Stefan Marinov
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Stefan Marinov | |
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Born | |
Died | 15 July 1997 | (aged 66)
Cause of death | Suicide |
Nationality | Bulgarian |
Alma mater | Czech Technical University in Prague Sofia University |
Known for | Free energy The ball-bearing motor on YouTube |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Experimental physics Theoretical physics Fringe science |
Institutions | Sofia University |
Notes | |
Stefan Marinov (Bulgarian: Стефан Маринов) (1 February 1931 – 15 July 1997) was a Bulgarian physicist, researcher, writer and lecturer who promoted anti-relativistic theoretical viewpoints, and later in his life defended the ideas of perpetual motion and free energy. In 1997 he self-published experimental results that confirmed classical electromagnetism and disproved that a machine constructed by Marinov himself could be a source of perpetual motion.[1][2] Devastated by the negative results, he committed suicide[3] in Graz, Austria on 15 July 1997.
Life and education
Marinov was born on 1 February 1931 in Sofia to a family of intellectual communists.[4] In 1948 he finished Soviet College in Prague, then studied physics at the Czech Technical University in Prague and Sofia University. He was an Assistant Professor of Physics from 1960 to 1974 at Sofia University. In 1966-67, 1974, and 1977 he was subject to compulsory psychiatric treatment in Sofia because of his political dissent. In September 1977 Marinov received a passport and he successfully emigrated out of the country, moving to Brussels. In 1978, Marinov moved to Washington, D.C.. Later he lived in Italy and Austria. In his later years, Marinov earned a living as a groom for horses.
On 15 July 1997, Marinov jumped to his death from a staircase at a library at the University of Graz, after leaving suicide notes.[3] He was 66 years old and was survived by his son Marin Marinov, who at the time was a vice-Minister of Industry of Bulgaria.
Work
One of Marinov's interests was the quest for free energy sources via construction of toy theories (new axiomatic systems that putatively describe our physical reality) and their experimental testing against mainstream physical theories. In 1992 Marinov wrote a letter to German Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl in support of a German company, Becocraft, that was doing research into "free energy" technologies and had recently been the target of lawsuits. In the letter, Marinov threatened to set himself on fire at the steps of the German parliament if Kohl was not willing to intervene in favour of Marinov's associates.
Research
Marinov attempted to find experimental disproof of the theory of relativity by testing the speed of light in different directions using an arrangement of coupled mirrors and coupled shutters.[5][6] Marinov reported in 1974 that he had measured an anisotropy of the velocity of light.[7] However, Marinov's claims have not found acceptance within the scientific community, despite his energetic efforts to promote his claims. Marinov planned to develop an updating of the relativistic mechanics and electrodynamics, as described in his self-published book Eppur si Muove.[4] Marinov succeeded in having his claims presented in numerous publications including peer-reviewed journals.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
Marinov was involved publicly with many quarrels with John Maddox, the editor of Nature, who refused to print either his papers or his letters to the editor. He retaliated by securing the funds to place a full-page advertisement in Nature expressing his frustration with what he regarded as the dogmatic attitude of the establishment.[22] Marinov himself published a journal, Deutsche Physik, of which he was editor-in-chief and which discussed mainly his ideas on physics.
Stefan Marinov was interested in bizarre experiments alleged to violate known physical laws.[23][24] Marinov claimed to have seen in operation and learned the secret of the so-called "Swiss ML converter" or Testatika electrical generator, another alleged perpetual motion machine, at a religious commune in Switzerland called Methernitha.[3] According to Marinov's account, this 500-member commune, led by religious leader Paul Baumann, met all its energy needs using this device.[3]
Marinov has been editor of a five-volume encyclopaedic series called "Classical Physics".[25][26][27][28][29] In 1993 Marinov also authored a book on electromagnetism[30] which discoursed on his belief that mainstream scientific thought was mired in dogma and had discarded still-valid knowledge from scientific thought of previous eras. In 1997 in the last issue 21 of Deutsche Physik, Marinov self-published experimental results that disprove that the Siberian Coliu, constructed by Marinov himself, is a perpetual motion machine, and where Marinov concluded that Ampere's law in electromagnetism is correct.[1][2] Most of Marinov's friends think these negative results on constructing a source of free energy (in order to solve the global energy needs of humanity) might have pushed him to commit a suicide.[3][31]
References
- ^ a b Marinov S (1997). "Siberian Coliu machine with eccentric circular current rotor". Deutsche Physik. 6 (21): 5–36.
- ^ a b Marinov S (1997). "Editor's comments on "A history of the theories of aether and electricity by E. Whittaker"". Deutsche Physik. 6 (21): 56.
- ^ a b c d e Schneeberger E, Bass R (1997). "Stefan Marinov: In Memoriam: My Scientific Testament; A Strong Voice Is Missing (Last Will and Testament); Letter from Erwin Schneeberger; Letter from Dr. Robert W. Bass". New Energy News. 5 (5): 1–3.
- ^ a b
Marinov S (1987). Eppur Si Muove: Axiomatics, Fundamentals and Experimental Verification of the Absolute Space-Time Theory. Graz: East-West Publishers. Archived from the original on 2013-01-04.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Stefan Marinov (1983). "The interrupted 'rotating disc' experiment" (PDF). Journal of Physics A. 16: 1885–1888. Bibcode:1983JPhA...16.1885M. doi:10.1088/0305-4470/16/9/013.
- ^
Marinov S (2007). "New Measurement of the Earth's Absolute Velocity with the Help of the Coupled Shutters Experiment" (PDF). Progress in Physics. 1: 31–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-09.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Marinov S (1974). "The velocity of light is direction dependent". Czechoslovak Journal of Physics B. 24 (9): 965–970. Bibcode:1974CzJPh..24..965M. doi:10.1007/BF01591047.
- ^ Marinov S (1972). "How to measure the earth's velocity with respect to absolute space". Physics Letters A. 41 (5): 433–434. Bibcode:1972PhLA...41..433M. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(72)90392-1.
- ^ Marinov S (1970). "Experimentum crucis for the proof of the space-time absoluteness". Physics Letters A. 32 (3): 183–184. Bibcode:1970PhLA...32..183M. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(70)90265-3.
- ^ Marinov S (1972). "Concerning the experimentum crucis for the proof of the space-time absoluteness". Physics Letters A. 40 (1): 73–74. Bibcode:1972PhLA...40...73M. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(72)90205-8.
- ^ Marinov S (1973). "Kantor's second-order Doppler-effect experiment treated by the absolute space-time theory". Physics Letters A. 44 (1): 21–22. Bibcode:1973PhLA...44...21M. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(73)90941-9.
- ^ Marinov S (1974). "Velocity of light in a moving medium according to the absolute space-time theory". International Journal of Theoretical Physics. 9 (2): 139–144. Bibcode:1974IJTP....9..139M. doi:10.1007/BF01807696.
- ^ Marinov S (1975). "A reliable experiment for the proof of the space-time absoluteness". Physics Letters A. 54 (1): 19–20. Bibcode:1975PhLA...54...19M. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(75)90589-7.
- ^ Marinov S (1976). "International Conference on Space-Time Absoluteness". New Scientist. 71 (1019): 662.
- ^ Marinov S (1976). "Gravitational (dynamic) time dilation according to absolute space-time theory". Foundations of Physics. 6 (5): 571–581. Bibcode:1976FoPh....6..571M. doi:10.1007/BF00715109.
- ^ Marinov S (1977). "A pure experiment to establish that the velocity of light does not depend on the velocity of the source". Physics Letters A. 62 (5): 293–294. Bibcode:1977PhLA...62..293M. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(77)90419-4.
- ^ Marinov S (1978). "Rotating disk experiments". Foundations of Physics. 8 (1–2): 137–156. Bibcode:1978FoPh....8..137M. doi:10.1007/BF00708494.
- ^ Marinov S (1978). "The light Doppler effect treated by absolute spacetime theory". Foundations of Physics. 8 (7–8): 637–652. Bibcode:1978FoPh....8..637M. doi:10.1007/BF00717587.
- ^ Marinov S (1979). "The coordinate transformations of the absolute space-time theory". Foundations of Physics. 9 (5–6): 445–460. Bibcode:1979FoPh....9..445M. doi:10.1007/BF00708535.
- ^ Marinov S (1980). "Measurement of the laboratory's absolute velocity" (PDF). General Relativity and Gravitation. 12 (1): 57–66. Bibcode:1980GReGr..12...57M. doi:10.1007/BF00756168.
- ^ Marinov S (1982). "Measurement of the one-way speed of light and the Earth's absolute velocity". Proceeding of 2nd Marcel Grossmann Meeting, Trieste, Italy: 547–550.
- ^
Stefan Marinov (1996). "Annus Horribilis". Nature. 380 (6572): xiv. Archived from the original on 2007-02-11.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Stefan Marinov (1989). "The Intriguing ball-bearing motor". Electronics World & Wireless World (April). Reed Business Publishing.
- ^ Frank Ogden (1989). "Great Balls of Fire!". Electronics World & Wireless World (April). Reed Business Publishing.
- ^ Marinov S (1981). Classical Physics, Part I: Mathematical Apparatus. Graz: East-West Publishers.
- ^ Marinov S (1981). Classical Physics, Part II: Axiomatics & Low-Velocity Mechanics. Graz: East-West Publishers.
- ^ Marinov S (1981). Classical Physics, Part III: High-Velocity Mechanics. Graz: East-West Publishers.
- ^ Marinov S (1981). Classical Physics, Part IV: Gravimagretism. Graz: East-West Publishers.
- ^ Marinov S (1981). Classical Physics, Part V: Electromagnetism. Graz: East-West Publishers.
- ^ Marinov S (1993). Divine Electromagnetism. Graz: East-West Publishers.
- ^
Pappas P (1997). "Update on Stefan Marinov's Death (E-mails by Panos Pappas)".
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(help)
- Bulgarian physicists
- Pseudoscientific physicists
- Perpetual motion
- Bulgarian expatriates in Belgium
- Bulgarian expatriates in the United States
- Bulgarian expatriates in Italy
- Bulgarian expatriates in Austria
- People from Sofia
- People from Graz
- Scientists who committed suicide
- Suicides by jumping in Austria
- 1931 births
- 1997 deaths
- Czech Technical University in Prague alumni