Anti-gravity research on the rise

Scruff

Seems there is a lot of big names coming out of the woodwork and admitting they're seriously looking to Anti-gravity.

New Scientist atricle

Researchers around the world are opening their minds to the possibility that the phenomenon of anti-gravity is not just science fiction.

Most respected physicists still scoff at the idea that experimental equipment can reduce gravity, but several groups have been working on it independently and are coming to the same conclusion: it might just be true.

The news, first revealed in New Scientist magazine in January 2002, centres around Russian scientist, Evgeny Podkletnov. In 1992 he claimed to be the first person to witness the reduction of gravity above a spinning superconducting disc.

Podkletnov, a specialist in superconductors, says he stumbled on the effect whilst performing a routine test on a large superconductor in his laboratory at the Tampere University of Technology, Finland.

BBC News article

seems to be a lot of big names in there:
Boeing's Phantom Works , NASA, the military wing of the UK hi-tech group BAE Systems.

Cant help wondering how long the U.S. military has really had it

seamus

Heh, that's funny. I was thinking about it only the other day, and then I saw this in the paper yesterday When people say 'it can't be done', I just think back - there were once reputable scientists who theorised that the sound barrier couldn't be broken,..........

Rabies

Originally posted by seamus
Heh, that's funny. I was thinking about it only the other day, and then I saw this in the paper yesterday When people say 'it can't be done', I just think back - there were once reputable scientists who theorised that the sound barrier couldn't be broken,..........

there has been a good bit of coverage of this on the internet. it seems this guy was able to get a 2% reduction in weight from the object he was testing. Boeing are looking in to the future possibilities.

There was some other test carried out during the week. The possible result in the future is aircraft that could travel about 7 times the speed of sound

Ruaidhri

off topic but funnily enough that a lot of discoveries are accidents(the microwave springs to mind)
which makes me wonder if all this research is needed since scientists always manage to discover things when they are working on something else

GerK

Practically every innovation or discovery that has threatened the status quo throughout history has been either passively or actively been suppressed by the scientific elite.
It always makes me sick when I hear of scientists scoffing at the results of an experiment or at a new theory and branding it impossible. THAT is not science. Getting off your ass and attempting to replicate or disprove it is.

The main thing holding back scientific discovery has always been the arrogance and closed mindedness of the scientific community.

Nietzschean

Originally posted by GerK
Practically every innovation or discovery that has threatened the status quo throughout history has been either passively or actively been suppressed by the scientific elite.
It always makes me sick when I hear of scientists scoffing at the results of an experiment or at a new theory and branding it impossible. THAT is not science. Getting off your ass and attempting to replicate or disprove it is.

The main thing holding back scientific discovery has always been the arrogance and closed mindedness of the scientific community.

if you bothered to read the articals linked above you would note american scientists are trying to repeat the experment. So if you have nothing of any use to add please be quiet.

Ciaran

What a terrible pun in the title.

BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

GerK

Originally posted by Serialkiller


if you bothered to read the articals linked above you would note american scientists are trying to repeat the experment. So if you have nothing of any use to add please be quiet.

OK I recognize the fact that you are looking for some kind of confrontation here as you doubtless some friendless "hacker" type who still lives with his parents and spends most of his time making sweet sweet love to his handbuilt PC.

But I would like to point out a couple of things to you that I'm going to guess you are incapable of divining unassisted.

My comment was a generic one which is entirely accurate in both the historical context as well as in this particular case "Most respected physicists still scoff at the idea that experimental equipment can reduce gravity" from the New Scientist article and "Dr Podkletnov is viewed with suspicion by many conventional scientists. They have not been able to reproduce his results." from the BBC.
As far as I am aware the only group thus far to try to independently verify Dr. Podkletnov results using similar apparatus is NASA (others are engaged in anti-Grav research of course) and since NASA does not expect to have any results 'till the end of this year I can only assume the reason nobody has reproduced the result is mainly for the lack of trying. From this alone it would seem that you Serialkiller *Yawn* may be the one who has not fully read the two cited articles.

I personally first read this story back in 1992 when it appeared in Focus magazine as well as a handful of newspapers . I have been loosely following it since that time, through the denials and retractions (Tampere University at one stage denied Dr. Podkletnov ever worked there if some articles are to be believed) right up to the current reassertion of his findings as well as the new claims.

Whilst on a trip to Turku in Finland I made contact with an individual who works as a researcher/lecturer in Tampere University and I have had the opportunity to unofficially verify that Dr. Podkletnov did indeed work in Tampere and that he did indeed make the claims attributed to him in 1992. I like to verify facts of stories I am interested in if possible, especially when there are so many conflicting articles and inaccurate coverage.

In short, I think its clear that you are the only one who has failed to add in any way to meaningful debate, unless of course you consider telling someone whose viewpoint you either don't understand or don't agree with to "be quiet" counts.