSJ of 25 Apr 2026 quotes the family too
2026-04Text she sent a friend saying she would not have killed herself Reported in 2026 coverage (Daily Mail 'chilling texts', Facebook snippets); seen only in search summaries
Experiments and replications by others (26)
1981-07F. Alzofon, Anti-gravity with present technology, AIAA 81-1608 17th Joint Propulsion Conference; INIS record found; paywalled, not obtained
1987Wu, Ashburn, Torng et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 908 (YBCO at 93 K) UAH co-authors; her 'stolen patent' story names 'Jim Ashworth', probably Jim Ashburn; the patent story is unchecked
1989Hayasaka and Takeuchi gyroscope weight-loss report Spinning gyroscopes said to lose weight
1990Quinn and Picard, Nature 343, 732 Gyroscope null: about 5% of the claimed size, cut more than tenfold after friction and temperature corrections
1990Faller et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 2115 Gyroscope weighing null
1990Nitschke and Wilmarth gyroscope test Null more than two orders of magnitude below the reported effect
1992Podkletnov rotating YBCO disc report Sintered single-layer disc; 0.05-2% weight loss claimed; no visual record found· His own claim
1994Alzofon's dynamic nuclear polarization weight experiment 0.5 g aluminium powder with iron, about 0.33 T, 9.5 GHz; maximum 1.1 mg (0.22%); known through the Dresden paper· His own claim
1997Podkletnov preprint cond-mat/9701074 and the Tampere dispute Withdrawn paper; her slide says he was 'ousted' from Tampere, no source
1997-08Li, Noever, Robertson, Koczor and Brantley, Physica C 281, 260-267 MSFC static levitated-YBCO test; change under 2 parts in 10^8; not a rotating disc; NTRS 19990039542
2001NASA MSFC rotating-disc Podkletnov replication (Robertson, final report due 2001) 'Never completed ... despite rumors' per Robertson via APEC
2001Woods et al. rotating-disc attempt Unsuccessful, per the Gallerati review
2001Podkletnov and Modanese impulse gravity generator (physics/0108005) Composite crystal; source of the 'impulse' line Poher followed· Authors' own claim
2003Osborne and Pope, An Angular Momentum Synthesis of 'Gravitational' and 'Electrostatic' Forces Galilean Electrodynamics 14, 9-19; the theory the NASA memorandum reformulates; not in the folder
2003Hathaway, Cleveland and Bao rotating-superconductor test 400-800 rpm against Podkletnov's 5,000 rpm, no RF drive; null to 0.001%; arXiv gr-qc/0404005 checked by the arbiter
–Claude Poher's own pulsed-disc reports (universons) Static YBCO disc discharged at about 2 kV; claims positive results· His own claim
–Lorincz and Tajmar scaled replication of the Poher device 2.2 kV; effect an electromagnetic artifact once a double Faraday cage was used (via Gallerati)
2016Tajmar group follow-up on the Poher device Remaining accelerometer signal attributed to acoustic noise (via Gallerati)
2019-07-16David Prutchi, critique of Alzofon's 1994 experiments diyphysics.com PDF: the data show 'absolutely no effect'; not downloaded
2022Gallerati, Interaction between macroscopic quantum systems and gravity, Frontiers in Physics 10:941858 Review with Podkletnov, Poher and UAH-MSFC sections; read via arXiv 2206.07574 by reviewers, page extraction failed for the Investigator
2024-02Stark, Grafe and Tajmar, Investigation of the Alzofon weight reduction experiment using NMR arXiv 2402.15529; NMR at 9 T, 5 K; null at low pulse counts; high-power signal also without specimen, tracks temperature; DNP not tried; deep-read
2024Tajmar, Kossling and Neunzig, steady-field search for a gravity-electromagnetism coupling Scientific Reports; cited by APEC and in search results
2024-12Dembovskis, Report on replication attempt for C. Poher's pulsed gravity accelerator ResearchGate DOI 10.13140/RG.2.2.28989.17129; 'did not confirm' Poher's accelerations; snippet only
–Sokol and Chester poster, Experimental NMR Conference (Asilomar) Said to show 'a positive correlation between Dynamic Nuclear Polarization and changes in sample weight'; not found· Falcon Space
–The Tajmar protocol she says used a YBCO 'monolayer' Paper not named by her and not identified by any reviewer
2025Glen Robertson's new Podkletnov replication Begun with volunteers per APEC; Robertson was an Institute adviser; no result reported
Later accounts and media (19)
–William Lyne, Occult Ether Physics Source image of her slide p.12 'space drive' claim· Popular book arguing its own thesis
–Robertson and Modanese (eds.), Gravity-Superconductors Interactions: Theory and Experiment Cited in Robertson's Institute bio; not read
–Anonymous r/conspiracy post on Ning Li's disappearance Screenshot on her slide p.25, the slide's only source
–NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics document on Podkletnov replications Hathaway private replication done; 'Tony Robertson, NASA MSFC, Final report due 2001'; Google snippet only
2022-06Obituary (obits.al.com / Arab Heritage Memorial Chapel) Born 19 Sep 1987, died 11 Jun 2022 aged 34; UAH chemistry and biology; mirrored by Anomaly Archives, AL.com blocked
2022-06Arab Tribune obituary URL recorded; not opened
2023-01-08APEC 'UAP Technical Briefing' tribute to her Snippet only· Sokol's conference
2023-07-30Huntsville Business Journal on Ning Li No publications after 2002; AC Gravity licence renewed through 2018; died 27 Jul 2021; partial extraction
2024-09Courtney Marchesani, 'Amy's Disclosure Launchpad' (Medium) Not reached
2025-01Mike Hobart, 'Who Was Amy Eskridge?' (Substack) Quoted by Anomaly Archives: little came out after the Sept 2020 cease-and-desist
2025-07-09APEC, Superconductors and Gravity Control: A 30-Year History Gary Stephenson interview; NASA's replication 'never completed'; Poher 'claimed positive results'· Promotes the field
–Anomaly Archives collection file 'Pettigrew, Amy Eskridge' Hub: obituary, blog, cease-and-desist, Sokol and Milburn accounts, video list
2026-04-21APEC, Mark Sokol: Anti-Gravity with Present Technology Falcon Space, Hawthorne NJ, works with the Alzofon estate; S-band and X-band DNP rigs· Sokol's own conference site
2026-04-23AL.com, Death of 'genius' Alabama woman linked to investigation of missing, dead scientists Paywalled and blocked in Chrome
2026-04-30The Sentinel Network, 'The Garrison' SAM entity, Physica C 1997, Ning Li's 2014 injury; misexpands POAMS· Argues a suppression thesis
2026-05-16APEC, NASA's Spin-Coupled Force Experiments Popular account of the memorandum; finds no Eskridge patent on POAMS or gravity· Promotes the field
2026Wikipedia, Missing scientists conspiracy theory Ruled suicide; says Birmingham police, which conflicts with other sources
–Reddit r/UFOs post and X posts (@UAPLuigi, Tobie Venne) on the cease-and-desist Say the C&D cited NASA and halted the Falcon Space work; archive.ph copy blocked
–Post-death videos UFOB edited interview, 'Rest in Peace Amy', German ExoMagazinTV segment, 'alleged radiation burns on hands', Michael Salla videos; none checked
Records named but not yet examined (10)
–Robert Becker's UAH quantized-gravity thesis She says she photographed every page; Becker was the Institute's quantum-gravity adviser
1999UAH loan record of the Becker thesis She says it shows a 1999 'DIA' interlibrary checkout
2018Estes Park workshop records, 2018 (Tajmar meeting) and 2020 (Falcon Space presentation) SSI workshop videos not reached; Shantel Butler a possible second witness to 2018
c.2020The 'paper' she planned to post on arXiv Never published; press reports say NASA authorization was needed
c.2020The 'mathematical equation' for six forces Claimed in the interview (00:20:20); never shown
c.2020Audio of the 2020 interview Needed to fix who says what (German Air Force repeat line, six forces)
c.2020Bluetooth 'logs and live packet captures' She says they exist; never shown
c.2020Uber trip record of the Lexus with the swapped plate, and any plate photograph or police report Named in her account; none examined
c.2020Cybersecurity consultant's findings Ex-CIO of Northrop Grumman, unnamed, who said her story matched other women in technology
c.2020'Mana World Holdings Trust' $100 million offer She calls it a Russian criminal intelligence front; no document
Left out: eight minor 2026 news and commentary pages seen only in search results (WION, WFMD, Lifehacker, uapmurders.com, Council Estate Media, The Political Saucer, Hack Liberty, Vremya footage), copies and re-uploads, and the devices her slides survey (Brown, Searl, Dean, Laithwaite, Hutchison, Woodward, Morningstar, Boeing GRASP), which no reviewer examined as records. Full catalogue: Eskridge-Amy sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Weigh the bismuth rotor against a matched-mass spin-zero rotor in a closed, temperature-controlled housing, with no disassembly between spin directions and magnet-only runs; and repeat the 2015 discharge with a warm or non-superconducting disc as control.
Deciding records: The 2015 Marshall notes, accelerometer traces and million-frame film (FOIA; Richard Eskridge could name the Q&A speaker); the V5 data from Quantum Machines; the Sept 2020 cease-and-desist text; Delaware, SAM and HoloChron filings; the packet captures and Uber record she named.
Try it yourself: Estimate bismuth-209 nuclear alignment with the Curie law, P = (I+1)/(3I) x mu B / kT, with I = 9/2, mu = 4.11 nuclear magnetons, B = 0.2 T, T = 300 K: about 4e-7. The 0.3 g on 211 g needs 8.4e-4, about 2000 times more. example.py does every step.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Within the memorandum's own framework the reported 0.3 g is about 2000 times what its force law predicts for the available alignment. That refutes 'the data match the theory', not every conceivable spin-weight coupling; the 0.3 g itself stays Never properly tested. arbiter.md, claim 3 and QE revision A2
Mathematician For a rigid body the arm force is total mass times centre-of-mass acceleration, whatever the spin. The memorandum's 15-19% gyroscope prediction at 60 Hz therefore needs a new force, not a reformulation; its long derivation only restates the POAMS postulate. mathematician.md, Verification of the POAMS / SCF mathematics
Contrarian The Dresden group did not test Alzofon's method: plain NMR at 9 T and 5 K, not microwave DNP at 0.33 T and room temperature. It is a null for NMR-style excitation, not a refutation of Alzofon's regime. contrarian.md, Corrections to Step 1, item 1
Physicist She declined a test offered by the person she accuses of suppressing results. A group publishing detailed artifact analyses is the opposite of 'publishing nothing'. physicist.md, Claim 4, b
QE The arbiter first said, with confidence, that the memorandum's Table 1 does not follow from its eq. 28a; that was a sign error, now withdrawn. The primer had also dropped the 'pristine disc' argument and the memorandum's own control arguments; both were restored. qe.md, Verdict and Retention check; arbiter.md QE revision A1
AI noteHer slide's Tesla 'space drive' patent 1,655,144 is a 1928 grain-treating machine; the number came with an image from William Lyne's book, and Tesla's real 1928 aircraft patent is 1,655,114.
A self-taught outsider whose 1887 loading paper was blocked by a Post Office chief, then confirmed in the field from 1899, with the patent money going to others.
Invention / theory background
Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925), an English telegraph engineer and mathematical physicist with no degree or university post, published mostly in trade journals. He recast Maxwell's theory as four vector equations (1884), found the energy flux E x H independently of Poynting, gave the distortionless-line condition R/L = G/C (1887), patented a coaxial conductor (1880), invented an operational calculus, and in 1902, after Kennelly, suggested a conducting layer in the upper air.
Ranking explanation
The clearest documented arc in the collection from a claim blocked without testing (1887) to field confirmation (1899 onward), now backed by his own 1887 text and archive records of Preece's position. The reader can check his numbers with first-year electromagnetism. Morray-TH (2) and Government (3) carry open, untested anomalies but no completed arc. Interest is not proof: most verdicts are Established.
Key supporting elements
His own 1887 Electrician text (Electrical Papers Vol. 2, Sec. XL): 'Make R/L = K/S, and the distortion is annihilated', with the exact travelling-wave solution and 'half electric, half magnetic' energy; all three reviewers re-derived it.
The block is documented: Hunt (2012) and Bruton (2018) say Preece, as Arthur's superior, blocked the April 1887 joint paper; an IET notebook notes Phil. Mag. parts 'blocked by Preece'; Preece's draft calls Heaviside's work 'dreadful twaddle'.
Campbell's loading-coil test on a 46-mile cable worked on 6 Sept 1899; Krarup built loaded cable in 1902; AT&T bought Pupin's patent option fearing it was unpatentable 'due to Heaviside's prior publication' (Wikipedia, arbiter-checked).
Checks the reader can repeat: attenuation is smallest exactly at R/L = G/C, equal to sqrt(RG) at every frequency (arbiter); his 1888 half-transmitting copper sheet recomputes exactly to 8.488e-9 cm (QE).
The conducting layer of his 1902 Britannica sentence ('There may possibly be a sufficiently conducting layer in the upper air') was shown by Appleton in 1924 (Nobel 1947); Breit and Tuve measured its height in 1925.
Key contradictions
Source gap: the folder holds nine page images. The primary texts now cited were read by the Investigator as OCR on archive.org and not saved; no formulas for claims 7a, 7b or eqs. 47-48 have been read.
The block is reported two ways: before submission (Hunt, Bruton) or rejection by the Society of Telegraph Engineers (1925 IEE obituary). The Electrician's editor cited space, readership and libel; Preece pressure rests on Biggs's later hint.
Faults on more than one side: Heaviside's 1873 duplex paper ridiculed Preece's and Culley's work and omitted Preece's 1855 patent; Kelvin in July 1887 called a Heaviside footnote 'ill natured'; Arthur later sided with Preece.
His 1902 layer sentence is tentative ('may possibly'), about guidance between sea and layer rather than reflection, and about nine months after Kennelly's March 1902 article. The coil proposal's date (1887 or 1893) is not fixed by any primary text.
Wikipedia's 'confirmed by Gravity Probe B' is stronger than any source shows: the probe tested general relativity, not his 1893 equations. His anti-relativity arguments are unread (Einstein is not named in Vol. 3).
User follow-ups
No user follow-up questions.
Verdicts by claim (8 of 9 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Maxwell's theory can be written as four vector equations in E and H
Established
Added inductance balanced so R/L = G/C makes a line distortionless; Preece was wrong
Establishedpublished by Heaviside 1887; joint paper blocked 1887; tested 1899 onward
Waves plus diffusion in conductors; diffusion is repeated internal reflection; a perfect conductor is a perfect reflector
Establishedeqs. 60-62, perfect reflector; eq. 63 as a formula onlyPlausible, untestedeqs. 47-48, no proof given, calculation not done
Operational calculus (d/dt treated as algebra) solves differential equations
Establishedoutputs, later justified by Bromwich and the Laplace transformHistorically superseded but instructivethe unrigorous method itself
A conducting ionised layer in the upper atmosphere guides long-distance radio
Establishedlayer shown 1924; his 1902 text tentative, after Kennelly, credit shared
Maxwell's internal force on intrinsically magnetised matter is wrong
Never properly testedinternal distribution only, not total force; formulas unread
Gravity analogue of electromagnetism (1893)
Historically superseded but instructive'confirmed by Gravity Probe B' stronger than the sources show
Opposition to Einstein's relativity
Not testable as statedhis arguments unread; not in Vol. 3 by keyword
The scientist reviewed: author of the vector equations, the distortionless-line condition, the operational calculus and the 1902 conducting-layer suggestion
English telegraph engineer and mathematical physicist (1850-1925), self-taught with no degree, working outside any university and publishing in trade journals such as The Electrician. Collected his work in Electrical Papers (1892) and Electromagnetic Theory (1893, 1899, 1912). Struck off the Society of Telegraph Engineers for unpaid fees (Bruton dates it 1881), IEE honorary member 1908; refused a Royal Society Relief Fund grant in 1894; civil-list pension from 1896.
Arthur West Heaviside
Oliver's brother and co-author of the 1887 'bridge system' telephony paper that Preece blocked; supplied line observations and a tube-return experiment · Post Office employee subordinate to Preece; later sided with Preece on loading
1844-1923. Post Office District Superintendent and Superintending Engineer at Newcastle 1870-1904; supervised Preece's inductive wireless experiments on the Northumberland moors and worked with him on parallel lines in 1885 (1923 IEE obituary, via Grace's Guide). Published his part of the bridge system in his 1900 IEE Newcastle address (Bruton).
William Preece
Post Office engineer who held self-induction harmful to signalling and blocked the 1887 joint paper · Senior Post Office official with a public position (a costly iron-to-copper wire change justified by reducing inductance) and authority over Arthur; Wikipedia's attribution of his motive to reputation is that article's characterization
Head of the Post Office telegraph engineers (Electrician in 1887, Engineer-in-Chief from 1892); holder of an 1855 duplex patent. In 1873 called Oliver's duplex paper 'most pretentious and impudent'. His draft reply to Kelvin uses Kelvin's cable formula against Heaviside (IET catalogue).
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)
Author of the cable formula Preece relied on; wrote to Preece in July 1887 that a Heaviside footnote was 'ill natured', then praised Heaviside's propagation theory in 1889
His 1855 cable theory is the inductance-free (KR law) limit of the telegrapher equation (arbiter). Helped Heaviside's waves series into the Philosophical Magazine in Nov 1887 and praised it in his Jan 1889 IEE presidential address (Hunt). Other details not in the review files.
Biggs
Editor of The Electrician who supported Heaviside, declined his anti-Preece letters for fear of libel, and was removed in October 1887 · His later hint that his removal was prompted by his support for Heaviside is his own account (Hunt, citing Mahon 2009)
Not in the review files beyond this episode; first name not given.
George Campbell
Ran the first loading-coil demonstration, on a 46-mile cable, 6 Sept 1899 · AT&T engineer; AT&T held the commercial interest in loading coils
Engineer employed by AT&T, which in 1897 set him and Pupin 'to find some respect in which Heaviside's work was incomplete or incorrect' (Wikipedia Loading coil page). Other details not in the review files.
Michael Pupin
Patented loading coils (filed Dec 1899); AT&T bought the rights · Patent holder, paid $455,000 (Wikipedia), 'over $400 000' (IET blog) or $500,000 (Hunt); says he conceived loading while climbing a mountain in 1894, with nothing published then
Professor in America (Russell, Nature 1925), who worked 'on these lines some ten years later'; published a paper on loading in 1900 (IET blog). Wiener later called AT&T and Pupin 'thieves'. Other details not in the review files.
Arthur Kennelly
Proposed the conducting upper-atmosphere layer in Electrical World and Engineer, 15 March 1902, before Heaviside's December 1902 Britannica sentence
Not in the review files; his 1902 article has not been read.
Evidence / artifacts (96 of 108 listed, 89%)
Own works and inventions (24)
1873Paper on duplex telegraphy Disparaged Culley's and Preece's duplex work and did not cite Preece's 1855 patent; provoked the Preece-Culley exchange (Bruton 2018). A copy is in the Preece papers (IET catalogue snippet).
1885-01/1887-12'Electromagnetic Induction and its Propagation', series in The Electrician Ran 3 Jan 1885 to sec. 46 (Sept 1887) plus a straggler 31 Dec 1887. Sec. XL (1887, EP2 pp. ~119-124) read by the Investigator: 'Make R/L = K/S, and the distortion is annihilated', critical inductance, the 'unbelievable result' caveat.
1886-08/1887-07'On the Self Induction of Wires', Phil. Mag. Parts I-VII Parts VIII and IX(?) were 'declined by the Philosophical Magazine and blocked by Preece, and partly published in The Electrician' (Bruton, describing IET notebook SC MSS 005/I/1/12).
1887-04'Bridge System of Telephony' (with Arthur Heaviside) Joint paper for the Journal of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, blocked by Preece; manuscript location unknown. Theory later in EMT1 and the Electrician sections (Bruton).
1887-09-24'Mr. W. H. Preece on the Self-Induction of Wires' (Electrical Papers Vol. 2, Art. 38) Headed 'Sept. 24, 1887; but now first published' (1892): 'Mr. Preece is wrong ... radically wrong'. Read in OCR by the Investigator.· Heaviside's characterization of an opponent
1888Verse after the 1888 Bath meeting ('You British Engineering man!') IET notebook 7 p. 113, quoted by Hunt 2012.
1888Letter to Oliver Lodge on losing his outlet 'I should have been obliged to take some very decisive measures' (Hunt 2012).
1888-89'On Electromagnetic Waves, and the Propagation of Potential' (Phil. Mag.), in Electromagnetic Waves (1889; Cambridge reprint) Pages 139, 142, 143 read as page images: eqs. 47-48, 58-63, 'let p = ni', magnetic-conductor duality. Full 1889 text located on archive.org (electromagnetic01heavgoog), not opened.
1892Electrical Papers, Vol. 1 Three contents images read (Arts. 1-28: duplex, propagation of current in wires, the operator del, localisation of energy, thermo-electricity). Full text on archive.org (electricalpapers01heavuoft); bodies unread.
1892-93'On Operators in Physical Mathematics', Parts I and II (Royal Society) Printed; links in arbiter (gwern.net Part I, archive.org Part II). Not read in the review.
1893'A Gravitational and Electromagnetic Analogy' (The Electrician; EMT1 App. B, pp. 455-466) Finite-speed gravity, (u/v)^2 radial intensity change, moving-mass h field and reversed energy flux (arbiter's own OCR read). Exponent of u missing in OCR; probably 7. Equations unread.
1893Electromagnetic Theory, Vol. 1 Contents pages read as images; secs. 1, 68 ('gravitational difficulty') and 83 ('Maxwell's Solution probably wrong') read in OCR by the Investigator. Holds the bridge-system theory and the 1893 discrete-coil proposal (Bruton; Grace's Guide).
1894'On Operators in Physical Mathematics', Part III Refereed (William Burnside, per a snippet of Hunt 1991) and rejected over divergent series; a modified version is said to be in EMT2 (deadreckonings snippet). Original text not located.
1899Electromagnetic Theory, Vol. 2 Operational calculus. Sec. 425: 'not good enough for Another Place ... wet blankets of rigorists'; p. 9: 'Shall I refuse my dinner ...' (Investigator, archive.org OCR).
1902Nature letter, 'The Waste of Energy from a Moving Electron' Listed on archive.org by the Investigator; unread.
1902-12'Telegraphy', I. Theory, Encyclopaedia Britannica 10th ed., vol. XXXIII 'There may possibly be a sufficiently conducting layer in the upper air ... guidance will be by the sea on one side and the upper layer on the other.' Author initials garbled in OCR (likely Heaviside).
1903Nature letter, 'The Undistorted Cylindrical Wave' Listed on archive.org; unread.
1905Nature letter, 'Electromagnetics in a Moving Dielectric' Listed on archive.org; unread; a possible place for his relativity views.
1908Manuscript notes on Preece's proof 'America Revisited - 1907' IET SC MSS 005/I/2/057, 30 pp.; catalogue entry only.
1912Electromagnetic Theory, Vol. 3 OCR keyword count only: 'Einstein' 0, 'Minkowski' 0, 'Lorentz' 30, 'relativ' 21; sec. 473 'Lorentz's Equations of a Moving Dielectric'.
1886-1889Notebook SC MSS 005/I/1/12 (IET) MS copy of 'Self Induction of Wires' with notes on the fate of Parts VIII-IX (Bruton fn. 18). One of 21 notebooks in the IET Heaviside Collection; a further notebook records 'disputes with Sir William Preece and Lord Kelvin' (catalogue 110000639).
1922Letter to Highfield on Arthur and Preece (IET SC MSS 068) 'AWH was very afraid of P ... The greatest mistake AWH ever made was to throw me overboard' (Bruton).· Heaviside's characterization, 35 years after
–Letter to Bethenod on refusing the Hughes medal Mentioned in a Google snippet of Mahon 2009; letter and reason unread.
–Heaviside Library at the IET (his books with marginal notes) IET archives blog; not examined.
Patents and patent office (3)
1855Preece's duplex telegraphy patent Not cited in Heaviside's 1873 paper (Bruton).· Preece
1880British patent no. 1407, 'Improvements in Electrical Conductors' Granted to Oliver alone (Arthur, a Post Office servant, could not hold it); Bruton calls it 'essentially the patent for ... a coaxial cable'. Specification unread.
1899-12Pupin loading-coil patent and its purchase by AT&T Filed Dec 1899 (US patent 1900, Grace's Guide); AT&T paid $200,000 by Jan 1901 and $455,000 in total (Wikipedia), 'over $400 000' (IET blog) or $500,000 (Hunt). Patent number not in the review files.· Michael Pupin (patentee) and AT&T (purchaser)
Government records (5)
1886-1887Preece's public statements justifying the iron-to-copper wire change Cited by Hunt 2012 as reducing inductance, the 'bete noire'.· Post Office (Preece)
1896Civil-list pension to Heaviside GBP 120 a year, later GBP 220 (Hunt 2012).
1932GPO report 'The Application of the Heaviside Analysis to Electrical Engineering Problems' 'No copies of which survive' (Bruton).
c.1936Typed copy of a report by Arthur West Heaviside Probably made by Sir Arthur Preece for correspondence with The Times (IET catalogue 110008809); not opened.
c.1957Heaviside papers found under the floorboards of his former Paignton home Used by H. J. Josephs of the GPO (Bruton); present location not stated.
Company and business records (3)
1881Striking-off for unpaid fees and 1908 IEE honorary membership IET archives blog; Bruton dates the striking-off 1881.
1894Royal Society Relief Fund grant, refused Hunt 2012.
1897AT&T commission to Campbell and Pupin To 'find some respect in which Heaviside's work was incomplete or incorrect'; AT&T estimated savings of $700,000 (New York and New Jersey) and about $100 million by 1925 (Wikipedia Loading coil).· AT&T
Witness accounts and correspondence (9)
1873Preece-Culley letters on Heaviside's duplex paper Preece: 'most pretentious and impudent ... He must be met somehow'; Culley: 'We will try to pot Oliver somehow' (Bruton, archival ref. 22; letters not seen).· Post Office officials whose work the paper criticised
1887-07-12Kelvin to Preece (IET SC MSS 022/VII/535) A Heaviside Phil. Mag. footnote 'should not have appeared as it was so ill natured' (cataloguer's wording).
1887Preece's draft reply to Kelvin (IET SC MSS 022/VII/526) 'Heaviside and his dreadful twaddle'; uses Kelvin's formula to show Preece is right; 'drawing room philosophers like Oliver Heaviside and Sylvanus Thompson'. Undated; catalogue description only.· Preece
1887-10Biggs's account of his removal as editor of The Electrician Hinted it was prompted by his support for Heaviside (Hunt, citing Mahon 2009 p. 79); no second source.· Biggs, the removed editor
1888-09-09FitzGerald notebook entry 'Very important ... Must be all in O. Heaviside' (Trinity College Dublin, per Hunt).
1897-1921C. A. Stevenson correspondence (IET SC MSS 005/I/6/43) Includes 'Heaviside's brother's career and being blocked by Preece'; catalogue only.
c.1894Pupin's account of conceiving loading coils while climbing a mountain Nothing published by him at that time (Wikipedia Loading coil).· Pupin, the paid patentee
Experiments and replications by others (11)
c.1885Arthur Heaviside's observations of oscillations making ABC indicator pointers jump Reported by Oliver in Electrical Papers Vol. 2 (pp. ~120s); prompted part of the induction work.
c.1886Arthur Heaviside's tube-return experiment No inductive action outside the tube (EP2 pp. ~185-186), as textbook electromagnetism predicts; known only through Oliver's text.
1886Arthur Heaviside's bridge-circuit telephone observations More telephones in parallel improved clarity (Hunt 2012); the basis of the 1887 paper.
c.1887Reports of good long-distance telephony on copper-covered steel wire Cited by Heaviside in Sec. XL, 'I do not wish to magnify its importance'; others' practice, not a controlled test.
1887-88Hertz's electromagnetic wave experiments Confirmation of Maxwell's theory in Heaviside's form; from recall (high confidence).
1899-09-06Campbell's loading-coil test on a 46-mile cable George Campbell, AT&T (Wikipedia Loading coil).· AT&T
1902Krarup's continuously loaded cable Wikipedia Loading coil.
1923-24Permalloy and mu-metal loaded cables Wikipedia Loading coil, cited in contrarian.md.
1924Appleton's demonstration of the ionised layer Experiments begun late 1924 (Bruton); direct evidence with Barnett Dec 1925; Nobel 1947. The Heaviside Wikipedia page says 1923.
1925Breit and Tuve's measurement of the layer's height Wikipedia Kennelly-Heaviside layer.
2004-2011Gravity Probe B results Frame dragging -37.2 +/- 7.2 mas/yr vs general relativity's -39.2; tested relativity, not Heaviside's 1893 equations.
Related work by others (7)
1855Kelvin's cable theory (KR law) Inductance-free limit of the telegrapher equation, right for slow cable signalling, wrong at voice frequencies (arbiter, physicist).
1884Poynting's energy-flux theorem Heaviside derived the same flux independently (Wikipedia).
1894Foppl's textbook carrying Heaviside's form of Maxwell's equations 'From which Albert Einstein, among others, would learn electromagnetic theory' (Hunt 2012).
1900Arthur Heaviside's IEE Newcastle address His part of the bridge system, published here (Bruton).
1900Pupin's paper on loading IET archives blog.· Pupin
1902-03-15Kennelly, 'On the Elevation of the Electrically-Conducting Strata of the Earth's Atmosphere' Electrical World and Engineer 39(11): 473; independent layer proposal. Cited by search results and Bruton; text unread (an ETHW copy exists).
–Bromwich's contour-integral justification of the operational calculus Links Heaviside's method to the Laplace transform (Wikipedia). Date not in the review files.
Later accounts and media (24)
1898C. S. Bright, Submarine Telegraphs Recognised the 1880 coaxial patent (Bruton).
1923IEE obituary of A. W. Heaviside On Grace's Guide: Newcastle career, Preece's experiments, 'fights with Headquarters'.
1925IEE obituary of Oliver Heaviside On Grace's Guide: Preece's circle caused papers 'to be rejected by the Society of Telegraph Engineers'; Silvanus Thompson and Pupin as early adopters; 'sarcasms' in the 1902 article.· Written by an admirer
1925-02-14A. Russell, obituary in Nature Quoted inside the IEE obituary: Pupin worked 'on these lines some ten years later'; Vol. 4 'found impossible'.· Written by an admirer
1925Personal appreciation in The Electrician, vol. 94, p. 174 Referred to by the IEE obituarist (possibly Lodge, low confidence); unread.
1959Norbert Wiener, The Tempter Novel; Wiener denounced AT&T and Pupin 'as thieves' (Hunt).
1988P. J. Nahin, Oliver Heaviside: Sage in Solitude Standard biography; recommended from recall, not read.
1991B. J. Hunt, The Maxwellians Recommended from recall, not read.
1991B. J. Hunt, 'Rigorous Discipline: Oliver Heaviside Versus the Mathematicians' In The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument (ed. Dear); names Burnside as referee (snippet only; PDF did not load).
2007'Heaviside's Operator Calculus', Dead Reckonings Says EMT2 holds a modified Part III; search summary and snippet.
2009B. Mahon, Oliver Heaviside: Maverick Mastermind of Electricity (IET) Source of the Biggs episode (via Hunt); snippets only.
2011I. Yavetz, The Work of Oliver Heaviside 1872-1889 Springer; snippet only.
2012-11B. J. Hunt, 'Oliver Heaviside: A first-rate oddity', Physics Today Read in full: April 1887 block before submission, Biggs, Operators Part III rejection, Pupin $500,000.
2018E. Bruton, 'From theory to engineering practice ...', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 376: 20170454 Read to footnote 24: the brothers, the 1873 quarrel, patent 1407, notebook 005/I/1/12, the floorboard papers, BT archive references.
2023-04IET archives blog, 'From under the sea to the edge of space' Archivist's summary; Pupin 'over $400 000'; collection references.
–Grace's Guide chronologies of Oliver and Arthur Heaviside 1887: Heaviside 'suspected' Preece blocked publication.
–Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry Snippet only: 'Heaviside's career reached a watershed in 1887'.
2025Lenhard, 'The most important thing: Wittgenstein, engineering, and ...' Snippet mentions Burnside; unread.
–Wikipedia: Oliver Heaviside Preece's block and motive (the article's characterization), 'confirmed by Gravity Probe B', Eves on relativity, 1923 ionosphere date.
–Wikipedia: Kennelly-Heaviside layer Appleton 1924, Breit and Tuve 1925.
–Wikipedia: Gravitoelectromagnetism Heaviside's analogy 'differing only by some small factors'.
–Wikipedia: Gravity Probe B Final frame-dragging and geodetic results.
Records named but not yet examined (10)
1884-85Heaviside's original papers on the four equations and the energy flux Named by the arbiter for the Poynting and Gibbs priority questions.
1887Society of Telegraph Engineers council minutes and Journal Would decide block before submission vs rejection: a paper never submitted leaves no council record (arbiter).
1887The Electrician 1887 volumes and proprietors' papers Biggs's removal; Preece's British Association paper (16 Sept 1887, p. 400). HathiTrust not reached.
1886-1900BT Archives TCB 274/1, inductive telegraphy experiments Not reached.
–BT Archives TCK 89/23, Preece press cuttings Not reached.
–BT Archives POST 30/2668B, patent rules for government servants Bears on why Arthur could not hold patent 1407. Not reached.
1894Royal Society referee report on 'On Operators' Part III RR series; catalogue not reached.
1899-1901AT&T-Pupin contracts Would settle the payment total.
c.1912-1925Notes for a fourth volume of Electromagnetic Theory In the 1971 and 2003 Chelsea editions (archive.org, lending only, not opened); the likely place for his relativity remarks.
1893Page images of EMT1 secs. 79-85 and App. B Needed for the 7a and 7b formulas and the printed exponent of u.
Left out: search-result titles seen only as snippets with no bearing stated (a 2022 ResearchGate history of the Heaviside equation, an Elgar chapter citing POST 30/631A, an Academia.edu wireless paper, Encyclopedia.com, two radio-history PDFs, three ionosphere histories citing Kennelly), two unrelated IET Preece records, finding aids (AIM25, TNA Discovery), textbooks cited only for teaching and the 66 browser-junk files. Full catalogue: Heaviside sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: None pending for the central claims; field and laboratory tests 1887-1925 settled them. Residues: check eqs. 47-48 against the telegraph equation once pp. 136-138 are obtained; compute the frame dragging his 1893 equations predict against Gravity Probe B; an internal-stress measurement in a permanent magnet (7a), possible in principle, never done.
Deciding records: Society of Telegraph Engineers 1887 minutes; IET notebook SC MSS 005/I/1/12 and Preece's draft SC MSS 022/VII/526; The Electrician 1887; the Royal Society referee report on Operators Part III; Kennelly's March 1902 text; AT&T-Pupin contracts; the fourth-volume notes; page images of EMT1 secs. 79-85 and App. B.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: it reproduces his 1888 half-transmitting copper sheet (8.488e-9 cm), shows a thin sheet absorbs at most half the wave, and tabulates attenuation at 300 Hz to 3 kHz for bare, loaded and distortionless lines. By hand: substitute V = e^(-Rt/L) f(x - vt) into the telegrapher equation and find R/L = G/C.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Contrarian Preece's draft is better evidence of conviction plus stake than of bad faith. A model-based objection (the KR law is correct for slow cable signalling, wrong for telephony frequencies) would explain the dispute without suppression, and nothing found refutes that reading. contrarian.md, Investigator findings, Finding 3.3
Arbiter Whether the paper was blocked before submission (Hunt, Bruton) or rejected (IEE 1925) would be decided by the Society of Telegraph Engineers council minutes: a paper never submitted leaves no council record, which is itself a prediction that can be tested. arbiter.md, Records that go quiet, item 1
Arbiter The Investigator's u = 3 x 10^6 cm/s for the 1893 gravity analogy was not read from the text: the OCR drops the exponent. Heaviside's printed 'one-millionth' and 'one two-millionth' fit 3 x 10^7 cm/s; a page image would settle it. arbiter.md, Claim 7b and QE fixes 5b
Primer Heaviside's half-transmission sheet is also the sheet that absorbs the most, and no single thin sheet in free space can absorb more than half of an incident wave: a standard modern thin-film result that falls straight out of his 1888 equations. primer.md, 5.5 Energy audit
QE After the Investigator update, Heaviside's own 1887 evidence and his self-flagged 'unbelievable result', and Arthur's line observations and tube experiment, had been dropped at condensation; all were restored to the arbiter and primer. No verdict changed. Final: PASS. qe.md, Investigator update check and Recheck
AI noteHeaviside papers turned up under the floorboards of his former Paignton home around 1957, while a 1932 Post Office report on 'the Heaviside Analysis' has no surviving copy (Bruton 2018).
Ives measured moving clocks running slow (1938), then rebuilt relativity and Einstein's gravity inside a fixed ether: same numbers, no new force. Moray's book cites him for exactly that.
Invention / theory background
Herbert E. Ives (1882-1953), Bell Telephone Laboratories physicist and television pioneer, measured with G. R. Stilwell (1938, 1941) the second-order Doppler shift of fast hydrogen canal rays: moving atomic clocks run slow. He read it as Larmor-Lorentz slowing in a fixed ether and, from 1937 to 1953, re-derived special relativity and the Schwarzschild solution of general relativity in ether language. Ruderfer's appendix in Moray's Sea of Energy cites him as proof that an ether is admissible.
Ranking explanation
No anomaly or suppression of his own (no A): Bell Laboratories funded the work, and Physical Review and JOSA printed his ether papers. It scores on open points (B: the Pobedonostsev-Parshin deficit, the exact-field postulate, the untested dishing disk), on what a reader can compute (C: example.py refits the plates and Mercury's 43 arcsec) and on influence (D: neo-Lorentzians, Ruderfer, Moray). Its verdicts are more settled than Aspden's or van Vlaenderen's; its established core is larger than Whittaker's.
Key supporting elements
The 1938 design cancels the 21.5 A first-order Doppler shift by viewing atoms coming and going together, leaving a 0.011-0.047 A clock shift; eight plates fit (slope 0.972 +/- 0.031). Part II (1941) reached 0.113 A, above the doublet.
Repeated many times since, now to parts per billion: Mandelberg-Witten 1962, Saathoff 2003, Reinhardt 2007, Botermann 2014 at 34% of light speed, and the CERN muon storage ring at gamma 29.3.
Ives's 1939 and 1948 papers derive the exact Schwarzschild line element and Mercury's 42.98 arcsec per century with no fitted constant; his light-speed field gives the full 1.75 arcsec light bending, as Ruderfer says in Moray's book.
Robertson checked Ives's theory papers expecting errors and found every deduction valid. The 1945 paper gets mass increase, contraction and clock slowing from conservation laws and radiation pressure, showing how little of relativity is extra.
A dissenting repeat exists: Pobedonostsev and Parshin (SPIE 1989) report the second-order shift 40-82% below relativity at 150-300 keV, stated error 0.04 A per line. No replication or rebuttal has been found.
Key contradictions
The ether adds no force and no prediction: Robertson called the theory 'completely equivalent in substance' to special relativity; Ives wrote of 'no ... new law of gravitation' and force equations 'implicit in the general relativity solution'.
The energy-filled ether linking Ives to Moray is Ruderfer's addition: none of Ives's 31 papers gives the ether energy or force to tap. Ruderfer's 'any Lorentz-ether theory ... necessarily equivalent' fails: Nordstrom's theory bends no light.
The gravity result rests on one postulate, the field factor y exactly 1 - 2GM/(Rc^2); a second-order term kappa changes Mercury's advance by (6 - kappa)/6. It covers one static mass: no field equations, radiation or two bodies.
The Pobedonostsev-Parshin deficit jumps erratically, vanishes at 1.5-2.0 MeV and has no systematic-error budget; a half-degree misalignment of their two optical arms gives a deficit of that size, and their own classical model predicts +5%.
Side claims fail: relativity gives the same Sagnac result, as Ives's 1938 paper does; his 1949 'internal inconsistency' is the Lorentz transformation with re-set clocks; Einstein's E = mc^2 step is not circular; the photon survived (Grangier-Roger-Aspect 1986).
User follow-ups (3)
Q10AnsweredWhere can Ives's papers be obtained legally? Nearly all, including every paper Moray's books cite, are public domain and now saved; only three papers from 1952-53 remain in copyright.
Obtain Ives's papers legally, first those Moray's books cite, then any relevant to Moray's interests. Cited in Moray, Sea of Energy 5th ed. (Ruderfer appendix, notes 5-8): 'Derivation of the Lorentz transformations', Phil. Mag. 36, 392 (1945); JOSA papers 1937-1952 on the Lorentz aether; JOSA 29, 183 (1939) and 38, 413 (1948) on gravitation; Phys. Rev. 72, 229 (1947). Relevant to Moray's interests (aether, radiant energy, standing waves, photoelectric conversion, mass-energy): Ives-Stilwell, JOSA 28, 215 (1938) and part II (1941); 'Revisions of the Lorentz transformations', Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 95, 125 (1951); 'Derivation of the mass-energy relation', JOSA 42, 540 (1952); 'Adventures with Standing Light Waves', Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci.; his photoelectric-cell papers (use the bibliography in the 1956 NAS memoir in the source folder). For each: is it public domain (US works 1929-1963 needed copyright renewal: check the Catalog of Copyright Entries renewal records; HathiTrust full-view status of the journal volume; British rules for Phil. Mag.)? Save every legally free copy (HathiTrust full view, Internet Archive, author or institutional copies, publisher free access) to review/Ives/research/files/ with its source URL. No shadow libraries (Sci-Hub, LibGen). List what remains unobtainable and the cheapest legal route (library, interlibrary loan, purchase).
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-07 · 14 min web search
A10Every paper Moray's books cite and nearly all the Moray-relevant ones are public domain and are now saved in research/files/ from open Internet Archive scans. Only the 1952 mass-energy paper and the two 1953 JOSA notes remain in copyright.
Known
Renewal records (Online Books Page, from CCE and CPRS): JOSA issues renewed only from December 1951; Physical Review from July 1956; Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci., Phil. Mag., Nature and Bell System Technical Journal: no renewals found.
So JOSA 1937-1950, Phys. Rev. 72 (1947), Proc. APS 95 (1951) and Proc. AAAS 81 (1951) are public domain in the US. Phil. Mag. 36 (1945) is public domain in the UK because Ives died in 1953 and life plus 70 years has passed.
Saved: Phil. Mag. 36:392 (1945); Phys. Rev. 72:229 (1947); JOSA 29:183 (1939) and 38:413 (1948) on gravitation; Ives-Stilwell II, JOSA 31:369 (1941); Proc. APS 95:125 (1951); Adventures with Standing Light Waves, Proc. AAAS 81:1-32 (1951); Ives-Fry Standing Light Waves, JOSA 23:73 (1933); ten more 1939-1950 JOSA aether papers; four 1924-1926 photoelectric papers (ApJ, BSTJ).
The Internet Archive serves these issues openly but lends the August 1952 JOSA issue only; HathiTrust opens Proc. APS v.95.
Phil. Mag. 1945 abstract: the Lorentz transformations follow from energy and momentum conservation in radiation striking a particle, and "the space and time concepts of Newton and Maxwell are retained without alteration."
Inferred
JOSA 42:540 (1952) and the 1953 Genesis and Note papers are still in copyright, because those issues were renewed; they are cited by reference only.
The Internet Archive's open or lending status matches the renewal record, so the open scans are legitimate copies.
Open
Mass-energy paper JOSA 42:540 (1952) and the JOSA 43 (1953) notes: cheapest legal routes are a free Internet Archive loan, free interlibrary loan, or Optica pay-per-view (price unchecked).
Not fetched yet but public domain and open: the Phys. Rev. 1923-1932 and JOSA 1924-1938 photoelectric papers (Internet Archive sim_ issues), ApJ 62:309 (1925; ADS timed out) and ApJ 56 (1922).
Not searched: Nature 141:551 (1938), Proc. Roy. Dublin Soc. 26:9 (1952).
Q13AnsweredWhy does Ives matter to Moray, and does a Lorentz ether add any new force? Ives is Moray's authority for an admissible ether, but that ether adds no new force; it re-explains relativity.
Why is Ives interesting to Moray? And even if Ives is correct, his ether follows Lorentz and Einstein: does a Lorentz ether contribute any new force beyond those of Lorentz/Einstein, or is it only a different explanation of the same observed phenomena?
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-07 · 0 min web search
A13Ives is Moray's credential for an admissible ether, via Ruderfer's appendix; and yes, Ives's ether adds no new force: it re-explains special and general relativity.
Known
No Ives paper mentions Moray. Ruderfer's 1975 'Neutrino Structure of the Ether' (Appendix VI, Sea of Energy 5th ed., pp. 271-275) cites Ives as 'the most direct verification of the validity of a Lorentz ether'.
Ruderfer then fills the ether with a neutrino sea of energy and a Le Sage push gravity; none of Ives's 31 papers gives the ether energy or a tappable force.
Robertson: Ives's theory is 'completely equivalent in substance to the special theory of relativity'.
Ives 1939: 'no non-Euclidean geometry, nor new law of gravitation'; 1948: 'the force equations are actually implicit in the general relativity solution'.
His 1939 and 1948 papers derive the Schwarzschild metric, so they give GR's single-mass numbers: Mercury 43 arcsec per century, light bending 1.75 arcsec, red shift.
Inferred
The reading in the question is right, provided 'Einstein' includes general relativity.
Ruderfer's 'any Lorentz-ether theory is necessarily equivalent to GR' is not a theorem: Nordstrom's scalar theory has Newton's force and bends no light.
An ether invisible enough to match relativity offers no gradient to tap; a neutrino sea at rest in one frame could be detected.
Open
Whether Ruderfer's neutrino sea survives modern neutrino-detection and preferred-frame limits: a question for the Moray review.
Q20AnsweredIs empty space like a pond, and would crossing beams that do not seem to combine reveal a preferred direction? Light beams superpose like ripples and no preferred direction is found; space has properties (epsilon0, mu0, quantum effects) but, unlike a pond, no detectable rest frame.
Is empty space like a pond? Two equal waves combined in phase give the sum of both at that point. The premise: a pond is special because we can see the water; if we could only see the waves it might be more like empty space, and crossing beams that do not seem to combine would point to something special about space, perhaps a preferred direction. What do experiments show: crossing coherent beams and their fringes; how Wiener's 1890 standing-wave experiment and Ives's own thin-film work bear on it; tests for a preferred direction (Michelson-Morley, Hughes-Drever, modern cavity tests); what a wave-only observer could still infer about a medium (dispersion, loss, frame dependence); and whether space is a medium with properties (epsilon0, mu0, displacement current, the quantum vacuum, Einstein's 1920 Leiden ether) but no rest frame.
Asked 2026-10-08 · answered 2026-10-08 · 2 min web search
A20Crossing light beams do combine wherever they overlap, exactly like pond ripples; the effect is hidden by fine fringes, drifting phase or crossed polarization, not by anything special about space. What space lacks, unlike a pond, is any detectable dispersion, loss or rest frame.
Known
Wiener 1890 photographed standing light waves; the action follows the electric field. Ives and Fry (1933) repeated it with a photoelectric probe: electrons 'follow minutely the orders of the standing wave pattern' (Ives 1951).
Independent lasers interfere: Magyar and Mandel (Nature 1963) photographed fringes; Marett (2010) saw beats that vanish when one beam is blocked and appear only between same-polarization modes.
Light-speed anisotropy is excluded at 10^-17 (2009 cavities) and about 10^-18 (Nagel 2015), though Earth moves 368 km/s relative to the cosmic microwave background.
Hughes-Drever tests find no direction dependence in nuclear energy levels.
Fermi-LAT (2009) found no energy dependence of light speed; an earlier MAGIC hint (2007) was superseded. ATLAS and CMS observed light-by-light scattering.
Einstein 1920: space 'is endowed with physical qualities; in this sense ... there exists an ether', but 'the idea of motion may not be applied to it'.
Inferred
Fringe spacing is lambda/(2 sin(theta/2)): 36 micrometres for red laser beams crossing at 1 degree, too fine to see on a wall.
A wave-only observer would still detect a pond through dispersion, damping and drift; Ives's ripple tank failed exact invariance through capillary dispersion (0.852 against 0.658). The vacuum shows none of these.
Reading 1 (Einstein 1920, mainstream): a medium with properties and no rest frame. Reading 2 (Ives, Ruderfer): a Lorentz ether with an undetectable rest frame. Both predict the same nulls.
Open
Lorentz violation below 10^-18; direct laboratory vacuum birefringence (PVLAS) not yet detected.
Wiener's oblique 45-degree no-fringe variant is cited from memory; his 1890 paper (Ann. Phys.) would confirm it.
Key equations
Formula
Value
Meaning
I = |E1 + E2|^2
4I0 bright, 0 dark, 2I0 average
Two equal in-phase waves add; energy is conserved
Lambda = lambda/(2 sin(theta/2))
36 um at 633 nm, 1 degree
Fringe spacing of crossing beams
c = 1/sqrt(epsilon0 mu0)
299,792,458 m/s; mu0 c = 376.7 ohm
Vacuum constants, the same in every inertial frame
Moving clocks run slow: the Ives-Stilwell second-order Doppler shift (1938, 1941)
Establishedmodern tests to parts per billion; 1938-41 data alone modest; Pobedonostsev-Parshin dissent kept, unreplicated
The result shows real slowing in a fixed ether and favours Larmor-Lorentz over Einstein
Establishedwith Michelson-Morley and Kennedy-Thorndike it fixes clock rate and contraction (l = 1)Not testable as statedether over special relativity; identical predictionsTested, not supportedentrained-ether and ballistic rivalsHistorically superseded but instructiveabsolute simultaneity as a 1938 position
Sagnac and Michelson-Gale show a fixed ether that relativity cannot handle
Refuted by calculationrelativity gives the same first-order result, as Ives's own 1938 paper doesNot testable as statedwhether his reading differs measurably
An alternative theory rebuilt from classical ether physics (1937 transported clocks, 1945 conservation laws, 1948-51 rod-clock quotients)
Not testable as statedequal predictions; 'relativity principle superfluous' not shownHistorically superseded but instructiveas a programme; the 1945 route is the most instructiveRefuted by calculationcharge that special relativity is self-contradictory (1949, 1937 clock paradox)
Gravitation: the Schwarzschild solution as forces in an ether (1939, 1947, 1948)
Establishedone static mass: Mercury 43 arcsec per century, light bending 1.75 arcsec, red shift (general relativity's values)Not testable as statedether reading and transverse force as a separate forceNever properly testedas a complete theory; large-interferometer conjectureRefuted by calculationthe earlier review's 'fitted to reach 43'
Einstein did not derive E = mc^2 in 1905
Refuted by calculationcircularity charge, partly withdrawn by Ives in 1953Establishedthe 1905 proof is not fully general (Planck 1907, Ohanian 2008)EstablishedE = mc^2 itself, which Ives accepted
The photon will 'go the way of the caloric' (1951 Rumford lecture)
Tested, not supportedsingle-photon anticorrelation, Grangier-Roger-Aspect 1986
Other physical claims: radiation pressure on a moving absorber (1942), a spinning disk 'dishes' (1939), ripple-tank ether (1941-42)
Establishedradiation-pressure formula; 'earlier values wrong' is a definition differenceNever properly testeddishing disk, far below classical stressesEstablishedripple tank as a classical-wave analogy only, not a test of light
Experimenter (Ives-Stilwell 1938, 1941) and author of the fixed-ether reading, the transported-clock and conservation-law derivations, the Schwarzschild-in-ether gravitation papers and the 1952 E = mc^2 critique
Born Philadelphia 1882 (31 July per LoC, 21 July per the Chappell wiki), son of colour-photography inventor Frederic E. Ives. B.S. Pennsylvania 1905; Johns Hopkins doctorate 1908 under R. W. Wood on Lippmann colour photography. Army aerial photography 1918; Bell Laboratories electro-optical research: facsimile, 1927 television, about 100 patents; standing-wave explanation of thin-film photoemission, which he called 'probably my most important contribution to science'. OSA president 1924-25, NAS 1933, Rumford Medal 1951. Retired 1947; died November 1953 (13, 15 or 3).
G. R. Stilwell
Co-experimenter on the 1938 and 1941 atomic-clock papers and the 1941-42 ripple-tank (moving-medium) papers
Long-time member of Ives's Bell Laboratories television group (Bell Laboratories Record 1947); co-author with Ives of the 1927 sodium-potassium photoelectric paper. Otherwise not in the review files.
M. Ruderfer
The link to Moray: his 1975 'Neutrino Structure of the Ether', reprinted in Moray's Sea of Energy, calls Ives 'the most direct verification of the validity of a Lorentz ether' and fills that ether with a neutrino-sea energy store · Advocates his own neutrino-sea ether and cites Ives as support
Dimensions, Inc., Hempstead, New York (per the reprint). Proposed the 1960 Mossbauer rotor ether-drift test (Phys. Rev. Lett. 5) that Preikschat carried out; papers on a neutrino sea 1972-75. Otherwise not in the review files.
H. P. Robertson
Referee of Ives's 1947 Phys. Rev. gravitation paper and author of the relativity assessment in Ives's 1956 NAS memoir: deductions valid, theory 'completely equivalent in substance' to special relativity · Ives's referee and critic, then the memoir's chosen judge of his work
Caltech relativist; main Physical Review referee for relativity from 1930 through the 1940s (Lalli 2016). Robertson Papers at Caltech, 10024-MS.
L. A. Pobedonostsev and P. F. Parshin
Authors of the only experimental dissent: a 1989 canal-ray repeat reporting a shift 40-82% below relativity at 150-300 keV
Pobedonostsev at the V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute, Leningrad; Parshin at the Leningrad Academy of Civil Aviation. Papers on the Doppler effect 1989-1995 (Chappell wiki); full Russian account in Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 1989.
Albert Einstein
Called the experiment 'the most direct proof yet' of relativity (NYT, 27 April 1938); author of the 1905 mass-energy paper Ives criticised; a correspondent in the Ives papers at the LoC
Not in the review files beyond these items.
P. W. Bridgman
Sympathetic evaluator: used Ives's arguments, but his 1959 memo called Ives's real-but-indeterminable absolute simultaneity 'a complete negation of the operational attitude'
Harvard physicist; posthumous A Sophisticate's Primer of Relativity (1962); papers at Harvard University Archives (HUG 4234.50). Otherwise not in the review files.
E. E. Butterfield
Correspondent, late 1940s-1953, whose letters describe anti-Einstein feeling; recipient of Ives's 5 October 1951 'Semitic school' letter quoted by Lalli
Not in the review files beyond the Library of Congress finding aid and Lalli 2014.
Evidence / artifacts (139 of 139 listed, 100%)
Own works and inventions (63)
1906Improvements in the Diffraction Process of Color Photography Phys. Rev. 22:339. Early colour-photography paper from Wood's laboratory; NAS memoir bibliography.
1907Three Color Interference Pictures Phys. Rev. 24:103. Lippmann standing-wave line; NAS memoir bibliography.
1908An Experimental Study of the Lippmann Color Photograph (doctoral thesis) Astrophys. J. 27:325, Johns Hopkins under R. W. Wood. Standing light waves imprint layers in the film; root of his later photoelectric idea (NAS memoir pp.6-8; Rumford lecture).
1920Airplane Photography (book) From his 1918 Army aerial-photography work; seen in an Internet Archive search listing only.
1922The Voltage-Current Relation in Central Anode Photoelectric Cells With T. C. Fry, Astrophys. J. 56. Public domain; not fetched (follow-up Q10).
1923The Properties of Very Thin Films of Photoelectrically Active Material Phys. Rev. 21:389. Public domain, open on the Internet Archive; not fetched (follow-up Q10).
1923The Velocities of Emission of Photoelectrons in the Normal and Selective Photoelectric Effects Phys. Rev. 21:713. NAS memoir bibliography; not fetched.
1924Photoelectric Properties of Thin Films of Alkali Metals Astrophys. J. 60:209-230, saved from NASA ADS. Thin Na, K, Rb, Cs films on platinum show the selective effect only at one stage of growth; selective/normal ratios 15-25 against at most about 4 from absorption. Digest.
1924Normal and Selective Photoelectric Effects in Alkali Metals and Alloys With A. L. Johnsrud, Astrophys. J. 60:231. Elster and Geitel's ratio of 70 for Na-K at 70 degrees; potassium on a flat bulb gives only 3-4. Digest.
1924-1928Further photoelectric papers listed in follow-up Q10 JOSA 8:551; Phys. Rev. 32:44 and 32:57. Public domain, open on the Internet Archive; titles not given in the review files; not fetched.
1925The Influence of Temperature on the Photoelectric Effect of the Alkali Metals With A. L. Johnsrud, JOSA 11:565; companion on rubidium films, Astrophys. J. 62:309 (ADS timed out twice).
1926Photoelectric Properties of Thin Films of Alkali Metals. II Astrophys. J. 64:128. Caesium films on a heated platinum ribbon: photoemission peaks 5-10 times above room temperature near 650 K; thermionic electrons not photo-excited. Digest.
1926-04The Alkali Metal Photoelectric Cell Bell Syst. Tech. J. 5:320, saved. Why the Bell System's picture transmission used alkali cells; Einstein's equation eV = h(nu - nu0); photocurrent ratios 20-30 for polarised light against 4-8 in absorption. Digest. Popular companion: Engineering Foundation 3:66-80 (1926).
1927Photoelectric Emission as a Function of Composition in Sodium-Potassium Alloys With G. R. Stilwell, Phys. Rev. 29:252. Peaks of 14, 16 and 31 in the selective/normal ratio (memoir pp.20-21).
1927Rubidium film thickness measured optically With A. L. Johnsrud, JOSA 15:374. NAS memoir bibliography.
1928The Distribution in Direction of Photoelectrons from Alkali Metal Surfaces With A. R. Olpin and A. L. Johnsrud, Phys. Rev. 32:157 (NAS memoir).
1929Maximum Excursion of the Photoelectric Long Wave Limit of the Alkali Metals With A. R. Olpin, Phys. Rev. 34:117. Long-wave limit moves to the free-atom resonance wavelength and back as thickness changes.
1929The Preparation of Photoelectric Cells with Thin Films of Lithium as the Photoactive Material Phys. Rev. 33:1081.
1930Photoelectric Properties of Extremely Thin Films of Alkali Metals Phys. Rev. 35:669.
1931The Vectorial Photoelectric Effect in Thin Films of Alkali Metals Phys. Rev. 38:1209.
1931The Photoelectric Effect from Thin Films of Alkali Metals on Silver With H. B. Briggs, Phys. Rev. 38:1477.
1932The Depth of Origin of Photo-Electrons With H. B. Briggs, Phys. Rev. 40:802.
1933-03Standing Light Waves; Repetition of an Experiment by Wiener, Using a Photoelectric Probe Surface With T. C. Fry, JOSA 23:73-83, saved. Caesium film on a quartz wedge over platinum; Ives expected 'only positional and qualitative agreement' and called the result 'very satisfactory'. Digest.
1934Optical Factors in Caesium-Silver-Oxide Photoelectric Cells With A. R. Olpin, JOSA 24:198.
1936The Optical Constants and Photoelectric Emission of Potassium With H. B. Briggs, JOSA 26:238, with companion 'Calculated and Experimental Photoelectric Emission from Thin Films of Potassium', JOSA 26:247.
1937Optical Constants of Sodium; Optical Constants of Rubidium and Caesium JOSA 27:181 and 27:395. Remeasured to test the standing-wave explanation (memoir p.21).
1937Graphical Exposition of the Michelson-Morley Experiment JOSA 27:177-180. Huygens chart; Kennedy-Thorndike 'cannot by itself test the Larmor-Lorentz hypothesis'. Digest.
1937Light Signals on Moving Bodies as Measured by Transported Rods and Clocks JOSA 27:263-273. Deep read with page images; equations checked to 40 digits: equal to special relativity for the same transport procedure. Aberration called his 'strongest evidence' (p.10).
1937Apparent Lengths and Times in Systems Experiencing the Fitzgerald-Larmor-Lorentz Contractions JOSA 27:310-313, sequel to 27:263. Digest and inside the 27:263 deep read.
1937Measurement of Light Signals on Moving Bodies by Transported Rods and Clocks Science 85:442. NAS memoir bibliography.
1937-09The Aberration of Clocks and the Clock Paradox JOSA 27:305-309. The ether frame supplies the asymmetry; special relativity's frame-change resolution not discussed.
1937-11The Doppler Effect Considered in Relation to the Michelson-Morley Experiment JOSA 27:389-392. Proposes the canal-ray experiment; credits 'Einstein and Ritz'; laboratory ether velocity cancels in its algebra. Digest.
1938Rate of an Atomic Clock in Motion Nature 141:551. Not searched (follow-up Q10).
1938Unsymmetrical Doppler Effect in Hydrogen Canal Rays Rev. Sci. Instr. 9:283. Not obtained; would show whether Ives reported the asymmetry Faraj describes.
1938Correlation of Optical Properties and Photoelectric Emission in Thin Films of Alkali Metals With H. B. Briggs, JOSA 28:330.
1938-04-16Light Signals Sent Around a Closed Path JOSA 28:296-299. Page images read: derives the standard first-order Sagnac result himself and objects only to its interpretation.
1938-04-25An Experimental Study of the Rate of a Moving Atomic Clock (with G. R. Stilwell) Read to the NAS 25 April 1938; JOSA 28:215-226. Eight plates, 6,788-18,350 V, shifts 0.011-0.047 A; caveat: all below the 0.09 A H-beta doublet separation. Deep read.· Bell Laboratories funded it
1939-05The Behavior of an Interferometer in a Gravitational Field JOSA 29:183-187. Deep read: exact Schwarzschild line element, which Ives names; 'no non-Euclidean geometry, nor new law of gravitation'; red shift and bending in words. Cited by Ruderfer.
1939-07Derivation and Significance of the So-Called 'Chronotopic Interval' JOSA 29:294-301. Ether as 'a theoretical tool'; Lorentz transformations a limiting case. Digest.
1939-11Theory of the Double Fizeau Toothed Wheel JOSA 29:472-478. Wood-Hackett 'twist' from contraction alone; a spinning disk 'dishes' like a saw blade. Digest plus passages.
1940-02The Measurement of Velocity with Atomic Clocks Science 91:79-84. Natural philosophy against prediction only (per Lalli 2014).
1940-06The Doppler Effect from Moving Mirrors JOSA 30:255-257. Moving-mirror Doppler gives a null only with the same contractions as Michelson-Morley. Digest.
1941-01Interference Phenomena with a Moving Medium (with G. R. Stilwell) JOSA 31:14-24. Ripple-tank analogue: contraction, clock slowing and Fresnel drag appear in a moving liquid. Digest.
1941-05An Experimental Study of the Rate of a Moving Atomic Clock. II (with G. R. Stilwell) JOSA 31:369-374. Up to 43,000 V: 0.113 A against 0.1098 computed, above the doublet separation; answers Jones and Otting. Deep read, Table I from page image.
1942-01Interference Phenomena with a Moving Medium. II (with G. R. Stilwell) JOSA 32:25-31. Mercury ripples, v/c = 0.585; one ratio 0.852 against 0.658 predicted, put down to dispersion. Digest plus passages.
1942-01The Pressure of Radiation in a Moving System JOSA 32:32-33. Absorber moving toward a source: P = E_a(c + v)/(c - v); calls Lorentz's and Poynting-Abraham's values wrong. Digest plus passages; reproduced by the arbiter.
1943-03Impact of a Wave Packet and a Reflecting Particle JOSA 33:163-166. Lorentz mass-velocity law from classical waves and Newtonian conservation laws. Digest.
1944-04Impact of a Wave Packet and an Absorbing Particle JOSA 34:222-229. Absorbing case with heat terms. Digest.
1945Derivation of the Lorentz Transformations Phil. Mag. (7) 36:392-403. Deep read: no relativity formula put in, but the relativity principle enters through three premises; calls it 'a superfluous hypothesis'. Ruderfer's note 5.
1947-08The Physical Significance of Birkhoff's Gravitational Equations Phys. Rev. 72:229-232. Deep read: a transverse force v^2/c^2 times the normal part of gravity; moving mass alone gives one sixth of Mercury's advance. Refereed by H. P. Robertson.
1947-10Historical Note on the Rate of a Moving Atomic Clock JOSA 37:810-813. Four contractions consistent with Michelson-Morley give four clock rates; the data 'decide unequivocally for l=1'.
1948-04The Behavior of an Interferometer in a Gravitational Field. II. Application to a Planetary Orbit JOSA 38:413-416. Deep read from page images: one postulate gives 42.98 arcsec per century, no fitted constant; force equations 'implicit in the general relativity solution'.
1948-10Measurement of the Velocity of Light by Signals Sent in One Direction JOSA 38:879-884. Defines the 'rod-clock-quotient'. Digest.
1949-09Lorentz-Type Transformations as Derived from Performable Rod and Clock Operations JOSA 39:757-761. Deep read: his 'internal inconsistency' equations are the Lorentz transformation with clocks lagging by k r'.
1950-04Extrapolation from the Michelson-Morley Experiment JOSA 40:185-191. Missing from the NAS bibliography. Digest.
1951Revisions of the Lorentz Transformations Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 95:125-131 (read 27 Oct 1950). The constant 'is not equal to c and should not be called the velocity of light'. Digest.
1951-11Adventures with Standing Light Waves (Rumford Medal lecture) Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci. 81:1-32. Standing-wave career; predicts 'the photon will go the way of the caloric'. Digest plus the photon passage.
1951Clock Paradox in Relativity Theory Nature 168:246, letter. Not obtained.
1952Proc. Roy. Dublin Soc. 26:9 Cited in Ives's 1953 'Genesis' paper; absent from the NAS bibliography. Not searched.
1952-08Derivation of the Mass-Energy Relation JOSA 42(8):540-543. Credits Poincare; ends 'The relation E = mc2 was not derived by Einstein'. Read; in copyright, cited by reference.
1953-03Genesis of the Query 'Is There an Ether?' JOSA 43, reply to Dirac 1951: Sagnac and Michelson-Gale as 'positive first-order results'. OCR copy (in copyright).
1953-07Note on 'Mass-Energy Relationship' JOSA 43:619, reply to Riseman and Young: 'something must be added ... from valid physical considerations, not by assumption'.
Patents and patent office (1)
c.1920-1953Ives's US patents (about 100: television, facsimile, stereoscopic panoramagrams) NAS memoir: 'no fewer than one hundred'; Google Patents shows about 105 before 1954; none on relativity surfaced.
Company and business records (3)
1927-04Long-distance television demonstration with Herbert Hoover (AT&T, Washington to New York) Dated 7 April (NAS, Wikipedia) or 27 April 1927 (Optica). Ives led the work.
1947-05Bell Laboratories Record, May 1947 Biographical note and 20th-anniversary photo naming Stilwell and Ives. Saved.· Ives's employer and the experiment's funder
1947-08Bell Laboratories Record, August 1947 (retirement notice) 'First direct proof of the system of compensation for motion embodied in the theories of Larmor, Lorentz and Einstein'. Saved.· Ives's employer and the experiment's funder
Government records (3)
1869-1957Frederic Eugene Ives and Herbert Eugene Ives Papers, MSS27508 Library of Congress, 15 boxes, about 5,000 items; Einstein among correspondents. Finding aid read; container list not opened.
1938-04Photograph of Ives at the National Academy of Sciences meeting Smithsonian Institution Archives, Science Service Records, image SIA2008-4306. Record page read.
1959-05M. Benton, The Clock Problem (Clock Paradox) in Relativity: annotated bibliography US Naval Research Laboratory. Lists Ives-Stilwell 1938 and 1941 as verification of clock retardation, Ives 1937 as resolving the paradox 'through motion relative to the ether'.
Witness accounts and correspondence (7)
1920-1970Ralph V. L. Hartley papers AIP Niels Bohr Library finding aid lists Ives as a correspondent. Not opened.
1938-04-27'Einstein Hails Proof; Dr. Ives Provides Best Support for Relativity' New York Times p.25. Einstein: 'the most direct proof yet' of relativity, while the article frames it as verifying the ether. Opening only.
1947-03H. P. Robertson's referee report on Ives's Birkhoff paper Robertson Papers 10024-MS, Caltech. Framing 'a bit (ca. 40 yrs) out of date'; paper published. Known through Lalli 2016.· Robertson was Ives's referee and critic, and later wrote the memoir's assessment
c.1947-1953E. E. Butterfield letters to Ives LoC MSS27508. Anti-Einstein feeling in 'certain scientific circles'; Einstein and followers 'castigated as left-wing radicals' (finding aid). Not seen.
1950-10-24Ives letter on his 1938 Princeton reception Hostile reception; Pauli reported his 'work didn't amount to anything'. One published source (Hazelett and Turner p.90, via Bonizzoni and Giuliani); no second source found yet.· Ives, the party describing his own reception
1951-10-05Ives to E. E. Butterfield LoC MSS27508 Box 13. Quoted by Lalli 2014: championing 'the classical English school ... against the paradox of the Semitic school'; Lalli: it 'seems to imply' an implicit anti-Semitism.
1959-08-18P. W. Bridgman, Comments on Ives' Papers on Relativity (unpublished memo) Harvard University Archives HUG 4234.50. Real-but-indeterminable absolute simultaneity 'a complete negation of the operational attitude' (via Lalli 2014).
Experiments and replications by others (13)
1939G. Otting's canal-ray repeat Physikalische Zeitschrift; Part II (1941) answers his criticism; fit 2-3% with the 1938 points per Mandelberg and Witten.
1962H. I. Mandelberg and L. Witten, Ives-Stilwell-type repeat JOSA 52:529-536; exponent 0.498 +/- 0.025; judged the 1938 real uncertainty 10-15% (via Giuliani).
1964T. Alvager et al., speed of light from fast pi0 decay photons 2.9977 +/- 0.0004 x 10^8 m/s from pions at v/c >= 0.99975; rules out ballistic emission. Web-checked.
1968-10E. Preikschat, The Mossbauer Effect and Tests of Relativity (PhD thesis, Birmingham) Ruderfer's rotor proposal carried out: ether drift (2.0 +/- 5.2) cm/s, a null for both theories; summarises Ives 1948. Passages read.
1977CERN muon storage ring (gamma = 29.3) Time dilation of stored muons to 2e-3; part of the modern record.
1986P. Grangier, G. Roger and A. Aspect, single-photon anticorrelation Fewer beam-splitter coincidences than any classical wave allows, by 13 standard deviations: the evidence against Ives's 1951 photon prediction. Search-summary web check.
1989L. A. Pobedonostsev and P. F. Parshin, 'New results in Ives experiment' SPIE 1121, Interferometry '89, pp.36-41. Shift 0.17-0.60 of relativity at 150-300 keV, 0.9-1.1 at MeV. All 6 pages read from page images.
1989Pobedonostsev and Parshin, full account, Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 1989 no. 3 pp.84-99, and Khlopin preprint PU-199/L Raw data and error budget behind the SPIE report; the arbiter's deciding record for the dissent.
1991-1995Pobedonostsev and Parshin, later papers 'Experimental Investigation of a Relativistic Effect' (1991) to 'Once Again About the Doppler Effect' (1995). Titles only.
2003Saathoff et al., laser Ives-Stilwell test in a storage ring Cited by the reviewers (via Giuliani 2015).
2005Rainville et al., direct test of E = mc^2 Agreement to 4e-7; web-checked (MIT news).
2007Reinhardt et al., Li-7+ at 3.0% and 6.4% of c Nature Physics; Mansouri-Sexl alpha <= 8.4e-8 (abstract-level check).
2014B. Botermann et al., Test of Time Dilation Using Stored Li+ Ions as Clocks at Relativistic Speed Phys. Rev. Lett. 113:120405; beta = 0.338, below 4e-9. Saved; abstract and p.2 used.
Related theory and criticism by others (21)
1900H. Poincare, radiation momentum (1900, 1904) Credited by Ives 1952 as the source of E = mc^2; Ives's own 1942-45 derivations use m = E/c^2 for radiation.
1905A. Einstein, 'Does the inertia of a body depend upon its energy content?' The derivation Ives called defective in 1952.
1907M. Planck's objection to Einstein's 1905 mass-energy step Raised first the point Ives repeated; settled by von Laue 1911 and Klein 1918.
1917A. S. Eddington (1917, 1923) and H. B. Phillips (1922), gravitation in force form Gave the same relations as Ives 1948; Ives cites them, so his is a re-derivation, not an advance prediction.
1920M. von Laue (1920) and P. Langevin (1921), Sagnac effect in relativity Give the same first-order result as the ether reading.
1922E. Schroedinger, photon emission from energy-momentum conservation Gives the Ives-Stilwell factor without clocks; rediscovered by Davisson 1938 (claim 6).
1939R. C. Jones (Bell Laboratories), JOSA 29:337 Re-derived the Ives-Stilwell predictions from special relativity and raised the imparted-velocity objection Part II answers. Known through Part II and Bonizzoni-Giuliani.
1951P. A. M. Dirac, 'Is there an aether?' Nature 168:906. The paper Ives answered in 1953. Not read.
1957G. Builder, clock paradox and 'Ether and Relativity' Aust. J. Phys. 10 (1957), 11 (1958). Extended Ives's one-way light argument. CSIRO copy blocked.
1960M. Ruderfer, 'First-Order Terrestrial Ether Drift Experiment' Phys. Rev. Lett. 5. The Mossbauer rotor proposal Preikschat carried out.
1961M. Jammer (1961), Arzelies (1966), A. I. Miller (1981) Supported Ives's charge against Einstein's E = mc^2 derivation (per Ohanian); Miller judged the theory never developed into a serious alternative.
1962P. W. Bridgman, A Sophisticate's Primer of Relativity Posthumous; uses Ives's arguments (per Lalli 2014).
1972S. Marinov's classical model Proposed by Pobedonostsev and Parshin; predicts about +5% at their angle, not their deficit.
1975M. Ruderfer, 'Neutrino Structure of the Ether', Lett. Nuovo Cimento 13:1 Reprinted as Appendix VI of Moray's The Sea of Energy, 5th ed., pp.271-275: Ives as 'the most direct verification of the validity of a Lorentz ether'; neglect of his gravitation 'unwarranted'; a neutrino-sea energy store. Read in the Moray text.· Ruderfer advocates his neutrino-sea ether and cites Ives as support
1977R. Mansouri and R. U. Sexl, test theory of special relativity Gen. Rel. Grav. 8; the framework in which Ives-Stilwell fixes one coefficient and preferred-frame limits are set.
1982J. Stachel and R. Torretti, reply on Einstein's 1905 derivation Argued it is not circular (via Ohanian).
2009D. Y. Gezari (2009) and W. Kantor (1971) Sources Faraj cites for the 'longitudinal asymmetry' reading. Not read.
c.2010A. A. Faraj, 'The Ives-Stilwell Experiment' General Science Journal no. 727. Says only a longitudinal asymmetry was measured; his algebra gives twice the Larmor-Lorentz shift (deep read). Saved.· Advocate of the emission (ballistic) theory
n.d.G. D. Birkhoff's flat-space theory of gravitation The equations Ives rewrote in 1947; admits only a fluid with sound speed c and lacked a general derivation (arbiter, summary-level web check).
n.d.G. Nordstrom's scalar theory of gravitation Newtonian static limit but no light bending: the arbiter's counterexample to Ruderfer's 'any Lorentz-ether theory ... necessarily equivalent'. Web-checked.
n.d.R. W. Wood and F. E. Hackett, double toothed-wheel (Fizeau) experiment Their 'twist' of the axle is what Ives's 1939 disk paper explains by contraction alone. Known through Ives's paper.
Later accounts and media (23)
1956O. E. Buckley and K. K. Darrow, NAS Biographical Memoir of Herbert Eugene Ives 47 pp., in the folder; relativity section by H. P. Robertson ('completely equivalent in substance' to special relativity); bibliography to 1951. Digest plus deep reads.· Robertson, quoted for the verdict, was Ives's referee and critic
1977D. Turner and R. Hazelett (eds.), The Einstein Myth and the Ives Papers Devin-Adair, 1977 or 1979, revised 2005; holds Ives's later correspondence. Not obtained.· Editor Hazelett: Hazelett Strip-Casting vice president (per Martin Gardner, a critic); anti-relativist preface (Giuliani)
1980S. C. Som, review of The Einstein Myth and the Ives Papers Journal of Optics (Springer). Search result only.
1994R. S. Edgar, Field Analysis and Potential Theory, Part 3 DTIC ADA299147; cites Hazelett and Turner. Download blocked.
2000I. Bonizzoni and G. Giuliani, interpretations by experimenters of time dilation experiments 1940-1970 arXiv physics/0008012, in the folder; deep read pp.16-21.
2007L. C. Young, thesis on newspaper dissemination of Einstein's theory of time OhioLINK ETD; covers the 1938 press coverage. Not opened.
2008H. C. Ohanian, Einstein's E = mc2 mistakes arXiv 0805.1400, in the folder; deep read pp.1-5. Ives 'wrong' on circularity, but Einstein's step valid only for slow internal motion.
2013R. Lalli, 'Anti-Relativity in Action' (Ives) Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 43(1):41-104; abstract only: 'most important American opponent of Einstein', 'hidden network of allies'.
2014R. Lalli, The Revival of the Larmor-Lorentz Ether Theories: Herbert E. Ives' Opposition to Relativity 1937-1953 ESHS 2012 proceedings pp.359-365; saved and read.
2015G. Giuliani, Experiment and theory: the case of the Doppler effect for photons arXiv 1502.05736, in the folder; deep read pp.7-12.
2016R. Lalli, Robertson and Physical Review refereeing Notes Rec. R. Soc. 70(2):151-174; read on PMC.
2017P. J. E. Peebles, Robert Dicke and the naissance of experimental gravity physics Eur. Phys. J. H; discusses Ives-Stilwell and Ruderfer 1960. Search results only.
2019Study of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 'Relativity Criticism Group' Names Ives and Dingle among the group's sources (ResearchGate 327752597). Snippet only.
2020'Whittaker, Einstein, and the History of the Aether' (Sage) Describes Ives as 'a staunch antagonist of Einstein's person and his theories'. Snippet only.
2024'Herbert Ives: relativity, the aether, and theory choice' Essay at text.nxg.me.uk/2024/1; blocked (Chrome permission denied, HTTP 403).
2026'Secret Clocks: The US Military, Einstein's Relativity, and the GPS' HSNS 56(3):210; abstract read; Ives cited as early evidence only.
2026Wikipedia, Herbert E. Ives Saved page in the folder; digest. Birth 31 July 1882, death 13 November 1953.
n.d.Martin Gardner on the Hazelett-Turner book In The Colossal Book of Mathematics; a critic's account. Not opened.
n.d.H. Nieper, Revolution in Technik, Medizin, Gesellschaft Free-energy book citing the Ives volume (search snippet).
n.d.R. Sungenis et al., Galileo Was Wrong Geocentrist book citing the Ives volume (search snippet).
n.d.Optica history biography of Herbert E. Ives Saved page in the folder; digest.
n.d.Optica list of JOSA articles by early OSA presidents 66 Ives JOSA papers with ids.
n.d.Chappell Natural Philosophy Society wiki, Herbert E Ives and Lev A Pobedonostsev Dissident-science society wiki; bibliography, Hazelett-Turner details, Pobedonostsev papers 1991-95.
Records named but not yet examined (5)
1938Bell Laboratories project files on the canal-ray experiment Would explain why the work stops after Part II (1941). Not located.
1938Bell Laboratories Record 1938 issues as page images; NYT 8 May 1938 'A Mystery Deepens; Dr. Ives Revives Ether Controversy' Text search of the 1938 Record found nothing; the NYT URL returned 'Page Not Found'.
1938Princeton colloquium notes and Pauli correspondence Second source for Ives's hostile-reception account. Not located.
c.1938Science Service Records, RU007091 Smithsonian Institution Archives; may hold the April 1938 press copy. Finding aid not opened.
1974C. M. Will, Scientific American (cited by Ruderfer) Cited in Ruderfer's appendix; not obtained.
Left out: the project README, the review's own AI analyses, Ives's non-relativity colour-photography, lenticular and television papers (about 250 papers in all), his roughly 100 patents one by one, and textbook experiments (Michelson-Morley, Kennedy-Thorndike, Hughes-Drever) cited only as background. Full catalogue: Ives sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: For the dissent: an independent canal-ray or storage-ring repeat across 150-2,000 keV with the viewing-arm alignment measured. For the ether: only preferred-frame tests (Mansouri-Sexl parameters, Mossbauer rotor) could decide, and limits are null. For Ives's gravity postulate: a second-order test fixing kappa, or a binary-pulsar result derived from it.
Deciding records: Pobedonostsev-Parshin, Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 1989 no. 3 pp.84-99 with raw data; Ives, Rev. Sci. Instr. 9:283 (1938); a legal copy of JOSA 42:540 (1952) and the 1953 notes; citation indices for Phys. Rev. 72:229 and JOSA 38:413; the LoC MSS27508 container list; Robertson's and Bridgman's papers.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: Parts 1-5 show why the line centre moves by lambda0 beta^2/2, give 0.047 A at 18,350 V and refit the eight 1938 plates; Part 6 the 43 kV points of 1941; Part 7 Mercury's 43 arcsec and the one sixth from moving mass alone; Part 9 the ripple-tank ratios.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Ives matters to Moray as a credential: a Bell Laboratories experimenter whose experiments and theory leave a physical ether admissible. Ruderfer's next step, an ether whose energy may exceed that of matter, is his own: none of the 31 papers gives the ether energy that could be tapped. arbiter.md, The owner's questions
Contrarian A Lorentz ether adds no new force and no new prediction to Lorentz and Einstein; it supplies a different story (a physical medium, absolute time, real contractions) for the same measured numbers. Those who prefer the ether reading are choosing on grounds of physical picture, not data. contrarian.md, The owner's questions
Physicist His gravitation work is not a one-number fit: it is the exact Schwarzschild solution for a single static mass, re-derived in fixed-ether language, and he says himself it adds nothing measurable. Where he goes beyond that, the claim fails, was never tested, or is a definition. physicist.md, Bottom line for the reader
Mathematician The 43 arcseconds follows from the choice 'the Newtonian escape speed, exactly', not from the ether idea: with a second-order term kappa in the field the advance is (6 - kappa)/6 of the GR value. Ives states the exactness openly, so it is an input, not a fudge. mathematician.md, Claim 4a
Primer The 1941-42 ripple tank is Lorentz's ether in one picture: creatures built of ripples, whose rulers and clocks were wave patterns, could never detect their motion through the mercury, though an outsider sees it plainly. primer.md, section 4.9
AI noteRuderfer wants two things from the ether that pull apart: invisibility, to stay equivalent to relativity, and usable energy. A truly Lorentz-invariant vacuum energy offers no gradient to extract work from (arbiter, citing the Mathematician).
The founding papers of field theory, read on the page: twenty equations with two printed sign errors, a 5 percent light-speed match, and how Heaviside reduced them to four.
Invention / theory background
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) put Faraday's lines of force into mathematics through a fluid analogy (1855-56), identifying Faraday's electro-tonic state with what is now the vector potential A. His 1865 'Dynamical Theory' gave twenty equations in twenty variables, labelled (A) to (H), with displacement current and energy in the field, and identified light as an electromagnetic wave. Oliver Heaviside later recast them as four vector equations.
Ranking explanation
Ranked on influence (D): this is the reference point for every potential-based, scalar-wave and Weber-type theory in the collection, and the reader can check its sign errors and sunlight figure with a pencil. It has no anomaly resisted untested (A) and few open questions (B), so it sits well below Heaviside, which carries the resisted-then-vindicated story with primary records, and near Dunning-Davis-J and Becquerel-Henri, other influence-only or mainstream-history entries.
Key supporting elements
The 1865 count holds on the page images: six groups of three variables plus the free charge e and the scalar potential Psi make twenty; equations (A) to (F) give eighteen, (G) and (H) two (arbiter, mathematician).
Two independent measurements agreed: Weber and Kohlrausch's ratio of units, 310,740,000 m/s (3.65 percent above modern c), against Fizeau, Foucault and aberration speeds of light. Hertz's 1887-88 waves in air confirmed the identification (ETHW, web-checked).
The 1856 paper already contains B = curl A, interaction energy as the integral of A.J, and EMF = -(1/4 pi) dA/dt, with an explicit free gauge function; Maxwell calls only the identification with Faraday's electro-tonic state original.
Heaviside's four equations are in effect the repaired 1865 set: curl H = kE + eps dE/dt has matching signs. Hunt documents the 'murder of Psi' debate (1888), where FitzGerald wrote what was 'essentially a gauge condition'.
Maxwell's own coil check, the paper's only other theory-versus-measurement comparison: calculated self-inductance 430,165 m against a fitted 456,748 (+6.2 percent) and a rough balance 410,000 (-4.7 percent), a yardstick for 1860s error.
Key contradictions
As printed, (F) P = -rho p sends conduction current against the field and (G) has the wrong sign for positive charge, so total current has divergence -2 de/dt, and eq. (95) amplifies a wave his text calls 'weakened'.
The twenty are not independent: (H) follows from (A), (C) and (G) once signs are repaired, and A and Psi are fixed only up to a gauge, so 'twenty in twenty' is bookkeeping, not a well-posedness proof (mathematician).
His sunlight estimate, P = 60,000,000 units (about 600 V/m), is 1.6 times below what his own formula P = sqrt(8 pi mu V W) and input give (975 V/m); his Sun-surface values are about ten times low. Cause unknown.
Maxwell concedes that green light through Hockin's gold leaf (1/500 to 1/1000 transmitted, against about 10^-50 expected) 'cannot be reconciled with the electromagnetic theory of light' without an extra assumption about losses at light frequency.
The Heaviside history rests on one secondary source, Hunt (2012), which Belrose (2014) largely paraphrases; the Electrician cancellation's cause is Biggs's later hint, and the 1893 Royal Society rejection was a stated rigour objection.
User follow-ups (1)
Q06AnsweredWhat would Maxwell's longitudinal (scalar) terms look like in modern vector form, and why did Heaviside drop them? Maxwell's equations give no travelling longitudinal wave in an insulator; Heaviside kept the longitudinal laws and dropped only the potentials.
Maxwell's theory allows longitudinal solutions. Give the modern vector equivalent of his quaternion formulas for the longitudinal (scalar) part, as they would read if Heaviside had kept them. Explain why these terms had meaning for Maxwell and why Heaviside discarded them.
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-07 · 3 min web search
A06Maxwell's equations give no travelling longitudinal wave in an insulator, and he said so. But he left one door open, and Heaviside kept the longitudinal laws while dropping only the potentials.
Known
The 1865 paper has no quaternions; they first appear in the 1873 Treatise.
1865 §§98-99: the vector potential A splits into a transverse part and a longitudinal part grad(chi), with J = div A.
The longitudinal electric field in an insulator is static: "no disturbance depending on J can be propagated as a wave."
§100 leaves "normal vibrations" open if electricity had "a definite density".
Treatise Art. 616: chi is "not related to any physical phenomenon"; Maxwell sets div A = 0.
Heaviside kept the longitudinal physics as div D = rho and div B = 0. He dropped the potentials, which "did not locate the energy correctly", and quaternions, "antiphysical and unnatural".
Inferred
The terms mattered to Maxwell because the potentials were his primary quantities.
Elastic-solid light theories wrongly predicted longitudinal waves, so a transverse-only result was a point in his favour.
Plasma oscillations (1928-29) later realised his "electric fluid with density" case, in a medium.
Open
Treatise quotes are from Wikisource text, not checked against page images.
Source for Belrose's claim that Heaviside criticised Helmholtz's longitudinal waves.
Key equations
Maxwell (quaternion, 1873)
Modern vector form
Meaning
∇𝔄 = S.∇𝔄 + V.∇𝔄
−∇·A + ∇×A
scalar (longitudinal) plus vector (transverse) part
𝔅 = V.∇𝔄
B = ∇×A
transverse part
S.∇𝔄 = 0
∇·A = 0
Maxwell's choice (Coulomb gauge)
𝔈 = V.𝔊𝔅 − 𝔄̇ − ∇Ψ
E = v×B − ∂A/∂t − ∇φ
electric field
(1865 eq. 77)
E_L = −∇(φ + ∂χ/∂t) = −∇φ₀(x,y,z)
longitudinal field is static
(extended, if S kept)
∇·E = ρ/ε₀ − ∂S/∂t
S = ∇·A + (1/c²)∂φ/∂t; allows a longitudinal wave with B = 0
Key point: Did Heaviside throw away Maxwell's longitudinal physics?
Supports
He eliminated the potentials A and Psi; the Aharonov-Bohm effect later showed A has measurable effects.
Keeping S as a real field gives extended equations with a longitudinal vacuum wave (van Vlaenederen Koen review).
Contradicts
Maxwell himself found no longitudinal wave in an insulator and called chi physically empty.
Heaviside kept the longitudinal laws as div D = rho and div B = 0.
S can only be created where charge is not conserved.
B. J. Hunt, Oliver Heaviside: A first-rate oddity, Physics Today (2012)
Verdicts by claim (7 of 19 shown)
Claim
Verdict
Faraday's lines of force put in exact mathematical form through an incompressible-fluid analogy (1855-56)
Establishedas a mathematical representationNot testable as statedthe fluid itself, which Maxwell disclaims
Faraday's electro-tonic state is a vector function A with B = curl A and EMF from its rate of change
Establishedinduction law; loop integral of A by Aharonov-Bohm experimentsNot testable as statedA as a local physical entity, classicallyHistorically superseded but instructiveA as a state of a medium
Field energy and displacement current, as twenty equations in twenty variables (1865)
Establishedfield energy and displacement currentInternally inconsistentthe printed set, signs of (F) and (G); later repairedPlausible, untestedtwenty in twenty as a well-posed systemNot testable as statedenergy location beyond the total
Transverse waves travel at v, the ratio of units, which matches light, so light is electromagnetic
An all-pervading ethereal medium carries the field
Tested, not supportedmechanical ether with a detectable rest frameNot testable as statedundetectable Lorentz-type etherHistorically superseded but instructiveMaxwell's 1865 position
Heaviside's four vector equations and S = E x H; the real action is in the field
Establishedfour-equation form and S = E x H as a conservation lawNot testable as statedlocal location of energy flow
Heaviside was blocked by officials and journals, then vindicated
Establishedloading physics; Preece's 1887 block documented by Hunt; Electrician cause never establishedHistorically superseded but instructiveoperator calculus rigour objection, later resolved
Author of both papers reviewed: the 1855-56 fluid analogy and electro-tonic functions, and the 1865 twenty-equation field theory of light
Lived 13 June 1831 to 5 November 1879; elected first Cavendish Professor at Cambridge in March 1871 (Belrose). Read 'On Faraday's Lines of Force' to the Cambridge Philosophical Society in December 1855 and February 1856, and 'A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field' to the Royal Society on 8 December 1864.
Michael Faraday
Source of the lines of force and the electro-tonic state; credited by Maxwell with the electromagnetic theory of light 'in substance' in his 1846 'Thoughts on Ray Vibrations'
Not in the review files beyond his Experimental Researches, which supply every experimental reference in the 1856 paper, and the 1846 paper, which Maxwell says lacked only the speed datum.
Wilhelm Weber
Author of the rival velocity-dependent action-at-a-distance theory; with Kohlrausch, measured the ratio of units v = 310,740,000 m/s that gave Maxwell his light-speed match
Not in the review files. Maxwell calls Weber's theory 'exceedingly ingenious, and wonderfully comprehensive' and in 1856 'a really physical theory', objecting only to its 'mechanical difficulties'.
Oliver Heaviside
Recast Maxwell's equations as four vector equations in E and H (1884-85), eliminating the potentials A and Psi; found S = E x H shortly after Poynting
Self-taught, reclusive telegraph engineer (Hunt). His joint 1887 loading paper was blocked; Philosophical Magazine series 1888; FRS 1891; operator paper Part III rejected 1893; refused a Relief Fund grant 1894; government pension from 1896; died 3 February 1925.
Heinrich Hertz
Produced and detected electromagnetic waves in air in 1887-88, the decisive test of Maxwell's light theory; per Belrose, published a component-form 'clarification' of the equations in 1890
PhD Berlin 1880, post-doctoral work under Helmholtz, full professor at Karlsruhe 1885, died 1 January 1894 aged 36 (Belrose).
William Preece
Blocked the Heaviside brothers' April 1887 loading paper by refusing Arthur Heaviside clearance, declaring it worthless · Head of the Post Office telegraph engineers; had publicly justified an expensive iron-to-copper wire change in 1886-87 by the need to reduce inductance
Not in the review files beyond Hunt's account, which says he called self-induction a 'bete noire' to be eliminated from telephone circuits.
Bruce J. Hunt
Author of the 2012 Physics Today article that is the project's main source for the Heaviside history
Historian of physics; author of The Maxwellians (1991), which Belrose cites for Heaviside's dealings with FitzGerald, Lodge and Hertz.
John S. Belrose
Author of the 2014 article that paraphrases Hunt and adds an antenna-modelling case and the Heaviside-Helmholtz longitudinal-wave remark
Radio engineer, PhD Cantab, at the Cavendish in the 1950s, Technical Editor of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America (Belrose deep read).
Evidence / artifacts (67 of 70 listed, 96%)
Own works and inventions (3)
1855-12/1856-02On Faraday's Lines of Force Trans. Cambridge Philosophical Society vol. 10; 75-page scan. Parts I-II deep read with equations on page images (pp.13-54); Part III worked examples (pp.56-75) digest only.
1864-12-08A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field Phil. Trans. Royal Society vol. 155 (1865); Smithsonian/Dibner scan. pp.7-24 and 53-60 deep read; equations on page images pp.15-20, 29, 31-34, 47, 52; pp.25-28, 35-46, 48-51 digest only.
1873A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism Corrected the (G) sign, per Arthur via Wikipedia (arbiter web check); uses quaternion notation alongside components [memory]. Hunt says Heaviside recast the Treatise's twenty equations. Not examined.
Related work Maxwell built on or answered (16)
1839-1855Faraday, Experimental Researches in Electricity Art. 60 (electro-tonic state), art. 2836 (crystals) and every experimental reference in the 1856 paper.
1845Neumann's induction law Cited by Maxwell (1856 p.54); its vector-potential-like quantity is [memory: medium].
1846Faraday, 'Thoughts on Ray Vibrations' Maxwell (1865 p.14): sets forth transverse magnetic disturbances 'to the exclusion of normal ones'; 'the same in substance' as his theory, lacking only the speed.
1847Helmholtz, memoir on the Conservation of Force Method Maxwell used to derive the induction law from an energy balance (1856 p.50).
1847-1848W. Thomson, papers in the Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal Credited for the mathematics of the electro-tonic functions and the proof of Theorem IV (Jan. 1848).
1849Stokes, 'Dynamical Theory of Diffraction' Camb. Trans. vol. ix; 'similar expressions' credited by Maxwell (1856 p.55).
1851W. Thomson, memoir on Magnetism Phil. Trans. 1851 p.283; source of Maxwell's construction of a divergence-free field as a curl (1856 p.45).
before 1856Weber's electrodynamic force law (Weber-Neumann action at a distance) Printed by Maxwell in 1856 ('a really physical theory'); set aside in 1865 only for 'mechanical difficulties'.
1856Plucker and Tyndall on magnetic crystals Tyndall, Phil. Trans. 1856 p.237, cited with Faraday and Weber for anisotropic conduction of lines (1856 Part I).
1856-1861W. Thomson, Proc. Roy. Soc. June 1856 and June 1861 Inference that magnetisation involves motion in the medium; part of Maxwell's ether evidence (1865 p.9).
1856-1857Verdet, Comptes Rendus 1856 Faraday rotation reversed in paramagnetic solutions (perchloride of iron); Maxwell's ether evidence.
1859F. Jenkin on submarine cables British Association Reports 1859 p.248; electric absorption and residual charge, cited in 1865.
1890Hertz, 'clarification' of Maxwell's equations Per Arthur and Forfar via Belrose: mathematically equivalent to Heaviside's version, written in components; no Hertz paper cited, second-hand.
1884-01Poynting's energy-flux theorem Abstract January 1884, full paper later that year; Heaviside found S = E x H independently and learned of Poynting's only late 1885 (Hunt, Belrose).
1880sGibbs's vector form of the equations Reached independently of Heaviside, per Hunt (arbiter, claim 6).
undatedHelmholtz's electromagnetic theory allowing longitudinal waves One unsourced Belrose sentence: Heaviside criticised Helmholtz for it. The free-parameter detail is [memory: medium], not web-checked.
Experiments and replications by others (15)
before 1865Weber and Kohlrausch, ratio of electromagnetic to electrostatic units v = 310,740,000 m/s (+3.65 percent from modern c); capacitor discharge through a galvanometer. Said to be Weber's constant 439,450,000 / sqrt 2 (contrarian; the figure is [memory: medium]).
before 1865Fizeau's speed of light 314,858,000 m/s (+5.03 percent), as quoted by Maxwell.
before 1865Foucault's rotating-mirror speed of light 298,000,000 m/s (-0.60 percent); 5.7 percent from Fizeau's value.
before 1865Speed of light from stellar aberration 308,000,000 m/s (+2.74 percent), as quoted by Maxwell.
before 1865Foucault's heating of a rotating conductor Said in the 1856 Part III worked examples (digest only, p.75) to confirm the predicted heating.
before 1865Felici's induction experiments Maxwell says the facts behind his flywheel analogy rest on Faraday's and Felici's experiments.
1854Pouillet's solar measurements, as calculated by W. Thomson 83.4 ft-lb per second per square foot (1217 W/m^2), the input to Maxwell's sunlight estimate.
1864British Association coil, King's College: sixteen spinning-coil runs and an electric-balance measurement 313 windings, mean radius 0.158194 m; least-squares 456,748 m, rough balance 410,000 m against calculated 430,165 m. Page images pp.57-60.
before 1865Hockin's gold-leaf transmission measurement 1/500 to 1/1000 of green light through gold leaf against about 10^-50 expected (1865 p.52); Maxwell's conceded anomaly.
1887Michelson-Morley null ether-drift result Excludes a mechanical ether with a detectable rest frame (APS News, web-checked by the arbiter).
1887-1888Hertz's waves in air Generation and detection with reflection, refraction, polarisation and light-like speed (ETHW Milestone, web-checked); FitzGerald hailed it as the confirmation of Maxwell.
1888-03Lodge's Leyden-jar wire-wave experiments and lectures Electrician 21, 234 (1888). Parallel to Hertz and 'overshadowed' at Bath; Hunt does not say Lodge repeated Hertz.
1959-1960Aharonov-Bohm prediction and Chambers's observation Loop integral of A has measurable effects; later authors questioned Chambers's shielding (Wikipedia, arbiter-checked).
1986Tonomura's Aharonov-Bohm experiment Called the unambiguous test (Wikipedia, arbiter-checked).
1989-06C. E. Smith, 'Short Low Loss AM Antenna', station KVOK IEEE Trans. Broadcasting 35, pp. 237-244; measured data Belrose says his NEC-4D model matched 'quite effectively', with no numbers given.
Heaviside's works and letters (7)
1884-1885Heaviside's four vector equations and energy-flux theorem div(eE) = rho, curl E = -mu dH/dt, div(mu H) = 0, curl H = kE + eps dE/dt; potentials eliminated (Hunt).
1887-04Arthur and Oliver Heaviside, joint paper on adding inductance to telephone lines Intended for the Journal of the Society of Telegraph Engineers; blocked by Preece. Title not given by Hunt.
1887Heaviside's letters to the Electrician attacking Preece Declined by editor Biggs for fear of libel (Hunt).
1888Heaviside's Philosophical Magazine series on electromagnetic waves Accepted November 1887 with Thomson's help; ran through 1888 (Hunt).
1888Heaviside's letters to Lodge Hunt notes 10 and 12, including 24 Sept 1888 ('a serious matter to me last October'); primary letters not seen.
1891-1902Electrician series resumed, reprinted as three volumes From January 1891 (Hunt).
1893'On operators in physical mathematics', Parts I-III Royal Society; Parts I and II published, Part III refereed and rejected over divergent series (Hunt).
Patents and patent office (1)
1899Pupin's inductive-loading patent Sold to AT&T for $500,000; Heaviside never patented loading (Hunt).· Pupin and AT&T, commercial
Government records (3)
1886-1887Preece's public statements justifying the iron-to-copper wire change Cited by Hunt as reducing inductance, his 'bete noire'.· Post Office (Preece)
1887-04Post Office clearance refused for the joint loading paper Preece, Arthur Heaviside's superior, declared it worthless (Hunt, single secondary source).· Post Office (Preece)
1896Government pension to Heaviside 120 pounds a year, later 220 (Hunt).
Company and business records (3)
1887-10The Electrician: Biggs removed, Heaviside's series cancelled New editor said he found no one who read it; Biggs 'later hinted' his removal was over his support for Heaviside (Hunt).· The Electrician
1891Heaviside elected Fellow of the Royal Society Hunt.
1894Royal Society Relief Fund grant, refused Hunt.
Witness accounts and correspondence (5)
1888Lodge's second lecture praising Heaviside 'a masterly grasp of a most difficult theory ... eccentric, and in some respects repellant, writings' (Electrician 1888, via Hunt).
1888-09FitzGerald's Bath address hailing Hertz British Association meeting; Hunt calls it a presidential address (not web-checked).
1888-09FitzGerald's notebook on the 'murder of Psi' debate Wrote 'essentially a gauge condition': 'Very important ... Must be all in O. Heaviside' (Hunt note 14).
1888-09Published account of the Bath potentials debate 'everyone expressed regret at the absence of Mr. Heaviside' (Hunt note 15); Lodge-Preece debate on lightning protection at the same meeting.
1889-01Thomson's IEE presidential address praising Heaviside's propagation theory Hunt.
Later accounts and media (7)
1916Bromwich and Wagner: rigorous footing for the operational calculus Per Belrose; later van der Pol 1929 and the Laplace transform.
1988Nahin, 'Oliver Heaviside: Sage in Solitude' IEEE Press per Belrose (who misspells the author); Belrose's title copies it.
1991Hunt, 'The Maxwellians' Cornell University Press; named by the arbiter as the place to look for who repeated Hertz in 1888-89.
2012-11Hunt, 'Oliver Heaviside: A first-rate oddity' Physics Today 65(11), 48; doi 10.1063/PT.3.1788. Deep read pp.5-7; the project's main secondary source.
2012Arthur and Forfar, 'The Changing Notation of Maxwell's Equations' James Clerk Maxwell Foundation newsletter, Autumn 2012; quoted by Belrose on Hertz 1890.
2014-03Belrose, 'Oliver Heaviside -- a first rate oddity -- sage in solitude' Proceedings of the Radio Club of America; deep read pp.5-8; NEC-4D umbrella-antenna case and Heaviside-Helmholtz remark.
undatedWikipedia, 'A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field' Arbiter's web source for the (G) sign error and its correction in the Treatise (citing Arthur).
Records named but not yet examined (7)
1854W. Thomson, 'Mechanical Energies of the Solar System' Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh; arbiter: check his foot-pound convention to explain Maxwell's factor 1.6 in sunlight.
1863British Association Committee Report on the spinning-coil method BA Reports 1863 p.169, by which Maxwell reduced the coil data.
1865Another printing of the 1865 paper Arbiter: to test whether the Sun-surface values (about ten times low) are a misprint.
1873Page images of the Treatise equations Arbiter: to date the correction of (G) and see whether (F) was repaired.
1887The Electrician editorial records and Post Office correspondence Arbiter: the only way past Biggs's hint and Hunt's single account.
1999-03Belrose, 'Umbrella Top Loaded Antennas', ACES Review, pp. 463-467 Holds the numbers behind his NEC-4D comparison.
2001-04Belrose, 'Radiation Characteristics of an Electrically Small MF Broadcast Antenna', IEE Conf. Pub. 480 pp. 90-94; the other source for the comparison.
Left out: three items cited only in Belrose's addendum (Geselowitz 2013, a Longair email, a Hugh Griffiths quote); tests known only from model memory and not web-checked (Kennedy-Thorndike, Ives-Stilwell, Lecher, Drude) and textbooks cited for teaching do not qualify. No Investigator run has been made for this project. Full catalogue: Maxwell sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: None pending for the central physics: Hertz (1887-88) settled the light identification and the sign errors are settled by calculation. Open: a modern recalculation of the Weber-Kohlrausch and Fizeau errors, to show whether the 1865 agreement was earned or lucky.
Deciding records: Page images of the 1873 Treatise equations (dating the (F) and (G) repairs); Thomson's 1854 solar-energy paper and another printing of the 1865 paper (the sunlight factors); Electrician 1887 editorial records and Post Office correspondence; Hunt's The Maxwellians; Belrose's 1999 and 2001 antenna papers.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: Part A gives the 1865 speed percentages, Part B shows the printed (F) sign amplifies a wave (factor 1.368 per wavelength) where Ohm's sign damps it (0.731), Part D redoes the sunlight field (975 against printed 600 V/m). By hand: take the divergence of (C) with (A), (G), (H) as printed.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter The field content of the twenty reduces to Heaviside's four vector equations plus constitutive relations; (H) follows from the others once signs are repaired; the potentials carry gauge freedom. The minimal repair of the printed set is two sign flips, (F) and (G), not one. arbiter.md, Disagreements 1 and 2
Contrarian The twenty include constitutive relations (Ohm, elasticity) and equation (D) with the motional EMF, so they are not a four-equation set in disguise; Heaviside's four are the curl and divergence subset. contrarian.md, Corrections to Step 1, item 3
Primer No quaternions in 1865: the paper is written in Cartesian components. What eliminating the potentials loses is only the gauge-dependent part of A; its physically meaningful remainder, the loop integral, is still carried by B. primer.md, 4.1 Maxwell's twenty equations versus Heaviside's four
Mathematician Equation (D) contains the velocity of a moving conductor with no stated reference body, so the equations are not Galilean invariant and implicitly hold in one preferred frame; Lorentz and Einstein, not Maxwell or Heaviside, resolved this. arbiter.md, Claim 5; primer.md 4.3
Primer Maxwell says only transverse vibrations propagate; normal (longitudinal) ones would need a density for an 'electric fluid', for which 'we have, however, no evidence', so both sciences 'are at a loss' to affirm or deny them. The reference point for scalar-wave claims elsewhere. primer.md, 4.5 Cross-references
AI noteMaxwell himself credited Faraday's 1846 'Thoughts on Ray Vibrations' with the electromagnetic theory of light 'in substance'; and the number that gave him light's speed came from Weber, the rival theory he set aside.
Rank 5Tesla
no changeA - UntestedB - Open questionC - TestableD - InfluentialPrimer · Arbiter · Sites log · SourcesCard updated 2026-10-08
Tesla's own 1899 diary records a storm-night signal he read as standing waves in the earth; it was never repeated, while his loss-free global power fails on measured losses.
Invention / theory background
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) built the polyphase induction motor and AC power system, the high-frequency Tesla coil and resonant wireless lighting. From Colorado Springs (1899-1900) and Wardenclyffe (1901-1917) he pursued a World System: ring the earth as a tuned circuit so receivers anywhere draw power. Around it sit his 1900 'self-acting engine', the bladeless disc turbine (1906-1913), the 1930s 'teleforce' beam and the papers sealed at his death in January 1943.
Ranking explanation
Meets all four criteria: an unrepeated storm-night observation in his own diary (A); open questions the arbiter left unsettled, from the 1943 papers and Wright Field photostats to the Allis-Chalmers report (B); guide loss, steam efficiency and coil resonance the reader can recompute (C); and deep influence on Moray, Bearden, TernionAG and the scalar-wave literature (D). More of its claims are settled, Established or refuted by calculation, than Morray-TH's or TernionAG's, but its open points are unusually well documented.
Key supporting elements
Tesla's diary for the night of 3 July 1899 records a receiver that kept responding at about half-hour intervals as a storm retreated beyond 200 miles: 'It showed clearly the existence of stationary waves'. Never repeated, never disproved by experiment.
His 1900 patent filing (US 787,412) gives the earth a lowest resonance near 'six per second'; the earth-ionosphere cavity rings at about 7.8 Hz. The Notes' editor quotes J. R. Wait (1974): 'an intriguing similarity' to ELF communications.
The resonant engineering is Established: polyphase motor, Tesla coil, wireless lighting, single-wire power, low-frequency signalling round the globe. The Corums' reconstruction finds his 1899 receivers 'more than adequate' for natural VLF signals.
The disc turbine runs: Lowenstein's sworn 1911 tests (102.8 bhp, Prony brake, condensate weighed) and later rigs (Hoya and Guha 2009, about 25 per cent), whose authors blame much of the shortfall on the nozzle, not the rotor.
Military interest in his papers is documented: 1945 photostats of the Trump-annotated exhibits sent to Wright Field and 'never returned' (Cheney quoting OAP letters), a 1981 Defense Department memo, and a 1983 FBI airtel on alleged Soviet access.
Key contradictions
Measured guide loss (2-3 dB per 1,000 km at VLF) leaves 10^-4 to 10^-6 of the power at the antipode; 1 MW sent reaches a 1 km^2 collector 10,000 km away as 3.6 mW. 'Almost without loss' fails by calculation.
In June 1900 Tesla had 'not as yet actually effected a transmission ... to a great distance'; in 1916 his Colorado receivers were 'Oh, 10 miles or so', longest signal about 30 miles. O'Neill's 26-mile, 200-lamp test cites no source.
His '18 million horsepower' was, by his own 1916 account, condenser energy discharged 'in an inconceivably small interval': his antenna store (550-660 pF at 4 MV) holds 4.4-5.3 kJ, about 0.3-0.4 microseconds at 13.4 GW.
His 1900 sink argument says 'what is converted is clear gain'; a Carnot calculation (300 K ambient, 77 K sink) shows restoring the sink costs exactly the work gained. Nichelson's bifilar 'voltage gain' rests on transmission ratios below 1.
The turbine test figures recompute to about 25-52 per cent of ideal expansion, against the 80-90 per cent Tesla stated; Allis-Chalmers (Dahlstrand, as quoted by O'Neill) reported about 38 per cent, with disc distortion.
User follow-ups (1)
Q19AnsweredAsked whether Tesla's lamps lit on short-circuiting copper bars (the hairpin) show Moray-style load adaptation, who named it, and whether underwater lighting survives salt water. Tesla matched lamps to bar positions, Karl Palsness named it in 2008, and no measured salt-water test exists.
Tesla's 'stout copper bar' experiments, which newer researchers call the 'Tesla hairpin' circuit: lamps short-circuited by a thick bent bar light from a spark discharge (1891 AIEE lecture, Inventions, Researches and Writings pp.194-195, Figs. 128-129), and lamps of different voltages burn properly in parallel on two stout bars (On Light, 1893, pp.36-37, Fig. 19a). Experimenters have lit nightlights and larger bulbs, even bulbs submerged in water. Is this 'adaptation to the load' (compare Moray's 'the draft of the current is adapted to the load')? Who named it the hairpin (Lindemann?) and what do modern replications measure? Does the underwater result survive in salt water, where mains AC would short?
Asked 2026-10-08 · answered 2026-10-08 · 5 min web search
A19Not Moray-style adaptation: Tesla fitted each lamp to its position on the bars, an adjustable inductive tap. The name traces to Karl Palsness (2008), not Lindemann; replications are mostly qualitative; no measured salt-water test was found.
Known
IRW pp.194-195: lamps shunting a thick bent bar light 'although they are short-circuited'.
On Light pp.36-37: different-voltage lamps burn in parallel only 'by carefully determining the positions'.
Earliest 'Hairpin Circuit': Palsness, Energetic Forum, 27 Dec 2008; Atlantis Rising No. 77 (2009) says he chose it; Lindemann only endorsed.
Kraakman's replication: four lamp types lit together after adjustment; counter 45-60 kHz; no nodes; no power measurements.
Palsness lit lamps in tap water (2009); Manning (2026) reports a photo of lamps held under salt water, unmeasured.
Inferred
Bar voltage V = L dI/dt: about 36 ohms per metre at 5 MHz and hundreds of amperes give hundreds of volts between clamps.
Reading A: position matching on a soft source, the opposite of Moray's one-lamp-or-fifty claim.
Reading B: a resonant circuit sharing stored energy among matched loads resembles Moray's capture, but nothing shows output above input.
Tap water barely loads a lamp, on mains too; salt water (about 20 ohms) should dim a lamp on the bars, while mains keeps it lit but drives large water current.
Open
A lamp with bare leads in fresh and 3.5% salt water, on the bars and on limited mains, measuring brightness and current.
Lamp voltages and input power as lamps are added; pre-2008 uses of 'hairpin'; the 2018 Liberty University poster.
Key point: Do the bars adapt to the load as Moray claims?
Supports
Several different-voltage loads run at once from one source.
Contradicts
Positions need careful adjustment; changing lamp order defeats it.
Key point: Does underwater lighting show non-ordinary current?
Supports
Lamps stay lit in tap water, and reportedly salt water, with no shock.
Contradicts
Mains does the same in tap water; no salt-water test gives concentration or brightness.
The inventor reviewed: polyphase AC, the Tesla coil, the World System, the disc turbine and teleforce · Raising money for Wardenclyffe (1899-1904) and later; seeking priority against Marconi
Born 1856; studied at the Real Gymnasium and at Graz; conceived the rotating field in Budapest in 1882; worked for Edison, then licensed his motor patents to Westinghouse. Lectured on high-frequency currents 1891-93, ran Colorado Springs 1899-1900 and Wardenclyffe from 1901; died in New York in January 1943.
Fritz Lowenstein
Tesla's assistant at Colorado Springs, named in 1904 as having made 'similar observations' of the 3 July 1899 effect; author of the sworn 1911 turbine test report · Tesla's associate
Gave Tesla's turbine test tables (102.8 bhp at 53.4 lb of steam per bhp-hour; 77 hp at 35 lb) with Professor Richards keeping the record. No account of his own 1899 observations has been found.
John J. O'Neill
First biographer (Prodigal Genius, 1944); source of the 26-mile, 200-lamp test, the Dahlstrand quotation and the claim that FBI agents took the papers · Friend and admirer
Journalist and friend of Tesla who wrote with his cooperation. Names no source for the 26-mile test; concedes records of the priority claims 'are not available'; his voltages are 5-10 times Tesla's own figures.
John G. Trump
Examined Tesla's papers in January 1943 and abstracted Exhibits A-Q, including the teleforce and Amtorg items · Government evaluator judging wartime value
NDRC/OSRD scientist. Judged the papers 'speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional' with nothing of 'significant value' or hazard; the only scientist known to have assessed them. His full report is not online.
Hans Dahlstrand
Allis-Chalmers engineer who reported the 500 kW disc-turbine trial · Manufacturer that tried and dropped the machine
Consulting Engineer of the Steam Turbine Department at Allis-Chalmers. Reported about 38 per cent mechanical efficiency, disc distortion and a need for gearing; known only through O'Neill's quotation.
Aleksandar Marincic
Editor of the 1978 Colorado Springs Notes; quotes Wait and Jackson on Tesla's earth resonance and lists Tesla's errors · Tesla Museum, which published the Notes
Wrote the scientific commentary of the Nolit, Beograd, edition. Says Tesla's expected resonances lie at much lower frequencies, in the earth-ionosphere cavity rather than the earth, and that high voltage was not needed.
James F. Corum and Kenneth L. Corum
Reconstructed Tesla's 1899 receivers; propose a Jovian origin for his 1899 signals; authors in Valone's anthology · Founders of Viziv Technologies and co-inventors on CPG guided-surface-wave patents
Tesla-coil researchers. Their 2003 papers describe an RF-biased coherer with negative resistance in the 8-22 kHz range; their 1984 table gives earth-ionosphere cavity Q of 3.8-7.8 (accepted) and 3.2-6.4 (from Tesla).
Oliver Nichelson
Advocate of a Tesla 'fuelless generator' (unipolar dynamo, bifilar coil); author of the 1990 voltage-gain measurement · Advocate; says commercialisation was blocked by industry
Presented 'Nikola Tesla's Later Energy Generation Designs' at the 26th IECEC (1991), calling it speculation; measured two 43-turn coils with M. King at Eyring Corp. in December 1990.
Evidence / artifacts (178 of 184 listed, 97%)
Own works and inventions (41)
1888'A New System of Alternate Current Motors and Transformers', AIEE paper The rotating-field reasoning, synchronising and torque motors, polyphase transformer. Printed in Martin 1894, Part I; digest.
1889'Notes on a Unipolar Dynamo' Printed with the unipolar-dynamo chapters in Martin 1894, Part III; the machine Nichelson reads as Tesla's first fuelless design. Digest.
1891Exchange with J. J. Thomson on electrodeless discharge Electrostatic against electromagnetic explanation; Martin 1894 pp.417-430. Digest only; the deep read recommended by QE was not run.
1891-05-20'Experiments with Alternate Currents of Very High Frequency', AIEE lecture, Columbia College Infinite energy stored in the ether; electrodeless tubes; lamps lit across thick bars; energy 'in some more direct way from the medium' as a possibility. Whole text deep read (Opus). No 'wheelwork' passage in it.
1892London and Paris lecture ('wheelwork of nature') Printed in Martin 1894 (printed p.236, PDF p.261): 'a question of time when men will attach their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature'. Digest.
1892-12-21'On the Dissipation of the Electrical Energy of the Hertz Resonator', letter to the Electrical Engineer Reply to Bjerknes: air carries off energy as 'electric sound waves'; loss assumed to go as surface density squared times frequency, 'quantitative determinations' lacking. The word 'longitudinal' does not appear. Deep read.
1893'On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena', Franklin Institute and NELA lecture Proposes disturbing 'the electrostatic condition of the earth' to send 'intelligible signals or perhaps even power to any distance'; resonant rise 50-fold from 1,000 V. Separate PDF plus Martin 1894 (deep read pp.341-416).
1893Mechanical and electrical oscillators, Chicago World's Fair Martin 1894 pp.505-520, digest only; Tesla said in 1900 the free-piston oscillator was the first element of his self-acting engine programme.
1896X-ray (Roentgen) letters and shadowgraphs Letters in Tesla Said (digest). Known shadowgraphs date to 1896, after Roentgen's 8 Nov 1895 announcement; Crookes-tube work from 1894 and the 13 March 1895 laboratory fire are reported [web, arbiter].
1896-03-08'Earth Electricity to Kill Monopoly', The World An early earth-power statement before Colorado; listed in the Tesla Museum bibliography (no. 14); text not read.
1897-04-06Lecture before the New York Academy of Sciences An Anderson-edited text exists on archive.org; not opened (time limit).
1898-1899Submarine-destroyer articles and the 1899 Electrical Review account Tesla Said, chronological compilation; digest.
1899-1900Colorado Springs Notes 1899-1900 (laboratory diary; Nolit, Beograd, 1978) Read: 3-4 July 1899 ('It showed clearly the existence of stationary waves'); 24 and 30 July and 26 August arrester-spark entries (Tesla asks whether induction through the air, not earth conduction, causes them); 6 August water-pipe item omitted, only '550 feet' given; 1 January 1900 loop lamps about 60 ft away and 2 January lamps fed through the ground (distance unstated); '300,000 W set in movement'; 'feasibility ... almost beyond any doubt'. Not read: 3-7 January text, 3 July 'signals' entries. research/files.
1900-06'The Problem of Increasing Human Energy', Century Magazine Sink argument: 'what is converted is clear gain' (p.21) beside 'cannot hope to produce a self-acting machine ... for a long time yet' (p.22); his second law drops Kelvin's 'coldest', and his thermopile to outer space is an ordinary two-reservoir engine; 200 lb casting 'offset by an equal loss of the producer'; effects to about 600 miles; 'not as yet actually effected a transmission ... to a great distance' (p.32). pp.15-24 deep read; pp.15-33 read from the text layer.· Tesla, seeking funds or priority
1901-02-09'Talking with Planets', Collier's Weekly Colorado signals 'with such a clear suggestion of number and order'; 'could not decipher their meaning'; 'the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another'. Does not say numbers. Tesla Said deep read.
c.1901-1904World System prospectus Magnifying transmitter 'passed a current, sufficient to light more than 200 incandescent lamps, around the Globe'; 'a loss not exceeding a few per cent'. Known as O'Neill's quotation (pp.182-184).· Tesla, promotional document
1902Letter to R. U. Johnson on a fuelless generator Prompted by a New York Herald clipping of 9 June 1902 about Clemente Figueras; known through Nichelson's 1991 paper.
1904-03-05'The Transmission of Electrical Energy Without Wires', Electrical World and Engineer Account of 3 July 1899: maxima 'in regularly recurring intervals' as the storm retreated to about 300 km; Lowenstein made 'similar observations'; power 'to any terrestrial distance and almost without loss'; 'ten million horse-power' of activity. Scan and transcription in research/files. Also in the 1904 Rankine file: a first 10,000 hp plant at 'one hundred million volts'.· Tesla, seeking funds or priority
1904-12Frank G. Carpenter interview 'With my transmitter I actually sent electrical vibrations around the world and received them again'. Known through the Corums' chapter in Valone (p.192).
1904-1905Kelvin fuel debate and 1905 World System articles Tesla Said: loss 'a small fraction of one per cent' over 12,000 miles; earth period 'twelve times a second'; 10,000 hp ready 'next fall'; stationary wave lengths of 25-70 km (Reply to Edison, p.95). Deep read.· Tesla, seeking funds or priority
1907'Tidal Wave' article and Mars-signalling articles Tesla Said deep read: 75,000 hp arc plant and a printed ratio of 16,400,000,000 that recomputes to 1.64e13.
1907Tesla-Poulsen priority letters Includes John Stone Stone's testimony that Tesla first saw the role of the upper atmosphere (Tesla Said pp.104-105, 182-183). Digest.
1907-06-21Letter: 'one hundred amperes around the globe' Printed 23 June 1907 (Tesla Said p.111); no voltage, frequency or method given.
1912'Disturbing Influence of Solar Radiation' Tesla Said; digest.
1915Statement that a voice was projected across the globe in 1899 Tesla Said pp.136-137; no laboratory record of it in the pages read.
1916Legal interview with his patent counsel (ed. L. I. Anderson, 1992) '18 million horsepower activities' were condenser energy 'discharged in an inconceivably small interval'; antenna 500-600 cm at 3.5-4 MV, 1,000 A; Colorado receivers 'Oh, 10 miles or so'; longest signal about 30 miles (Houston Street to West Point, before 1897); the field coil 'I cannot tell you' where; Long Island 'not yet quite ready'. Interview with counsel for patent litigation, not sworn. Ch. VI and Appendix III deep read. research/files.
1917Edison Medal speech Efficiency 'as high as 96 or 97 per cent'; known through O'Neill.
1919'My Inventions' autobiography (as The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, c.1935 booklet; Penner transcription 1995) Budapest 1882 rotating field; Magnifying Transmitter and World System; 187-foot tower; 'about 100,000,000 volts' in 1893; the automaton theory. Text and PDF copies are one work. Digest.
1919-02'Famous Scientific Illusions', Electrical Experimenter Moon's rotation, Franklin's rod, wireless by 'true conduction'; Kelvin converted 1897; (1/4)^30 of 1000 kW printed as 115 billionth of a watt (about 0.9 pW); ground-current speed c/sin(theta). All pages deep read as images; web copy is the same work.
1919-10-12New York Herald interview on planetary signals Signals 'might have come from Mars' (Tesla Said pp.226-228).
1921Electrical World letter on signals from Mars 'A regular repetition of numbers' that 'must have emanated from Mars'; also ascribes others' 1919-21 signals to transmitter undertones. Tesla Said.
1925-1942Writings abstracted by Trump: Exhibit F 'New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy through Natural Media' Electrostatic generator and open-ended vacuum tube projecting particles, 'presumably electrons'. Abstract only (FBI file 2, pp.43-48); full text not seen.
1925-1942Exhibit J 'A Method of Producing Powerful Radiations' (Tesla's hand) Only description: a fluid jet creating 'a vacuous space around a terminal'. Trump abstract only.
1927Statement of a test with a 1,500 kW generator Current 'returning from the antipodes to its origin with undiminished strength'; the Corums elsewhere give 250 kW. Via Valone ch.12, p.194.
1929Herald Tribune interview Reporter's paraphrase: Tesla 'transmitted a considerable amount of electrical current to the other side of the earth' at Colorado. Tesla Said.
1931'Our Future Motive Power' and a sea-and-earth heat power plant Tesla Said and Hayes; digest.
1931-07-10Brooklyn Eagle: 'I have harnessed the cosmic rays' With New York American, 1 Nov 1933; no device or description. Known through Tutt (Valone ch.3).
1934'Possibilities of Electro-Static Generators' Tesla Said; digest.
1934-07Teleforce press statements and Tesla's July 1934 letter NYT 11 July 1934 ('10,000 planes 250 miles away', cited by Ventura); letter: 'Rays of the requisite energy cannot be produced ... Not so the agent I employ' (O'Neill pp.209-215).
1937-1938Prepared statement and Immigrant Welfare text 'Dynamic theory of gravity'; energy 'flashed through interstellar space to any distance without the slightest dispersion'; prize claim to the French Academy. Tesla Said p.281; O'Neill pp.214-215.
1899-12-08Statement to the North American (Philadelphia) on the century's achievements Sent at I. Hawthorne's request and copied into the Colorado Springs Notes: the 'intelligent beings on a neighbouring planet' passage. A press statement, not a laboratory draft; that day's lab work has nothing on signals.
Patents and patent office (26)
1885-1886Arc lamp and dynamo regulator patents (US; CA 24,348) Collected US patents, digest; Canadian patent from the Google Patents search.
1888Polyphase and induction motor patents, US 381,968-382,282 The rotating-field system; Established by practice (arbiter claim 7).
1889US 406,968 Dynamo Electric Machine (unipolar) Two disks in opposite fields joined by a belt; no output figures. Separate PDF and in the collection; assignor of two-thirds to Peck and Brown.
1889-1890Thermomagnetic motor and pyromagnetic generator patents Collected patents and Martin 1894; digest.
1891US 447,921 high-frequency alternator; US 454,622 System of Electric Lighting; 455,069 Collected patents, digest.
1893Power-transmission patents, US 487,796 and 511,559-511,916 Collected patents, digest.
1894Reciprocating engine and oscillator patents, US 514,169, 517,900 (and 514,167-514,173) Collected patents, digest.
1894-01-09US 512,340 Coil for Electro-Magnets (bifilar coil) Built-in capacitance to neutralise self-induction; (50/0.1)^2 = 250,000 energy ratio; claims the purpose only, no gain. Deep read with page image; OCR prints 512,840.
1896-1897High-frequency apparatus patents, US 568,176-568,180, 577,670, 583,953; US 593,138 Electrical Transformer 593,138 is reprinted in Lindemann's appendix. Digest.
1896-1898British patents GB 1896/20981, GB 1897/24421, GB 1898/12866 Production of electrical currents; transmission systems (possible family of 645,576/649,621); circuit controllers. Titles from Google Patents.
1898Circuit controllers US 609,245-613,735 and telautomaton US 613,809 Radio control; Swiss family member CH 18652 (1898). Digest.
1900US 649,621 apparatus for transmission of electrical energy 'True conduction', quarter-wave coils. Deep read.
1900-03-20US 645,576 transmission through the natural media (air conduction) Terminals at 30,000-35,000 ft with 15-20 MV; 'model plant' 0.04 uF, 50 kV, 230-250 kHz; no energy budget. Deep read.
1900-06-15Austrian patent AT 9098 (insulating conductors) Google Patents title only.
1901US 685,012 liquid-air cooled resonators; US 685,953-685,956 stored-energy receivers Deep read pp.349-406.
1901US 685,957 and 685,958 apparatus and method for utilising radiant energy Charging a condenser from rays or particles; no rate or voltage. Reprinted by Lindemann. Deep read.
1901-06-01GB 1901/11293 utilisation of radiant energy Abstract: impulses through the natural media, one terminal to earth and one to an elevated body; probable family of 685,957/958. Espacenet original not viewed.
1901-07GB 1901/13563 and AT 16480 transmission of electrical energy AT 16480 (German text): two primaries 'almost in resonance' with secondaries, toothed disc, earth plate. GB has no text on Google.
1903US 723,188 and 725,605 (signalling) 'More than one hundred receivers' operated selectively; influence 'many hundreds of miles'. 723,188 incomplete: PDF p.415 duplicates p.414, claims missing.
1905-04-17FR 354,791 'Perfectionnements dans la transmission de l'energie electrique' Same title as 787,412; possible counterpart, not confirmed; original not viewed.
1905-04-18US 787,412 Art of Transmitting Electrical Energy Through the Natural Mediums Filed 16 May 1900. Earth of 'inappreciable resistance'; lowest 'six per second'; 0.08484 s; 471,240 km/s = (pi/2)c; wave lengths 25-70 km; checked on page image p.425. Cited by 431 later patents.
1909-1921Foreign turbine and other patents: AT 60332 (1909), FR 515388 (1913), FR 540616/540617 (1916), GB 186,082, GB 174,544, FR 549,259-549,261, FR 541113, FR 549628 (1921) Disc machine, fountains, valvular conduit, lightning rods, the 1921 turbine set, balancing, air transport. Titles only.
1913US 1,061,142 and 1,061,206 fluid propulsion and turbine Disk runner using adhesion and viscosity. Collected patents and Hayes.
1914US 1,119,732 apparatus for transmitting electrical energy 'Tens and even hundreds of thousands of horse-power' in a resonating circuit; about preventing leakage. Deep read.
1914-1928Later US patents: speed indicators and meters (Waltham Watch Co.), lightning protector 1,266,175, valvular conduit 1,329,559, aerial transportation 1,655,113-4 Collected patents, digest; 1,113,716 and 1,209,359 noted briefly in the deep read.
undatedCanadian patents CA 29537, 30172, 33317 Power transmission and current conversion; titles only.
Court and state records (3)
1904-1922Waldorf-Astoria (Boldt) v. Tesla, Wardenclyffe foreclosure and appeal (NY Supreme Court, Appellate Division, 2nd Dept) Mortgages to Boldt 1904 and 1908; action 1915; judgment 20 April 1922. Appendix III extracts read: Tesla's plant description (100 x 100 ft building, 400 hp engine, 187 ft tower, 'loss of not more than five per cent'; pp.163-181), Bingham's account of an open, rifled building with 'four truckloads' of papers on the floor (pp.235-247); full transcript not seen.
1915-04-08Defendants' Exhibit B: bill of sale, William N. Hallock to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Company Schedule 'including but not limited to': 200 kW alternator, two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, four lathes, '4 high-tension transformers in tanks', two submarine boats; no oscillator, condenser bank or coil. Counts differ from Tesla's 1922 memory; who drew it up is not stated. Transcript pp.309-312.· Conveys chattels to the creditor
1943-06-21Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. v. United States, 320 U.S. 1 Marconi four-circuit claim invalid; the Court did not decide who invented radio; summaries say Lodge and Stone were decisive. Opinion text could not be opened (HTTP 403).
Government records (15)
1925Bureau of Standards decline of Flowers's proposal (H. L. Curtis, J. H. Dillinger) Known only from Valone quoting Exotic Research Report (July 1999); no Bureau reply quoted.
1940-1983FBI file 100-2237 on Nikola Tesla (1998 FOIA release, two PDFs, 265 pp.) Redacted; pp.1-60 and 70-133 of part 1, pp.1-60 of part 2 deep read. The FBI says it never held the papers; it has a stake in O'Neill's claim that it did.· FBI
1943-01FBI teletypes and Hoover memo of 11 Jan 1943 Safe opened 7 or 8 Jan by Kosanovic, Clark and Swezey (a testimonial book and three photographs taken); Washington told New York to approach the State's Attorney and Surrogate Court.· FBI
1943-01-09Office of Alien Property Custodian seals Tesla's effects About two truckloads at Manhattan Storage (Gorsuch and a Fitzgerald); recorded in the FBI file.
1943-01-30John G. Trump's report and abstracts of Exhibits A-Q 'Speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional'; nothing 'of significant value' or hazardous; abstracts read in FBI file 2 (pp.43-48); the full report is not online.· Government evaluator (NDRC/OSRD)
1945FBI informant report placing Pvt Bloyce Fitzgerald at Wright Field FBI file 2.
1945-10FBI memos: 75 boxes and trunks still sealed; Wright Field men ask for access Rent about $15 a month paid for Kosanovic; a former protege and two men from a Wright Field research unit referred to the Custodian; the file does not say whether they saw the effects.
1950sFBI review of Manhattan Storage records Only recorded visit: 'Federal authorities' in January 1943 who 'had taken numerous photographs' (possibly microfilm).
1957-07-25FBI New York memo on a 'Tesla Set' newsletter Contains the FBI's paraphrase 'wall of force' for the 1934-40 teleforce claims.
1960-12-06FBI memo on a caller doing 'a research study for U. S. Air Force on subject of geophysics' Told O'Neill's FBI statement was untrue; referred to OAP. Earlier dated 1959 in error.
1981-02-09DoD memo 'Papers Recovered on the Death of Nicola Tesla' (Lt Col Allan J. MacLaren, OUSD R&E) Papers 'may contain basic principles which would be of considerable value to certain ongoing research within the DoD'.
1981-03FBI replies to the Defense Department Examined by OAP, OSRD, ONI and NRL; nothing of 'significant value'; the two letters disagree on release to Kosanovic (Feb 1943) or storage in 1945.· FBI
1983-08-18SAC Cincinnati SECRET airtel (Wright-Patterson AFB, Foreign Technology Division) Staff ('Butler', Soviet beam weapons) seek Tesla papers because the Soviets 'allegedly' had access; none found in WPAFB libraries.
2003FBI Vault, Nikola Tesla Parts 01-03 About 354 page objects against 265 pp. in the folder; Part 03 (Final) not read. Measured in Chrome, not saved.
undatedFBI 'List of persons associated with Nikola Tesla' Unsigned; includes O'Neill's report that the British approached Tesla through Baldwin and Chamberlain, range 200-250 miles. OCR poor.
Company and business records (7)
1904Kerr, Page & Cooper opinion on Tesla's patents Known only from Tesla's covering letter to Rankine: 'you will see that they are controlling' is Tesla's reading of the enclosed statement, and 'not less than $5,000,000' is his own sentence. The opinion's text is not in the saved scan; the catalogue lists the firm's reply.· Tesla's characterisation, soliciting money
1904-01-01Circular listing Tesla's US patents In the Smithsonian 'Nikola Tesla papers' scan (research/files).
1904-04-19Tesla to William Birch Rankine on financing Wardenclyffe Plant 'could now be finished in three to four months'; $100,000 needed; 'ten thousand dollars a day'; the Nikola Tesla Company 'has no liabilities'; investors 'about seven times' their money in the worst case; Morgan and Astor interests; Tesla Electric & Manufacturing Company ($5,000,000) shelved. Deep read.· Tesla, raising money
c.1912-1913Allis-Chalmers 500 kW disc-turbine trial (Hans Dahlstrand report) 60-inch rotor, 3,600 rpm, about 38% 'mechanical efficiency' (definition unstated), disc distortion, gearing needed. Known only from O'Neill's quotation; no original found.· Manufacturer
1935-04-20Tesla-Amtorg Trading Corporation agreement (Trump Exhibit Q) $25,000 for plans: 50 million volts, 'very small particles in a tube open to air', 100 miles or more, at least 350 miles per second. Abstract only; no Soviet reply in the file.
c.1990s'Tesla Pumps Generating Sales in the Multi-Millions' (unsigned, in Hayes) Promotional; no sales or test data.· Promotional
n.d.Westinghouse contract ($1,000,000 and royalty waiver) O'Neill's account; also 133 Hz changed to Tesla's 60 Hz (Penick essay).
Witness accounts and correspondence (8)
1899-07-03Fritz Lowenstein's 'similar observations' Named by Tesla in 1904 as second observer; no account by Lowenstein found.
1925-07-16John B. Flowers's 10-page proposal to test Tesla's system Sketch A (60 Hz world system), Sketch B (300 m electrical ring model), a balloon with standing waves at 29 Hz; arithmetic consistent. Quoted in a 1999 newsletter via Valone.
1936-1938Tesla's letters to British Government representatives (Trump Exhibit H) 28 Aug 1936, 26 Oct 1937, 15 Dec 1937, 5 Apr 1938 offering a particle beam for a fee; reply 7 Jan 1938 'a polite expression of disinterest'. Abstract only.
1943Abe Spanel's statement to the FBI Informant on the risk to Tesla's formulae; FBI file 2.
1943-01Bloyce Fitzgerald's statements to the FBI Tesla said wireless experiments 'completed and perfected'; a model costing 'more than ten thousand [dollars]' in a Governor Clinton Hotel box; 'some eighty trunks'. The Trump party later found 'standard electrical measuring instruments'.· Informant, stake unclear
1945-08OAP letters on photostats sent to Wright Field (Holliday, Houle, Shaulis) Trump-annotated exhibits forwarded to the Equipment Laboratory, 'please return'; 'never returned' per Cheney. Known through Cheney's quotation in the FBI file.
1970Letter on 'Mr. Tesla's notes blowing down the street' as junk men dismantled his equipment Second hand; does not name Wardenclyffe. FBI file 1.
1976Letter (writer redacted) enclosing Design News article Writer's view that Tesla's standing-wave claim 'was erroneous and involved techniques similar to Project Sanguine'. FBI file 1.
Experiments and replications by others (22)
1911Waterside (Edison) station demonstration of the 18-inch turbine 200 hp at 9,000 rpm, 125 psi, 38 lb steam per hp-hour (Tesla's figures; journalist read the gauges). Hayes.
1911-07Lowenstein's sworn report on Tesla turbine tests 102.8 bhp at 18,000 rpm, 53.4 lb steam per bhp-hour (Prony brake, condensate weighed, record by Prof. C. D. or C. B. Richards); 77 hp at 35 lb. Recomputes to about 25-52% of ideal. In Hayes; deep read.· Tesla's associate
1952Armstrong ten-disc turbine 1.11 hp, 14 per cent; via Hoya and Guha 2009.
1965W. Rice, J. Eng. Power 87, 29-36, and Beans Small disc turbines; later units 20-35 per cent; via Hoya and Guha.
1973-1982R. Golka, Project Tesla, Wendover AFB, Utah (US Air Force contract) 51 ft coil, 130 ft tower, 'twice Tesla's original power levels'; used for lightning simulation; no cavity or distance result. Via Van Voorhies and Grotz (Valone).· Project promoters
1976Design News article on Project Tesla (Snigier) Golka and Bass, Wendover, 20 MV discharges, 'based upon the unpublished notes of Nikola Tesla'. Enclosure in FBI file 1.
1979-1987Rauscher and Van Bise ELF magnetic measurements (Valone ch.14) Portland, San Leandro (30.5 Hz), seven cities; 3.16 Hz earthquake precursor '84% accuracy' with no statistics; three coil wire lengths printed.· Hold detector patent 4,724,390
1984Corums' comparison of cavity Q (Grotz Fig. 4) Accepted Q 3.8-7.8; Q from Tesla's disclosures 3.2-6.4; 0.20-0.30 dB/Mm. In Valone.
1986Golka-Grotz proposal to excite the earth-ionosphere cavity Predicts 46 pT at 7.8 Hz from 150 kW and '90-94 per cent efficient' without calculation; 'about 6% per round trip'. No result reported.· Project promoters
1986Lamp lit in the hands of Lindemann and Tom Brown near Eric Dollard's coil No instrument readings. Free Energy Secrets.· Advocate
1988Sutton and Spaniol: cavity Q 'as high as 1000' Magnetic measurement 3-30 Hz, International Tesla Symposium; 'confirmed by others' via personal correspondence. Reported by Van Voorhies; paper not obtained.
1988Corum, Corum and Spaniol, 'Concerning Cavity Q' Low Q 'does not necessarily limit' wireless power; reported by Van Voorhies; not obtained.· Corums, CPG/Viziv interest
1990-12-10Nichelson and King, Eyring Corp.: 'A Special Case of Voltage Gain' Two 4-inch, 43-turn coils (Fuelless says 3-inch); S21 peaks 0.18 at 19.1 MHz and 0.97 at 11 MHz, transmission ratios below 1; '929%' should be 946%. Deep read.· Advocate
c.1990sTrinkaus, Son of Tesla Coil Oil-immersed close-coupled coil to over 2,000 V from 12 V; tubes lit at 5.4-12 W input; no light-output data. Deep read.· Sells booklets and kits
c.1990sValone's homopolar generator trials Closed circuit about 380 A; output and motor power within 1 W (Valone pp.261-267). Digest.
c.1999Cairns, The Tesla Disc Turbine Half-size model, two no-load speeds (20,000 rpm at 1.75 bar; about 50,000); no torque or power data; 9.75-inch machine a design only. Deep read.· Advocate
2000Lindemann's build of Gray's 1975 patent US 3,890,548 'Doesn't perform anything like what was described'; 'negligible' energy recycled; no data.· Advocate
2003Corum and Corum, 'Tesla's Colorado Springs Receivers' (Tesla Memorial Society) Reconstructed 1899 receivers: RF-biased coherer with frequency-selective negative resistance, 'more than adequate' for natural VLF signals, 8-22 kHz. research/files.· Corums, CPG/Viziv interest
2003Corum and Corum, 'Nikola Tesla and the Planetary Radio Signals' (NASA Radio JOVE copy) Jovian and Io-modulated emission as a hypothesis for 1899 signals; Io events of 22 July 1899. Not read in full.· Corums, CPG/Viziv interest
2009Hoya and Guha, Tesla disc turbine test rig, Proc. IMechE Part A 223 92 mm rotor, 140 W at 25,000 rpm, about 25% efficient; nozzle losses dominant. research/files.
2010-2018Guha group papers on Tesla turbine flow (Guha and Smiley 2010; Guha and Sengupta 2012-2018) Listed on the author's site; not downloaded.
n.d.Project Sanguine ELF transmitter tests (US Navy) About 1 W radiated from about 2.6 MW input; used by the reviewers for the launch problem [web].
Related work by others (18)
1871Houston, 'On a New Connection for the Induction Coil' One pole earthed, one to a large insulated conductor: sparks drawn 30 feet away. Pre-Tesla earth-and-elevated-capacity observation. Digest.
1872Elihu Thomson and Houston experiment Cited by Vassilatos as an earlier sighting of the 'radiant' effect.
1892-12-14Bjerknes resonator experiments, Electrical Engineer The work Tesla answered with his Dissipation letter; not in the folder.
1902Clemente Figueras generator (New York Herald, 9 June 1902) The clipping that prompted Tesla's letter to R. U. Johnson; via Nichelson.
1930s-1980sMoray and Baumann radiant-energy devices Linked to Tesla by Vassilatos and Lindemann; no instrumented neutral test in the folder.
1930s-1990sDoczekal, Schaeffer and Serogodski (DE 42 44 016) and Wiseman self-acting engines Claimed working models in Lindemann's 1995 article: Doczekal (Austrian patent 'NR. 155744', 1939, 'well above' Carnot), Schaeffer and Serogodski (DE 42 44 016 A1), Wiseman's HEAT books (Eagle Research address and price printed); no power-in or power-out figures.
1973Edwin V. Gray demonstrations (National Tattler, 1 and 8 July 1973, Tom Valentine; Probe the Unknown; NewsReal 1977) Magnet thrown 2 ft from a 6 V battery; bulbs, a TV and radios from a motorcycle battery; witnesses Hackenberger (EVGray) and C. V. Wood Jr.; nothing metered. As quoted by Lindemann.· Company officers and promoters
1975-1987Gray patents US 3,890,548, 4,595,975, 4,661,747 Reproduced in Lindemann's appendix (digest only); 4,595,975 also printed as 4,595,977.
c.1980s-2008Hobby Tesla-coil guides: TESLA-EQ sheet, solid-state coil TCL3 (Information Unlimited), J. Kelly 'Tesla Coil Theory' (2008) Design formulas, a flyback coil lighting a 20 W tube, spark-gap coil practice; no Tesla claims tested. Digests.
1987Rauscher and Van Bise detector patent US 4,724,390 Named in the Valone chapter.
c.1990sNichelson's 'quantum energy' chapter and Bass's 'longitudinal' waves (Valone) Nichelson: per-electron 3.1e-14 eV, not 19-190 MV (unit error). Bass: E parallel to B, zero Poynting vector, 'without attenuation' asserted. Deep read with page images.
c.1990sVassilatos, 'Rosetta Stone' chapter Unidirectional impulses as a shield-penetrating 'shocking field'; under 100 microseconds painless; reprinted by Lindemann (deep read).· Advocate
1991Nichelson, 'Nikola Tesla's Later Energy Generation Designs', 26th IECEC Unipolar dynamo and bifilar coil as a fuelless generator, called 'speculation'; cites Elsasser; earth-capacitor 1.6e11 J should be 1.6e10. Deep read.· Advocate
c.1991-2006Nichelson, 'The Second Law Thermodynamics and Tesla's Fuelless Generator' Displacement-current device 'with no expenditure of energy'; quotations omit Tesla's 'continuous pumping out'; sizing example stores 0.0125 J against 0.025 J needed. Deep read.· Advocate
1994-1995Lindemann, 'Thermodynamics & Free Energy' and 'Tesla's Self-Acting Engine', Journal of Borderland Sciences An 'Etheric Energy Field' breaks the second law; First Law 'an outmoded, intellectual MODEL'; mechanical equivalent of heat 'not known'; a self-acting cycle with no condenser (refuted by calculation); two-phase heat-pump concept from Tesla's 1900 text. Free Energy Secrets reprints, deep read pp.137-156.· Advocate
2005-2009Resonant wireless-power patents citing US 787,412 (MIT/WiTricity: Karalis, Joannopoulos, Kurs; Energous; Ut-Battelle 2009) Near-field non-radiative coupling, the short-range relative of claim 3. Of 431 citing patents. A citation is not an endorsement.
2015-2019CPG Technologies / Viziv / Texzon guided-surface-wave patents and tower (Milford or Waxahachie, Texas) US 9,923,385, 9,857,402, 9,882,436 and about 140 rows citing 787,412; J. F. and K. L. Corum founders and co-inventors; no published field measurement found. Hackaday 2019; Viziv site redirects.· Patent holders, fundraising
n.d.Tewari and DePalma rotating-magnet generator 'Twice as much hydrogen' by electrolysis, one second-hand sentence in Lindemann 1994; no set-up or citation.
Later accounts and media (20)
1894T. C. Martin, The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla Compilation of the 1888-1893 papers and lectures; all 18 chunks digested, pp.341-416 deep read.
1910-1912Turbine press: Electrical Review, NY Times, Scientific American, ENR, Popular Mechanics, Technical World; Maule 1912; Stockbridge Reprinted by Hayes; '10 hp per pound'; '80 to 90 per cent' to a journalist. Hayes dates Stockbridge 1920; internal evidence 1910-11.
1917-07Wire copies: Rogue River Courier (20 July), Bridgeport Evening Farmer (26 July) Found, not read (time).
1917-07-19The Sun (New York): tower 'Demolished as Precaution' Federal Government had it dynamited, suspecting use for spying. Chronicling America.
1917-08-05The Sun feature 'Destruction of Tesla's Tower' Repeats the Government story but says whether the buyer was the Government 'is not known'.
1944J. J. O'Neill, Prodigal Genius 26 miles, 200 lamps, 'higher than 95 per cent' with no source named (p.171); Tesla's 1900 caveat on p.172; FBI 'opened the safe' (p.244); voltages 5-10 times Tesla's own; priority claims with records 'not available'. Deep reads pp.109-135, 153-185, 209-221.· Friend and admirer
1974-04J. R. Wait, IEEE Trans. Communications COM-22 no. 4 (ELF special issue) Tesla's experiments have 'an intriguing similarity with later developments in ELF communications'. Quoted by Marincic; not seen directly.
1978A. Marincic, commentary in the Colorado Springs Notes Tesla predicted 6, 18, 30 Hz against the measured 8, 14, 20 Hz; 'never able to carry out the experiments'; standing waves 'cannot be significant' for the arrester sparks; the 2 January 300 kW is circulating energy, active power smaller by the Q-factor; credits Tesla on excitation-dependent wave type.· Tesla Museum, publisher
1981M. Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time (pages in FBI file 2) Source of the 1945 Wright Field photostat account; probable source of the 'Project Nick' chain.
1984J. T. Ratzlaff (comp.), Tesla Said Tesla's letters and articles 1888-1939; all 20 chunks digested, deep reads PDF pp.60-140, 219-233, 279-285.
c.1990sJ. A. Hayes (comp.), Tesla's Engine: A New Dimension for Power Turbine anthology with Lowenstein's report and Dahlstrand quotation; deep read pp.129-188.· Compiler promoting Tesla turbines
1998-10-14T. Penick, 'Nikola Tesla, Master of Imagination' (EE 155 essay) Life from Britannica, Cheney and O'Neill; carbon-button lamp '20 times as efficient' with no test. Digest.
1999-07Exotic Research Report (Flowers 1925 quotation) Source Valone cites for the Bureau of Standards episode; not obtained.
2000P. A. Lindemann, The Free Energy Secrets of Cold Electricity Gray's circuit and Tesla's transmitter as 'radiant energy'; 99% lost, 'output 100 times greater' claimed; Gray's 1974 raid and 1976 SEC plea (book's account); US 787,412 reprinted (no gain claimed); back-cover blurbs by Constable, Desborough, Rauen. Deep reads pp.1-79 and 137-156; p.148 has no text layer.· Advocate, Clear Tech
2000PBS, 'Tesla - Master of Lightning: The Missing Papers' Quotes Trump; tells 'Project Nick' (Brig. Gen. L. C. Craigie, Wright Field) with no source; papers to Kosanovic in 1952.
2002T. Valone (ed.), Harnessing the Wheelwork of Nature Anthology; deep reads of Tutt (ch.3), Van Voorhies (ch.7: 'Tesla's worldwide wireless power concept remains unverified'), Grotz (ch.9), Corum (ch.12: 7.5 Hz, ring effect 1.17 at 5 kHz), Rauscher (ch.14), Nichelson, Bass, Flowers; Terbo, Puharich and Niagara chapters digest only.· Advocates
2019-11-20Hackaday, 'Texas Tesla Tower Titillates' Viziv tower near Milford, TX; Zenneck surface wave; no measured results.
2026Wikipedia, Wardenclyffe Tower Boldt demolished it for scrap; calls the government story a rumour (citing Cheney 2011, Anderson 2002).
n.d.J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, on Tesla's earth-resonance estimate About 6 Hz against 6.6 Hz for a perfectly conducting sphere, per Marincic; the Mathematician could not reproduce 6.6 Hz.
undatedT. Ventura, 'Tesla's Death Ray: A Reconstructive Postulate' Focused 'longitudinal' electrostatic wave with a Fresnel lens; -15 V against -30 V without derivation. Digest.
Records named but not yet examined (18)
1856-1943Nikola Tesla Museum archive, Belgrade 163,911 call numbers in 548 boxes, seven units (Legal Affairs & Finance; Plans and Drawings ...); no online viewer.
1899-1900Colorado Springs raw charts and the Tesla Museum originals No trace record, distance log or sferic frequency for 3 July 1899 is known.
1903US 723,188 full claims from the patent office Missing from the collected-patents PDF.
1911Professor Richards's turbine test log Only Lowenstein's tables survive in the folder.
1915-03-30Foreclosure Exhibit A: Tesla-to-Holmes bill of sale and schedule Would show which Wardenclyffe apparatus was listed, against Tesla's 1922 list and Exhibit B.
c.1912-1913Allis-Chalmers company records (Wisconsin / Milwaukee County Historical Society) Would hold Dahlstrand's original report; not searched.
1917Wardenclyffe salvage records and 1917 Navy or Justice orders on Long Island radio stations (NARA RG 38, RG 60) Would decide between government demolition and commercial scrap.
1925Flowers's own document and Bureau of Standards (NIST) files Not obtained.
1939Austrian patent 155744 (Doczekal) Lindemann says it claims efficiency above Carnot 'with or without condenser'; the patent office record could check it.
1930sUK National Archives, War Office reference 84/T/3458 Tesla's beam offer to Britain, as quoted by Valone.
1943-1952NARA RG 131, Office of Alien Property Tesla case file Should hold Trump's full report and the exhibits.
1943-1952Manhattan Storage and New York Taxation Department records Who saw the sealed effects and when they were released; the inventory, against Tesla's 1922 list, would show whether Wardenclyffe's special apparatus went to storage.
1945-1948NARA RG 342 (Wright Field) and Brig. Gen. L. C. Craigie papers; Lt Robert E. Houle correspondence Would show what was done with the 1945 photostats and whether 'Project Nick' existed.
1973-1988Golka's Wendover contract reports; Radio-Electronics (Feb 1981); the 28 Oct 1986 proposal; 1988 New Energy Technology Symposium proceedings Would show whether the coil was ever used to excite the cavity.
1974-1989Gray records: Los Angeles County court and DA files, SEC file, Zetech records, Sparks (Nevada) death record No document in the folder.
1990Eyring Corp. raw network-analyser traces Needed to recheck the bifilar 0.97 peak (half-wave resonance of about 13.7 m of wire).
2015-2026Viziv/CPG field-strength data; Texas SOS filings (Texzon, Viziv, CPG); FCC experimental licences No published measurement found.
variousLibrary of Congress Tesla Papers finding aid; Columbia University Rare Book Library Tesla collection LOC search returned HTTP 503; Columbia not reached.
Left out: six further groups of Tesla Said items, digested but bearing on no claim (1890 hysteresis and Swinburne letters, 1891 Thomson controversy, 1901 variable-capacity and wireless-light items, 1908-1912 forecasts, 1914-1919 patent wrappers, 1919-1925 moon and balloon articles); the other 400-odd patents citing US 787,412; web copies and search snippets (History.com, social media, X-ray and Marconi summaries); textbooks and reference pages used only for teaching; duplicate copies. Full catalogue: Tesla sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Repeat 3 July 1899 with a recording, non-threshold VLF receiver and logged lightning positions, or search sferic-network archives for half-hour modulation of distant storms; and measure field strength against distance (10-1,000 km) from a grounded quarter-wave resonator near 100 kHz, against 2-3 dB per 1,000 km.
Deciding records: The Tesla Museum's Colorado charts and 1943 papers; NARA RG 131 (Trump's full report) and RG 342 (Wright Field, Houle letters); the Kerr, Page & Cooper opinion itself; foreclosure Exhibit A and the Manhattan Storage inventory; 1917 salvage or Navy orders; the Allis-Chalmers report; Viziv/CPG field data; Lowenstein's own account.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: half-hour maxima from a storm moving 20-60 km/h imply a 5-15 kHz wave; compare 40-60 dB lost over 20,000 km with the 0.0011 dB per 1,000 km Tesla's 'small fraction of one per cent' needs. Step 6 turns 18 million hp into a 4.4-5.3 kJ antenna store released in about 0.3-0.4 microseconds.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Never properly tested for the 3 July observation: the data, a relay playing with a threshold adjusted several times, cannot be read as a stationary-wave amplitude pattern, and alternatives (mode fading, storm cells, sunset) are not excluded. The antipodal power claim fails on the guide's measured loss. arbiter.md, Claim 1
Arbiter Correcting its own earlier reading: Tesla's 1900 text argues 'what is converted is clear gain'; restoring the sink costs exactly the work gained. A hypothesis stated in good faith from a heat-as-fluid picture, not a hoax; Nichelson's reading was closer to the text than first said. arbiter.md, QE revision A
Contrarian No evidence that a negative experiment, a reanalysis or censorship of results stopped Tesla's wireless programme. Rejection of the strong claims was by non-adoption, not by controlled test; Wardenclyffe ran out of money. contrarian.md, How the claims were rejected
Arbiter In the 1916 interview with his own counsel Tesla claims no Colorado test beyond about 10 miles and says Wardenclyffe 'was not yet quite ready'. His stake ran towards claiming more, so this weighs against O'Neill's 26-mile account; it was not sworn testimony. arbiter.md, QE revision F4 and F9.9
Investigator Wardenclyffe's end has competing accounts: The Sun (19 July 1917) says the Federal Government dynamited the tower as a wartime precaution; its 5 August feature says the buyer is unknown; Anderson (1992) says it was destroyed for commercial development after foreclosure. sites.md, Leads for review 4; research/2026-10-08-chronicling-america.md
AI noteIn April 1935 Tesla signed a $25,000 agreement with the Soviet trading body Amtorg for plans of a 50-million-volt particle projector; it survives only as John Trump's 1943 abstract in the FBI file.
A leading mathematician proposed in 1902 that steady gravity is longitudinal waves in light's medium: sound mathematics, the root of 'scalar wave' gravity, unmentioned in his own 1953 history.
Invention / theory background
Edmund Taylor Whittaker (1873-1956), Cambridge then Edinburgh, showed in 1902-03 that every solution of Laplace's and the wave equation is a sum of plane waves, and suggested gravity is carried by longitudinal waves, possibly far faster than light, in the medium of light. In 1904 he wrote any electromagnetic field with two scalar potentials. His History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity (1910; 1951; Vol. 2 1953) records older pulsation models of gravity and, in 1953, light-speed gravity.
Ranking explanation
No anomalous experiment and no suppression story (no A): Stoney answered the idea within a year, and Whittaker's own 1953 history adopts light-speed gravity. It scores on open questions (B: a shared medium in tensor form, a common-phase oscillation of g), on what a reader can compute (C: example.py, including the 1.75 arcsec bending from his 1953 law) and on influence (D: twistor theory, scalar-wave literature). Hence it sits with van Vlaenderen and Aspden, above Su-CC's local-ether theory.
Key supporting elements
The theorems hold: all three reviewers verified the integral solutions and the plane-wave decomposition independently; the 1904 potentials reproduce the Lienard-Wiechert field to 12 digits. The 1903 integral is an acknowledged ancestor of Penrose's twistor theory.
The 1903 sum (2 dmu/pi mu) sin(mu(Vt - r))/r really is +1/r inside the front: a steady Newtonian potential can be written as waves whose time dependence cancels (arbiter: Established as mathematics).
Whittaker named the waves longitudinal in his own words in 1902 ('a gravitational force perpendicular to the wave-front'); Wangerin's 1903 review read it the same way. McCrea (1957) says it 'anticipated some features of general relativity'.
In 1953 Whittaker gave gravity an exact medium reading: for light a static field acts as a medium of varying permittivity and permeability (Copson 1928), which gives the measured 1.75 arcsec bending. FitzGerald's aether 'structure' became Einstein's 'curvature'.
'An identical property of the medium' fits the measured equal speeds of light and gravity (GW170817) as well as GR does. His History records relatives: Bjerknes' in-phase pulsating spheres attracting by the inverse square, Korn 1898, Larmor 1895, Riemann's aether.
Key contradictions
The full sum is sgn(Vt - r)/r: -1/r outside the front, so the source changes sign at t = 0 and the field is steady only inside r < Vt. Whittaker printed only the inside case.
Stoney (1903): each constituent force flickers, with 1/r and 1/r^2 parts, cancelling only for one exact 1/mu spectrum, an assumption 'so overwhelming' in improbability. Whittaker's reply, if any, has not been found.
Observed gravitational waves are tensor (transverse) at speed c: LVK finds no non-tensor polarization, GW170817 bounds the speed, PSR B1913+16 matches GR to 0.2 percent. 'Longitudinal' follows from choosing a scalar potential, not from nature.
'Standing wave' is not Whittaker's word; it enters through Barrett (1993), Bearden and Titleman. A real single standing wave makes g oscillate, and keeping the inverse square to 1e-8 at 1 AU needs a period near 257 days.
Whittaker's own 1953 History: Laplace's case for far-superluminal gravity is not 'very plausible', gravity and gravitational waves travel at c, and the single scalar potential was rightly dropped. Neither volume mentions his 1902-03 note; it is neither repeated nor withdrawn.
User follow-ups (1)
Q07AnsweredIs gravity a longitudinal standing wave in the medium that carries light? Whittaker proposed this in 1903, but gravity's measured waves are tensor waves, not longitudinal.
Speculative: is gravity a longitudinal standing wave in the same medium that carries light? First report exactly what Whittaker wrote about gravity: the closing pages of his 1903 Mathematische Annalen paper (longitudinal waves, propagation of gravity), the 1904 two-scalar-potentials paper, and his later gravity/electromagnetism papers (e.g. 'On electric phenomena in gravitational fields', Proc. R. Soc. A, 1927). Then weigh the idea against: the equal speed of gravity and light (GW170817, which constrains but does not by itself separate a medium from spacetime); LIGO/Virgo polarization tests (tensor vs breathing/longitudinal modes); the Hulse-Taylor quadrupole orbital decay; composition-independence tests (Eotvos, MICROSCOPE); and the Dicke 1957 / Puthoff polarizable-vacuum model, in which gravity is a change in the vacuum dielectric (epsilon = K epsilon0, mu = K mu0). What would a standing, rather than travelling, longitudinal wave predict that an experiment could detect?
Asked 2026-10-07 · answered 2026-10-07 · 5 min web search
A07Whittaker did propose it in 1903: the steady pull of a mass as a sum of longitudinal waves whose motion cancels, carried by the medium of light. Today gravity's speed equals light's, but its waves are tensor, not longitudinal.
Known
1903, pp. 353-355: the potential is a sum of outgoing longitudinal waves, sgn(Vt−r)/r: steady 1/r only behind the front.
1903: "an identical property of the medium" carries gravity and light; speed "may be enormously greater".
The 1902 MNRAS note (62, 617-620) states the idea first.
The 1904 paper never mentions gravity.
1927: Maxwell's equations in Schwarzschild's field, within GR.
GW170817: wave speed equals light's to −3e-15/+7e-16.
LIGO-Virgo: no non-tensor polarization. PSR B1913+16 decay is 0.9983 ± 0.0016 of GR.
Ibison: the Dicke-Puthoff model radiates 2/3 of GR's power.
MICROSCOPE: all materials fall alike to 1e-15.
Whittaker's 1951 History records gravity from in-phase pulsation of the medium: Bjerknes, Leahy, Korn 1898, Larmor, Riemann 1861.
Vol. 2 (1953), bk 149-183: gravity and its waves travel at c; Laplace's case is not "very plausible". Neither volume mentions his 1902-03 idea.
Vol. 2, bk 157-158: in a static field light obeys Maxwell's theory in a medium of varying permittivity and permeability (Copson 1928); curvature replaced FitzGerald's aether "structure".
Inferred
"Standing" is not Whittaker's word (Barrett 1993, Bearden). Any speed fits a static field, so only moving sources test it.
Equal speeds fit a shared medium as well as GR. The published scalar Dicke-Puthoff model radiates 2/3 of GR's power (Ibison), which the pulsar rejects.
A "longitudinal standing wave" is closer to Bjerknes-Korn-Larmor in-phase pulsation than to Whittaker 1903. Neither version has been properly tested.
A literal standing wave would make g oscillate in time or vary in space. Clocks would oscillate too if light shares the medium.
Open
Whittaker's 1944 Endeavour article "Old and new ideas of gravitation" is unread.
Oscillating-g searches (ultralight dark matter, gravimeters, pulsar timing) have not yet tested a specific standing-wave model.
Key equations
Whittaker 1903
Modern form
Meaning
∫₀^∞ (2dμ/πμ) sin(μVt−μr)/r
sgn(Vt−r)/r
1/r inside the front, −1/r outside
∇²V = 0 ⇒ ∇²V = k²∂²V/∂t²
static field fits any speed 1/k
the waves fix no speed
(Dicke 1957, Puthoff)
ε = Kε₀, μ = Kμ₀, light speed c/√K
gravity as vacuum refractive index
Key point: Do gravity and light share one medium?
Supports
Same speed to 1e-15 (GW170817).
1903: "identical property of the medium".
Contradicts
Waves are tensor, not longitudinal; scalar PV radiates 2/3 of GR.
Integral solutions of Laplace's and the wave equation, and every finite wave solution as plane waves in all directions (1903)
Establishedlocal, real-analytic; global form not proved and not needed
Two scalar potentials F and G give the field of moving electrons (1904)
Establishedas a reformulation of Maxwell-Lorentz theoryNot testable as statedlater 'hidden longitudinal scalar wave' reading, absent from the paper (root: Riemann 1861)
A static 1/r potential is a sum of waves whose time dependence cancels
Establishedmathematics; sgn(Vt - r)/r, steady only inside the front
The constituent waves are physically real, with a 1/mu spectrum (Stoney's objection)
Never properly testedargued against in 1903, not measured; not suppressed
Gravitational waves are longitudinal and may travel enormously faster than light
Tested, not supportedlongitudinal/scalar radiation (LVK polarization tests); his own 1953 History puts gravitational waves at cTested, not supportedspeed far above c, for waves (GW170817); static-field speed untestable
One medium carries both light and gravity
Never properly testedgeneric form, indistinguishable from GR so far; his 1953 History gives GR's static-field medium readingTested, not supportedscalar polarizable-vacuum form (Ibison, one analysis)
Gravity as a longitudinal standing wave (a hypothesis put to the review, Q07)
Not testable as statedno frequency, amplitude, coupling or medium givenNever properly testedconcrete versions: in-phase pulsation (Bjerknes/Korn/Larmor) or a genuine scalar standing wave
The aether as the seat of fields; in 1951-53, the vacuum or space-time may fitly be called aether
Historically superseded but instructivematerial aetherNot testable as statedvacuum-as-aether, a terminology choiceEstablishedthe underlying vacuum physics
Author of the 1902 note, the 1903 and 1904 papers and both volumes of the History; proposed undulatory, longitudinal gravity in the medium of light, and in 1953 described gravity at the speed of light
Born Southport 24 October 1873, died Edinburgh 24 March 1956. Trinity College, Cambridge, Second Wrangler 1895, Fellow 1896; pupils included Bateman, Eddington and Jeans. FRS; RAS Secretary 1901-06; Royal Astronomer of Ireland 1906; Edinburgh chair 1912; Copley Medal 1954. Later papers on electromagnetism inside general relativity (1921-1940).
G. Johnstone Stoney
Critic: wrote the 1903 MNRAS 'Examination' that praised the mathematics and rejected the physics
1826-1911, M.A., Hon. Sc.D., FRS; the physicist who named the electron (Investigator's note).
C. A. Bjerknes
Author of the pulsating-spheres model: bodies pulsating in phase in a fluid attract by the inverse square, the nearest ancestor of a 'longitudinal standing wave' gravity
Not in the review files beyond Whittaker's report of his 1876-77 papers (Gottinger Nachrichten, Comptes Rendus).
E. T. Copson
Author of the 1928 point-charge result that Whittaker's 1953 History uses to show a static gravitational field acts on light as a medium with epsilon = mu = (r+1)^3/[r^2(r-1)]
Not in the review files beyond that citation (Proc. R. Soc. A 118, 1928, p.184, not read); the review notes, from memory with medium confidence, that he was Whittaker's student and colleague at Edinburgh.
W. H. McCrea
Obituarist (1957): read the 1902-03 result as an anticipation of propagated gravity in general relativity; recorded the daily-press attention
Cosmologist and Whittaker's former colleague (Investigator's note); wrote the J. London Math. Soc. obituary with a full bibliography.
Jaume Navarro
Historian who used the Fisher Library letters to explain Vol. 2's treatment of Einstein and Whittaker's commitment to the aether
Academic historian; History of Science 59 (2020) and Notes and Records 79 (2025). Leaves the antisemitism question unsettled for lack of evidence. His characterization is now set beside Whittaker's own framing in Vol. 2.
Thomas E. Bearden
Brought Whittaker's 1903-04 papers into the scalar-wave literature (mid-to-late 1980s) with the 'standing waves' reading · patent applicant for devices based on his scalar-potential theory (provisional application noted by the Investigator)
Not in the review files beyond the Investigator's snippets; see review/Bearden.
Mark Titleman
Living author developing Whittaker's potentials into a theory of gravity and electromagnetism; repeats Barrett's 'standing waves' sentence
Not in the review files beyond his preprints: arXiv 2205.08309 (2022-2026) and Qeios 2023, with four open reviews averaging 3.25.
Evidence / artifacts (119 of 126 listed, 94%)
Own works and inventions (18)
1902-07-14On the General Solution of Laplace's Equation and the Equation of Wave Motions, and on an undulatory explanation of Gravity MNRAS 62, 617-620, doi 10.1093/mnras/62.9.617. First statement of the gravity idea: force 'perpendicular to the wave-front'. Read by the Investigator from page images on OUP; not in the project folder.
1903On the partial differential equations of mathematical physics Mathematische Annalen 57, 333-355. Scan with no text layer; all journal pp. 333-355 read as page images; gravity passage section 5 part 5, pp. 353-355, read by four readers.
1903-11-12On an expression of the electromagnetic field due to electrons by means of two scalar potential functions Proc. London Math. Soc. (2) 1 (1904) 367-372. All 6 pages deep-read; Lienard-Wiechert field reproduced to 12 digits by the deep reader. No gravity, no longitudinal waves.
1910A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Vol. 1 (1910 first edition; revised and enlarged 1951) 1910 Longmans: digest plus four passages compared. 1951 Nelson: Ch. V, VIII, IX, XIII and gravity passages deep-read; preface keeps 'aether' for the quantum vacuum; mentions his own work only at bk 409 (the 1904 F and G).
1921On tubes of electromagnetic force Proc. R. Soc. Edin. 42, 1-23. Known from Synge 1958.
1927On Hilbert's world-function Proc. R. Soc. A 113, 496-511. Synge doubts its finite light-pulse claim; Vol. 2 cites it among variational developments (bk 170).
1927-09-23On electric phenomena in a gravitational field Proc. R. Soc. A 116, 720-735. Maxwell's equations in the Schwarzschild field, inside general relativity. Section 1 read by the Q07 follow-up; rest not read; not cited in Vol. 2 Ch. V. A deciding record per the arbiter.
1928Note on the law that light-rays are the null geodesics of a gravitational field Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 24, 32-34. Known from McCrea and Synge; cited in Vol. 2 (bk 165).
1928The influence of gravitation on electromagnetic phenomena J. London Math. Soc. 3, 137-144 (also Nature 121, 1022). Compares EM in a gravitational field to a medium with variable permittivity and permeability, 'not quite perfect' (Synge's summary). Not read.
1928On the potential of electromagnetic phenomena in a gravitational field Proc. R. Soc. A 120, 1-13. McCrea bibliography.
1935Relativity, gravitation and world-structure Observatory 58, 179-188. McCrea bibliography.
1937The relativity theory of protons and electrons Observatory 60, 14-23. McCrea bibliography.
1921-1940On distance in curved space; On Gauss' theorem and the concept of mass in general relativity; On the relations of the tensor-calculus to the spinor-calculus Three papers among the ten summarised by Synge 1958; the Gauss's theorem paper (1935) is cited in Vol. 2 (bk 194).
1943The aether: past and present Endeavour 2, 117-120. Not online; cited by Navarro 2020.
1944Old and new ideas of gravitation Endeavour 3, 39-42. Not online; cited by Navarro 2020 at p.41. The arbiter's first deciding record for whether he kept the wave-gravity idea.
1949From Euclid to Eddington Later view of the aether and relativity. archive.org copies are lending-only.
1953A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Vol. 2: The Modern Theories 1900-1926 In the project folder since 2026-10-07. All 15 chunks digested; Ch. V 'Gravitation' (bk 144-196) deep-read with page images: gravity and gravitational waves at c, single scalar abandoned, Copson medium law, flat-space alternatives; no mention of his 1902-03 note. Other chapters digest or text search.
variousWhittaker and Watson, A Course of Modern Analysis Textbook chapter on Laplace's equation ('Whittaker's integral'); named in the primer's further reading.
Contemporary responses (1903-1904) (5)
1903-06G. Johnstone Stoney, Examination of Mr. Whittaker's 'Undulatory Explanation of Gravity' from the Physical Standpoint MNRAS 63, 424-428. Praises the mathematics; rejects the physics: constituent forces 'flicker' with 1/r and 1/r^2 parts and cancel only for one 'overwhelmingly' improbable spectrum. Postscript on Mercury. Read from page images.
1903Wangerin, review JFM 34.0827.01 (Jahrbuch ueber die Fortschritte der Mathematik) Summarises the gravity section as 'longitudinal waves ... with very great speed in a medium'. Read on zbMATH.
1903Lampe, review JFM 34.0839.01 of Stoney's critique Records Stoney's dissent 'from the physical standpoint'. Read on zbMATH.
1903-06-11Nature 68, 144, Diary of Societies Probably the meeting notice for Stoney's paper; behind a login wall.
1903-1904Index and abstract entries for the exchange HathiTrust phrase search 'Whittaker's undulatory': 88 hits (MNRAS index, International Catalogue, Fortschritte der Physik, Year-book of Learned Societies). Hits not opened.
Related work recorded in Whittaker's History, Vol. 1 (21)
1713Cotes: gravity treated as instantaneous 1951 PDF p.22.
1759Aepinus: gravity as a residual of nearly balanced electric forces 1951 PDF pp.32-33.
1760-1761Euler: aether-pressure gravity, 'Constant - 1/r' 1951 PDF p.56.
1782Le Sage: ultramundane corpuscles, gravity by shadowing 1951 PDF pp.22-23; no speed given.
undatedLaplace: gravific fluid, speed 'at least a hundred million times greater than that of light' 1951 PDF p.110, bk 206-207; Whittaker calls it 'evidently in the highest degree questionable', and in 1953 'not very plausible'.
undatedElastic-solid aether and its longitudinal mode (Fresnel, Stokes, Poisson, Navier, Green, Cauchy, Kelvin, MacCullagh) 1951 Ch. V, PDF pp.71-81, deep-read: the longitudinal mode made infinitely fast, zero-speed or absent so it never showed in optics.
1846-1851Faraday: Thoughts on Ray-Vibrations (1846) and the aether with 'other uses than simply the conveyance of radiations' (1851) Vol. 1 PDF pp.103-104, text layer only. Whittaker: 'the origin of the electromagnetic theory of light'. Earliest one-medium-several-jobs statement in the folder.
1853Riemann: gravity and electrostatics from the aether's resistance to compression 1951 Ch. VIII deep read.
1861Riemann lectures (Hattendorff 1875, p.330): scalar potential as aether density 1951 bk 291: Lorenz-type condition read as a continuity equation; field energy hard to match. Root of the later density-wave reading of Whittaker's potentials.
1864Maxwell's abandoned attempt to trace gravitation to the medium 1951 Ch. VIII: 'I cannot go any further in this direction' (medium would need enormous intrinsic energy).
1872Tisserand: Weber-law gravity gives 14 arcsec per century at Mercury 3/8 of the 38 arcsec excess; 1951 bk 207-208.
1876-1877C. A. Bjerknes: pulsating spheres in an incompressible fluid attract by the inverse square when in phase Gottinger Nachrichten 1876; Comptes Rendus 84 (1877). Reversal beyond a quarter wavelength if the medium is compressible. 1951 PDF p.149.
1879-1880W. M. Hicks: the mathematics of the force between pulsating spheres Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 3, 276 and 4, 29. The exact retarded law is here; not read.
1884A. H. Leahy: in an elastic medium (long wavelength) like phases repel Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 14, 45. 1951 bk 285.
1890Levy: Riemann-law gravity gives 3/4 of Mercury's excess 1951 bk 207-208.
1895Larmor: gravitation from vacuous electrons with free periods in the fluid aether Phil. Trans. 186, 697; 1951 only, bk 286.
1896Kelvin: electrostatic changes propagated by condensational (longitudinal) aether waves Nature 1896; contested by FitzGerald in a private letter to Heaviside (one party's account). 1951 Ch. VIII.
1897Michelson: no dependence of light speed on height above the Earth 1951 PDF p.202.
1898A. Korn, Eine Theorie der Gravitation und der elektrischen Erscheinungen Berlin. Pulsating slightly compressible spheres in an incompressible fluid give Newtonian forces. 1951 footnote, PDF p.149.
1899Planck: compressible aether subject to gravity, compressed round the Earth 1951 PDF p.200.
1909-1910Witte versus V. Bjerknes exchange on pulsation forces Cited in 1951 without content.
Related work recorded in Whittaker's History, Vol. 2 (1953) (23)
1894FitzGerald: 'Gravity is probably due to a change of structure of the aether, produced by the presence of matter' Vol. 2 bk 157, page image. Whittaker: FitzGerald's aether became Einstein's space-time, and 'structure' became 'curvature'.
1895Lehmann-Filhes: finite-speed gravity Filed with Laplace under 'not very plausible' assumptions (bk 149, fn 6).
1898P. Gerber, retarded gravitational potential fitted to Mercury (1898; reprinted Ann. d. Phys. 52, 1917) Z. f. Math. u. Phys. 43, 93; bk 148, fn 7. The speed-near-c gloss is the deep reader's [memory, high], not Whittaker's.
1900H. A. Lorentz, Considerations on gravitation Proc. Amst. Acad. 2, 559. Le Sage's corpuscles replaced by very-high-frequency electric waves; a net force needs electromagnetic energy 'continually disappearing'; then Mossotti-type unequal charges, about 1e-35 (bk 149-151, page images). Not read directly.
1905-1906Poincare: relativity requires gravity propagated at the speed of light, not contradicted by observation Comptes Rendus 140, 1504; Palermo Rend. 21, 129. Vol. 2 bk 151, page image; developed by Minkowski and de Sitter.
1907Planck and Einstein 1907: all energy gravitates; the principle of equivalence Berl. Sitz. 1907, 542; Jahrb. d. Radioakt. 4, 411; Eotvos 1891 cited for equal inertial and gravitational mass (bk 151-152).
1909-1910H. Bateman: variable quadratic form for light in a gravitational field Proc. L.M.S. (2) 8, 223. Credited by Whittaker before Einstein-Grossmann (bk 154-156): Whittaker's priority framing.
1911-1912M. Abraham: light speed c(x, y, z) as the gravitational potential Lincei Atti 20, 678; N. Cimento 4, 459; bk 153, page image. A scalar theory recorded by Whittaker.
1911-1912Planck's second theory: zero-point energy 'The first appearance in theoretical physics of the doctrine of zero-point energy' (bk 103-104, text layer).
1912-1914G. Nordstroem, gravitation theory Named with references only (bk 151-157); the label 'scalar' is the primer's, not Whittaker's.
1912-1915G. Mie, field theory of matter The potentials are 'physical realities' in Mie's theory (bk 154); bears on the two-potential theme.
1913Einstein and Grossmann, ten potentials g_pq Z. f. Math. u. Phys. 62, 225. 'The abandonment of the time-honoured belief that a gravitational field can be specified by a single scalar potential-function'; the one-third-work argument (bk 156-157).
1914E. Cunningham: aether with velocity c at every point Whittaker: 'an objective aether is not necessarily foreign to the point of view of the principle of relativity' (bk 248, text layer).
1916W. Nernst: the aether everywhere occupied by zero-point energy Bk 104, text layer. Root of the 1951 preface's 'so rich in physical properties'.
1916-1922Einstein 1916 and 1918, Eddington 1922: gravitational waves Cited for 'gravitational waves are generated, which are propagated outwards with the speed of light' (bk 183, page image).
1919-1947Eclipse measurements of light deflection Table of 1.61 to about 2.24 arcsec against 1.75; Whittaker in 1952: 'there is a discordance' (bk 180-181). Later radio and VLBI work resolved it in GR's favour (primer, memory).
1920E. Wiechert: FitzGerald's aether structure as a change of dielectric constant Ann. d. Phys. 63, 301 (bk 158). Not read.
1922A. N. Whitehead, flat-space gravity propagated at c, with Synge's 1952 study Synge, Proc. R. Soc. A 211, 303 (bk 175). Will (1971) later ruled it out by Earth tides (deep reader's memory).
1925D. C. Miller, ether-drift residuals Proc. Nat. Ac. Sci. 11, 306. Rosen's flat-space programme 'claimed' it might account for them (bk 175).
1946A. S. Eddington, Fundamental Theory (edited by Whittaker) Offered a Mach-principle reason for the Mossotti-type charge imbalance (bk 151, page image).
1951A. G. Walker, flat-space model with one Newtonian potential Nature 168, 961. Reproduces GR's perihelion advance and light bending (bk 181-182). Whittaker: 'It is unwise to accept a theory hastily'.
1908-1922R. Hargreaves, integral form of the field equations and potentials of a moving electron Bk 250-252, text layer; no link found to Whittaker's 1904 F and G.
Experiments and observations by others (9)
2003Bertotti, Iess and Tortora, Cassini radio test of light bending Nature 425, 374: gamma - 1 = (2.1 +/- 2.3)e-5 (physicist, web search summary).
2003Kopeikin-Fomalont Jupiter speed-of-gravity measurement Reported c within 20 percent; Will and Samuel dispute what it measured. Arbiter web check.
2007Kapner et al., Eot-Wash short-range inverse-square test PRL 98, 021101: to 56 micrometres; a later test to 52 micrometres (arXiv 2002.11761). Arbiter web check.
2016Weisberg and Huang, PSR B1913+16 Orbital decay 0.9983 +/- 0.0016 of the GR quadrupole value (arXiv 1606.02744).
2017LVK, GW170817 and GRB 170817A Gravitational-wave speed equals c within -3e-15 to +7e-16 (arXiv 1710.05834). Rules out 'enormously greater' for waves.
2018Parkes Pulsar Timing Array search for an oscillating potential from ultralight scalar dark matter 26 pulsars 2004-2016, no significant signal, nanohertz band, one model (arXiv 1810.03227). Not a search for a Whittaker-type wave.
2021LVK, Tests of GR with GWTC-3 'no evidence for ... non-GR modes of polarization' (arXiv 2112.06861).
2022Touboul et al., MICROSCOPE final results All materials fall alike to about 1e-15 (arXiv 2209.15487).
2026-10-06Jin and Zheng, breathing-mode limits from GWTC data (preprint) Breathing amplitude near tensor amplitude disfavoured in three events; smaller scalar parts still allowed (arXiv 2610.08588; not peer reviewed).
Later accounts and media (8)
1956G. F. J. Temple, Biographical Memoir of Whittaker Biog. Mem. FRS 2, 299-325; full bibliography. Seen in Google results only.
1957W. H. McCrea, obituary in J. London Math. Soc. 32, 234-256 The 1902-03 result 'anticipated some features of general relativity' and 'attracted attention in the daily press of the time'. Read (PDF text).
1958J. L. Synge, Whittaker's Contributions to the Theory of Relativity Proc. Edinburgh Math. Soc. Ten papers summarised; no mention of the 1902-03 idea or the aether. Read (PDF text).
2003A. Warwick, Masters of Theory (ch. 5) Cambridge aether school; source of 'convinced that gravitation and electromagnetism were ultimately connected'. Not read.
2020-11-03J. Navarro, Whittaker, Einstein, and the History of the Aether History of Science 59, 287-314. Uses the Fisher letters; GR's low standing in the early 1950s shaped Vol. 2; antisemitism left unsettled. Abstract only (paywalled); its Poincare-Lorentz point is confirmed on Vol. 2's own text (bk 40).
2025J. Navarro, Edmund T. Whittaker, physics and Catholicism Notes Rec. 79, 195-216, open access. Searched for aether and gravitation, not read in full.
2026Wikipedia, Bibliography of E. T. Whittaker Read in the Q07 follow-up; no edits since May 2026.
Later work built on Whittaker's mathematics (7)
1904H. Bateman, extension of the integral to the wave equation Whittaker's pupil; known from Mason and Barrett notes.
1989R. S. Ward, Twistors in 2+1 dimensions Cites JFM 34.0827.01 (zbMATH: 26 citing documents).
2014Thompson, Swearngin and Bouwmeester, Linked and Knotted Gravitational Radiation J. Phys. A 47, 355205 (arXiv 1402.3806): linearised gravitational waves built from the 'Whittaker solution'; tensor waves, no medium.
2015Berthel et al., scalar Whittaker potentials in plasmonics Phys. Rev. E 92, 033202: the 1904 method in ordinary optics.
2016-2025Other twistor and wave papers citing Whittaker 1903 Nicolas 2016; Pantilie 2017; Banjai et al. 2017; Martin 2018; Baird and Wehbe 2018; Adamo, Mason and Sharma 2023; Baumann et al. 2025 (zbMATH list).
variousHitchin (on Atiyah), Mason (Oxford notes), J. Barrett (Chameleon Twistor Theory), arXiv 1312.4020 Each traces the Penrose transform back to Whittaker 1903. Google snippets.
Related work by others: aether, scalar and longitudinal gravity (10)
1911-03-23C. F. Brush, A Kinetic Theory of Gravitation Nature 86, 130-132: aether waves, longitudinal allowed, a wave form of Le Sage. Read on rexresearch.
1911-03-30Oliver Lodge, reply in Nature Calls it a modified Le Sage theory; screening and other objections.
1917T. J. J. See, Electrodynamic Wave-Theory of Physical Forces, vol. 1 Wave theory of gravitation; on archive.org; not opened.
1926-1929C. F. Brush, free-fall and calorimeter papers (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc.) and 'Gravitation' (1929) Claims heat-generating silicates fall slower, about 1e-5 over 122 cm; Bureau of Standards check announced. One source (rexresearch compilation).
1957R. H. Dicke, Gravitation without a principle of equivalence Polarizable-vacuum idea: gravity as a vacuum dielectric. Cited via Wikipedia and Q07.
1998T. Van Flandern, speed of gravity at least 2e10 c from missing aberration Cited by the contrarian and physicist from memory; answered by Carlip 2000.
2000S. Carlip, Aberration and the Speed of Gravity Phys. Lett. A: in GR aberration is almost exactly cancelled, permitting c_g = c (arXiv gr-qc/9909087, abstract).
2002H. E. Puthoff, polarizable-vacuum model of gravity Known via the Wikipedia 'Polarizable vacuum' page (which labels it fringe; that label is the source's).
2003M. Ibison, Investigation of the polarizable vacuum cosmology PV model radiates 2/3 of GR's power, so it fails PSR B1913+16 as published; one analysis from within the Puthoff group (arXiv astro-ph/0302273).
2014Khmelnitsky and Rubakov, oscillating potential from ultralight scalar dark matter Cited from memory (medium) by the reviewers; the model the 2018 pulsar-timing search tested.
Scalar-wave and standing-wave readings of Whittaker (12)
1981 onT. E. Bearden, writings on Whittaker's potentials 'Solutions to Secrets' (1981), energy-from-vacuum PDF using the 'standing waves' sentence, a provisional patent application, video series. Google snippets; see review/Bearden.· patent applicant for devices based on his scalar-potential theory
1993T. W. Barrett, Electromagnetic Phenomena Not Explained by Maxwell's Equations Source of the 'they are standing waves' sentence quoted by Titleman.
1997Munera and Guzman, longitudinal currents in Maxwell's equations Apeiron. Known from Munera 2019.
2001Trovon de Carvalho and Rodrigues, The Non Sequitur Mathematics and Physics of the 'New Electrodynamics' Proposed by the AIAS Group Critique of the AIAS/Bearden use of Whittaker; known from Titleman's citation.
2018H. A. Munera, periodicity critique of the 'general solution' Known only as reported by Titleman 2023.
2019H. A. Munera, Neo-Cartesian unified fluid and field theory J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 1251, 012038: 'agrees with Whittaker' on longitudinal waves; argues composition-dependent gravity. Read (PDF text).
2022S. Darmos, Strong evidence for composition-dependent gravity from Cavendish experiments, with a published response ResearchGate; snippets only.
2022-2026M. Titleman, The Duality of Whittaker Potential Theory arXiv 2205.08309, v11 25 Sep 2026: gravity and EM from longitudinal waves; MOND and more. Abstract read.
2023-05-24M. Titleman, Representations and Implications of Papers Written by E.T. Whittaker in 1903 and 1904 Qeios Y3D1HM; 4 open reviews, mean 3.25. Read.
2026-07M. Titleman, Gravitation Due to Scalar Potentials and Black Holes ResearchGate; not opened.
undated'Files on Scalar Electromagnetics' (critique of Bearden, author not identified) Scribd: says Bearden 'appropriated' Whittaker's work in the mid-to-late 1980s (that source's characterization).
variousCurrent 'longitudinal standing wave' papers: Meyl (Scalar Waves), Gouveia 2025, 'Theory of the Gravitational Constant Part IV', CCSE in/out matter waves Google snippets; none opened; none cites a measurement separating them from GR.
Records named but not yet examined (6)
1902-1903Daily-press coverage of the undulatory gravity result McCrea: it 'attracted attention in the daily press'. Targets: British Newspaper Archive, Times Digital Archive, Chronicling America, Trove.
1903Whittaker's reply to Stoney, if any Not found anywhere, including both volumes of the History.
1903Fortschritte der Physik v.59 abstract of Whittaker and Stoney HathiTrust hit not opened; also an unidentified 'Journal v.30 (1919-20)' hit.
1911-1931US Bureau of Standards check of Brush's silicates; Brush papers at Case Western Reserve Result not located.
1918-1956Fisher Library, Toronto, Edmund Taylor Whittaker Papers, MS COLL 00219 11 boxes: letters to his son J. M. Whittaker (Box 5, 22 Sep 1953), writings, autobiography (Box 11). Finding aid PDF not downloaded; only the owner can obtain.
1928E. T. Copson, point charge in the field of a point mass Proc. R. Soc. A 118, 184: source of the epsilon = mu = (r+1)^3/[r^2(r-1)] law in Vol. 2 (bk 158). Named by the arbiter as a deciding record; queued for the Investigator.
Left out: Whittaker's Analytical Dynamics (mentioned only in passing), his unrelated self-citations in Vol. 2 (small divisors 1917, de Sitter world 1931), works cited only inside Titleman (Yurth 2007, Laszlo 2003), and two secondary snippets on the Fisher boxes (McCartney 2019, Maidment 2021). Full catalogue: Whittaker-ET sources.
What would settle it · Try it yourself
Deciding experiment: Detection or tight exclusion of scalar, breathing or longitudinal gravitational-wave polarization with a network able to see it; and, for standing-wave forms, a search for a common-phase oscillation of g at one frequency (gravimeters, atom interferometers, pulsar timing) correlated with an optical-clock modulation at the same frequency.
Deciding records: Whittaker's 1944 Endeavour article 'Old and new ideas of gravitation'; the Fisher Library papers MS COLL 00219, especially the Box 11 autobiography; the 1902-03 newspaper articles; any reply to Stoney; the 1927 Proc. R. Soc. A 116 paper; Copson (1928); Hicks (1879-80) on the retarded pulsation force.
Try it yourself: Run example.py: Part 2 sums Whittaker's waves to +1/r inside the front and -1/r outside, Part 3 shows Stoney's flicker, Part 5 finds the 257-day period, Part 7 gives Bjerknes' 4d/c bound (33 minutes Sun-Earth), Part 8 turns Copson's 1953 medium law into the 1.75 arcsec bending.
Top reviewer notes (5)
Arbiter Vol. 2 (1953) is the inventor's own published view: gravity and gravitational waves at c, Laplace's superluminal case implausible, the single scalar dropped. It agrees with the modern tests but is not a recantation: he neither retracts nor repeats 1903. Weight moves toward 'gave it up'; a medium conviction survives. arbiter.md, QE revision 2, How this bears on the verdicts and Absence of evidence item 1
Arbiter The Q07 hypothesis has two homes to keep apart: Whittaker 1902-03, the origin of 'gravity as waves in the light medium', and Bjerknes-Korn-Larmor, the origin of 'gravity from in-phase longitudinal oscillation of a medium'. 'Longitudinal standing wave' is closer to the second: an oscillating near-field with common phase. arbiter.md, QE revision, Where the Q07 hypothesis lives best
Mathematician Every scalar-potential wave is automatically longitudinal: the force -grad V lies along the direction of travel. Maxwell's waves are transverse because their fields are curls. So 'identical property of the medium' does not carry over from light to gravity. mathematician.md, 4.3
Contrarian The idea was published in two major journals and answered in print within a year; no sign of suppression. The maths won, becoming a tool for gravitational radiation itself, but as tensor waves with no medium; the physical picture lost. contrarian.md, section 2
Primer For light, a static gravitational field really is a medium of varying index: Whittaker's 1953 statement of Copson's law is exact general relativity and gives the measured 1.75 arcsec bending. It is static, has no longitudinal waves and nothing faster than c. primer.md, section 5 Part H and section 7
AI noteWhittaker was RAS Secretary when his gravity note appeared and when Stoney's rebuttal was read there; fifty years later both volumes of his own History of exactly this subject leave the note out, while adopting light-speed gravity.
Other ranked projects (50)
Rank
Move
Project
One line
Why it's interesting
Headline verdict
Docs
26
–
HiIQ-Youtube
Chris Sykes's video on opposed partnered output coils said to cancel Lenz drag; the only gain figure, COP 1.7, is a critic's attribution.
Realm Industries plate-stack patents claiming a bent-water 'vapor' fuel; the gas is best read as oxyhydrogen, with fatal explosions and fraud convictions.
BC
Refuted by calculationRC resonance bending the water molecule
Goodenough and Braga's glass-electrolyte cell plating lithium with energy 'conserved' by a capacitor-like voltage; an insider anomaly the critics asked data for.
Rowbotham's 1865 Zetetic Astronomy: a stationary flat Earth argued from level water and perspective; the reader can calculate the Bedford Level sights.
A. G. Kelly on the Sagnac effect and uniform motion; his circular derivations are correct, the uniform straight-line shift is refuted by his own formula.
BC
Refuted by calculationSagnac shift in uniform motion
John St. Clair's five hyperspace patents: opposed coils making negative mass, 'hyperspace energy' cables and charge-propelled craft; none built on record.
Crookes's 1879 radiant matter lecture: cathode rays as a fourth state of matter; the observations stand, the molecule reading was superseded by the electron.
CD
Establishedobservations; carriers were not gas molecules
Poincare's 1909 lecture 'The New Mechanics': velocity-dependent mass, relativity principle and Lorentz gravity; mostly established, evidence overstated, Mercury fit fails.
BD
Establishedvelocity-dependent mass and relativity principle
1899 moving-film spark spectra showing metal vapour crossing a 1 cm gap in microseconds; a clean mainstream question a gated Doppler test would settle.
A Untested anomaly or documented resistance · B Open question the arbiter left unsettled · C Reader can test or calculate it · D Depth and influence in alternative science
What changed this run
No entries, exits or moves. Ranks 1-76 are unchanged from run 09; previous_rank carries the run 09 value.
Morray-TH stays at 2: the 2026-10-08 arbiter update finds that the physics pages of Radiant Energy and Isotopes (alpha particles, phosphors, dissociation) largely reproduce Le Bon (1905), Glasser (1944) and Preston (1928) rather than Moray's own analysis, and adds new parts (resonance transmutation, Le Bon-derived physics). Claims 1, 2 and 6 (the witnessed box demonstrations, the induction question, the blocked-work story) are unchanged at Never properly tested, so the open lamp question that drives its interest stands; its one_line now says the physics pages are borrowed.
TernionAG stays at 4: the 2026-10-08 update re-words claim 11 (electrolysis assisted by a resonant standing field or radiated RF) and splits its verdict three ways (catalyst-heating effect Established, net gain Plausible, untested, Kassner-type field Never properly tested), corrects a 35,000-photon figure to 3,400-4,700, and restores related work. The central claim (sharp resonance dispersion) is still Never properly tested and the record still goes dark, so its position is unchanged; its one_line mentions the split.
Morray-TH and TernionAG both have review files newer than their entries, so both entries should be refreshed.
Run history
Each run is saved as its own dated page, so the set of pages is the history.
Run
Date
Projects
What changed
Page
16
2026-10-10
101
Flat-Earth enters at rank 13; the 88 projects from old rank 13 down move one place; no other project changes order.
Ten newly reviewed projects enter; Rahn-Otto, Linerman-Peter, Su-CC and Hilgenberg-OC join the top 20, and all existing projects keep their relative order.