'one Eric Laithwaite'

[sphenisc]

I thought I ought to put int a good word for Eric Laithwaite, who gave one of the most memorable of the Royal Institution Christmas lectures during my youth. A true maverick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Laithwaite

[Verde]

I thought I ought to put int a good word for Eric Laithwaite, who gave one of the most memorable of the Royal Institution Christmas lectures during my youth. A true maverick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Laithwaite

Thanks for the memory-jog.

Prof. Laithwaite was a guest lecturer when I was doing my undergrad work at University of Essex in the early 70s. He had some very interesting pieces of machinery to demonstrate his gyroscopic theories, and it was impressive to see large bits of metal change direction apparently instantly with very little applied force.

I seem to recall him also doing a demonstration of _something_ using a teapot and a 'shaggy-dog' story.

He may well have had a fringe side to his work, but he was certainly a very entertaining, and thought provoking, presenter.

My curiosity has been peaked; I'm now going to have to dig around for more information.

[sphenisc]

...
My curiosity has been peaked; I'm now going to have to dig around for more information.

Let me know what you find out. I'd hate for the only association in people's minds to be with woo perpetual motion.

[ceptimus]

His first Christmas lecture series, 'The engineer in wonderland' was mainly about the development of electrical machines, and particularly the linear induction motor. It covered the electo-magnetic levitation of objects - Professor Laithwaite was fundamentally involved with the development of much of the technology of maglev trains.

The lectures were so acclaimed that he was invited back to present a second series (unprescedented?) which he entitled, 'The engineer through the looking glass'. This was mainly concerned with the behavior of gyroscopes, though it also covered magnetic levitation and drive again.

Both series of lectures began with quotes from Lewis Caroll's 'Alice' books - for example the lecture that covered the strange behavior of gyroscopes began with a reading of 'Beware the Jaberwock' (which, of course, contains the words 'gyre' and 'gimbal').

There were books made of both series of lectures, though they are most likely out of print now.

Some video of the gyroscope lecture can still be found on-line.

In latter life, Professor Laithwaite became involved in the search for a gyroscope-based 'space drive' (action without reaction, in defiance of Newton's Laws) and this lead to him being shunned by his fellow engineers and physicists - a great shame, in my opinion. Note that this space drive was never claimed to be a perpetual motion machine.

His talks were always interesting, and sometimes inspirational. Professor Laithwaite remains one of my heroes. It's not necessary to agree with everything a man says, in order to respect him. Those that challenge received wisdom are often the most intereresting, even if they are sometimes wrong.