Few people visit the Royal Institution, in London's Albemarle Street, for amusement. There are not many laughs at Britain's second oldest scientific institution, founded in 1799, where Sir Humphry Davy demonstrated his discovery of the elements sodium and potassium and where Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction. It's true there have been some lighter moments in the famous circular lecture theatre, especially since Sir William Bragg introduced Christmas Lectures for Children in the 1920s. But, on the whole, this is stuffed shirt territory.

Townsend Brown checking a geophysical sensor strip recorder in Hawaii. ? Optical Multimedia (copyright) http://www.soteria.com/

One of the greatest energies in the universe is the force of gravitation. The power potential of this force exceeds atomic energy and produces no deadly gamma rays in the process. During this century, Thomas Townsend Brown probably came closest to tapping the potential of this free and boundless energy. Brown realized early on that mankind's use of power in jet- and rocket-propelled vehicles is a "sledge and hammer" approach to gaining high-speed, high-altitude flight. Engineers have increased vehicle thrust significantly, but the gain in speed and power is marginal when compared to the energy expended. Is brute rocket force the best way to reach the stars? Brown didn't think so (

Thomas Townsend Brown and his flying discs

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May 5, 1991

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From the November, 1958 FATE magazine.
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