Boris Volfson
Boris Volfson | |
|---|---|
| Known for | U.S. Patent 6,960,975 for an "anti-gravity" space vehicle |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Propulsion (proposed) |
Boris Volfson is an inventor from Huntington, Indiana, known for a United States patent describing a proposed anti-gravity space vehicle. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Patent
In 2005 Volfson was granted U.S. Patent 6,960,975, "Space vehicle propelled by the pressure of inflationary vacuum state" (filed 14 March 2005, issued 1 November 2005). The patent describes a craft with a cooled hollow superconductive shield that, when energized by an electromagnetic field, is claimed to produce quantized vortices of lattice ions projecting a gravitomagnetic field. According to the application, this would form a spacetime-curvature anomaly outside the vehicle whose imbalance provides propulsion.
The patent drew wide attention as an example of fringe or "crank" science; commentators noted that it builds on Eugene Podkletnov's disputed claim that superconductors can shield gravity, a claim not accepted by mainstream physics. The proposed mechanism has no accepted theoretical or experimental basis.