Modification of flight explanation from Wolverton's book

[MarkPalenik]

Pure, unadultarated quackery.  There's no reason to even consider taking this guy seriously until you can see his results published in a peer reviewed journal.

[ManSinha]

Well, it does say that he is persecuted by the scientific establishment. That said, it would be near impossible to get his work in a peer reviewed journal, even if said work merited it.

[MarkPalenik]

Why do you think he's "persecuted" by the establishment?  Because they looked at what he was saying and found it absolutely ridiculous - and it is - physically speaking, what he claims is impossible.

If his work was deserving of any merit, it would be published in a peer reviewed journal - although even that wouldn't mean he was actually correct.  In fact, the sheer usefullness of "anti-gravity" are so numerous, I'm sure somebody would jump at the chance to make use of his research if he were legitimate.

In Russia there was a trend, especially during the cold war, for everyone to call himself a "scientist", because the government wanted to encourage science and offered a lot of benefits to anyone claiming to be a scientist, which significantly improved the quality of life.  While this is no longer true, there is still a huge mass of "scientists" in Russia with no scientific training or ability whatsoever left over from this era.  There is a lot of incredibly bad "research" done in Russia because of this - although it usually isn't that difficult to sort out the obvious frauds, like this guy.

And finally, every crank claims he's being "persecuted".  The number of legitimate scientists whose work is brushed off as fanciful is incredibly small, and they *always* find a way, eventually to make their work viewed as legitimate.

[ManSinha]

You are largely correct, except for some, their ideas have received merit only after their times

[MarkPalenik]

I'm curious, to who are you referring?  The only example I can think of off of the top of my head would be Gallileo, but for the most part, his ideas *were* accepted at the time, although there was the matter of the persecution of the church - I think we can safely say that was a completely different situation, though.  If the scientist from the article posted here is being persecuted in *that* manner, he should probably notify the authorities.

[ManSinha]

Galileo for one certainly; Leonardo da Vinci's inventions were also largely credited after his time.

[MarkPalenik]

Anyone more recent?  I don't think either of those situations are similar to this man's.

And I'm kind of hesitant to call Leo a scientist - and even if his ideas weren't credited until after his time, I don't think they caused him to be persecuted during his time.

[RedSunOfKrypton]

I figured I'd revive this thread and post this. It has some pretty cool scientific stuff about Superman's powers. Be sure to scroll right to the bottom for the "next" button...some people miss it.

EDIT: Heh, I just noticed the authors section at the end, and one of them is our very own Captain Kal. Good work Cap.