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USENET SCI.PHYSICS.RESEARCH POSTED ARTICLES

These are all of the 6 newsgroup postings from:

sci.physics.research, a MODERATED newsgroup

on the topic of: Finnish Anti-Gravity Research


From: Steinn Sigurdsson
Newsgroups: sci.physics.research
Subject: Re: Preprints of Finnish Anti-Gravity Research?
Date: 3 Sep 1996 15:46:06 GMT
Organization: IoA, Cambridge
Message-ID: <50HJRU$PSE@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>
References: <50ERNF$PVR@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>

Barry Merriman writes:

> According to the attached newspaper article, this research that
> appears to identify a small anti-gravity effect has
> already been accepted for publication in Physics-D.
> Can anyone locate a preprint? Or does anyone have any
> reports on the work of the Nasa-funded scientists mentiond?

> According to Dr Eugene Podkletnov, who led the research, the discovery
> was accidental. It emerged during routine work on so-called
> "superconductivity", the ability of some materials to lose their

This report would appear to be a followup on
work reported in Physica C, v 203 p 441-444, 1992,
Podkletnov and Nieminen authors.

Such effects very rarely survive further scrutiny
and I would be very surprised if it is found to
be "anti-gravity" in any real sense of the word.
The initial report claimed up to 0.3% reduction in weight
of non-conductors/non-magnetic samples suspended above
a HTSc disk, there are a number of possible confounding
effects and sources of error.


From: Barry Merriman
Newsgroups: sci.physics.research
Subject: Re: Preprints of Finnish Anti-Gravity Research?
Date: 3 Sep 1996 15:55:09 GMT
Organization: UCLA Dept. of Mathematics
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Message-ID: <50HKCT$Q1H@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>
References: <50ERNF$PVR@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>

Barry Merriman wrote:
>
> According to the attached newspaper article, this research that
> appears to identify a small anti-gravity effect has
> already been accepted for publication in Physics-D.
> Can anyone locate a preprint? Or does anyone have any
> reports on the work of the Nasa-funded scientists mentiond?
>
> ---
> Article in Sunday Telegraph (UK), September 1 1996, page 3.
>
> BREAKTHROUGH AS SCIENTISTS BEAT GRAVITY.
> by Robert Matthews and Ian Sample
>

Well, with a little searching
I have answered my own question. Here is additional information
from one of the authors of the above news story (thanks to
Chris Tinsley for locating this); the forthcoming journal
article and some already published background work are cited below.

-------------------begin quote from Robert Mathews---------------
As one of the journalists involved in the antigravity story (the other,
Ian SAMple being at the IoPhys), I thought I should give a little more
info about the article. I've read the proofs of the paper, checked out
the claims with a number of theorists (including Li at U/Alabama) and
others familiar with the research, and my overall conclusion is to put
the story somewhere above cold fusion in credibility, but below
room-temperature superconductivity. It's going to be difficult to say
more before replication (if any) by others (Li is working on an
experiment, I gather), so in the meantime I can only supply the
following refs for those interested

1) The paper is called gravitational sielding properties of composite
bulk YBa2Cu307-x superconductor below 70K under an electromagnetic
field, by E E Podkletnov and P T Vuorinen. J Phys D (Appl Phys) vol 29
pp 1 -5 1996.

2) The authors cite a previous experimental claim of the same effect in
the refereed literature: E E Podkletnov and Nieminen, R in Physica C vol
203 441 (1992) (the new paper fills in experimental loopholes).

3) An attempt at theoretical explanation of the original work comes from
G Modanese, on Ginsparg's database http://xxx.lanl.gov hep-th/9505094.
Preprint now accepted by Europhys Lett. It's essentially quantum gravity
theory, very esoteric and to my mind rather unconvincing. Li is
exploring the concept of high-angular momentum ions in the Hi-Tc
s/conductors creating an intense gravito-magnetic effect many orders of
magnitude higher than that expected to be generated by general
relativity (and now being looked for in, e.g. the Stanford Gravity
Probe-B satellite). I've not seen her theory, so I have no comment to
make.
That's it for now - glad the piece generated some interest among the
Sci/Math folks !
Robert Matthews
Science Correspondent, The Sunday Telegraph, London.
-------------------end quote-----------------------------
Barry Merriman
Research Scientist, UCSD Fusion Energy Research Program
Asst. Prof., UCLA Dept. of Math
Internet email: barry@math.ucla.edu
web homepage: http://www.math.ucla.edu/~barry


From: ph1rb@mirv.comms.unsw.EDU.AU (Dr Robert J. Bursill)
Newsgroups: sci.physics.research
Subject: Re: Preprints of Finnish Anti-Gravity Research?
Date: 3 Sep 1996 16:03:24 GMT
Organization: University of New South Wales
Message-ID: <50HKSC$QM9@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>
References: <50ERNF$PVR@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>

Barry Merriman (barry@math.ucla.edu) wrote:
: According to the attached newspaper article, this research that
: appears to identify a small anti-gravity effect has
: already been accepted for publication in Physics-D.
: Can anyone locate a preprint? Or does anyone have any
: reports on the work of the Nasa-funded scientists mentiond?

: ---
: Article in Sunday Telegraph (UK), September 1 1996, page 3.

: BREAKTHROUGH AS SCIENTISTS BEAT GRAVITY.
: by Robert Matthews and Ian Sample

: SCIENTISTS in Finland are about to reveal details of the world's first

: team can increase the effect substantially, the commercial implications
: are enormous.

For a theoretical account, see the papers of Modanese from the Max
Plank Institute (in PRD). They include references to a paper published in 1992
in J Phys C by these Finish authors on precisely this effect - which
has been around for some time. I imagine the J Phys D paper will be
an update on higher weight losses. Note that 2% is a long way from
100% which is at least what you need for propulsion.

Cheers,

Robert Bursill


From: Martin Visser
Newsgroups: sci.physics.research
Subject: Re: Preprints of Finnish Anti-Gravity Research?
Date: 3 Sep 1996 16:03:55 GMT
Organization: http://www.nspace.com.au/~mvisser
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Message-ID: <50HKTB$QML@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>
References: <50ERNF$PVR@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>

Have a squiz at http://www.padrak.com/ine/RS_REF2.html for more info.
--


From: pastymage@aol.com (PastyMage)
Reply-To: pastymage@aol.com (PastyMage)
Newsgroups: sci.physics.research
Subject: Re: Preprints of Finnish Anti-Gravity Research
Date: 4 Sep 1996 14:20:10 GMT
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Message-ID: <50K36Q$SUC@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>

Dr Robert J. Bursill (ph1rb@mirv.comms.unsw.EDU.AU) wrote:

:For a theoretical account, see the papers of Modanese from the Max
:Plank Institute (in PRD). They include references to a paper published in
1992
:in J Phys C by these Finish authors on precisely this effect - which
:has been around for some time. I imagine the J Phys D paper will be
:an update on higher weight losses. Note that 2% is a long way from
:100% which is at least what you need for propulsion.

Well, you only need greater than 100% if you want to use *solely* such a
device for propulsion. Were it to be combined with conventional rockets,
they would require not only far less fuel, but less *expensive* fuels as
well.

-Dave


From: Brian Douglas Koberlein
Newsgroups: sci.physics.research
Subject: Re: Preprints of Finnish Anti-Gravity Research
Date: 5 Sep 1996 14:17:08 GMT
Organization: The Internet Center - Raleigh, NC
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID: <50MND4$4D5@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>
References: <50K36Q$SUC@AGATE.BERKELEY.EDU>

:in J Phys C by these Finish authors on precisely this effect - which
:has been around for some time. I imagine the J Phys D paper will be
:an update on higher weight losses. Note that 2% is a long way from
:100% which is at least what you need for propulsion.

The use of the device as a propulsion system depends on the method of
weight reduction. If the device simply shields the gravitional field
(is a graviton absorber, if you will), then the only thing it would be
useful for is weight reduction (Call Jenny Craig?). If, the device is
an anti-gravity producer, then any percentage would be a useful
propulsion device, if only for "deep space". Also, if the device
reduces weight, does it also reduce the object's inertia? That is a
test I would DEFINITELY want to learn the results of.

Brian

[Moderator's note: Unless people have further information about the
actual results of the experiment in question (as opposed to
speculation about what the implications would be if the experiment is
correct), I think it's time to put and end to this thread. -TB]


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