Juin 2005

few kilometres peTsecond. The resultingpressure changes and air-mess movementsbehave in ways that rnight possibly explain theobservations, according to calculations byT0111 Van Flandem of the Meta Researcbt-oeorporationin Washington De and Xin-SheYang ofthe University of Wales Swansea in theUK (physical Revtew D, vol67, P022002).Duifbelieves this model cannot account forthe effects observed with pendulums. He saysthat a dense mass ofair moving through theatmosphere does not change gravit)' enough toknock a pendulum significantly off-course.(8) .Duif'doesn't want to jurnp toconclusions. "It is Iikelv that the reported2l:;allomalies will turn out to be due to acombination ofeffecrs and instrumentalerrors," he says. But he concedes that thereis a slight chance some other force is at work.Given the potential implications, Duifthinksthat further experiments are justified.111e problem, of course, is money. Ailer ail,who wants to invest in a wildly unconventionaland controversial tepic like this?Enter Thomas Gccdev. ml independent~esearcher based in Brentford. Middlesex,in th: UK. Gccdev trained as a mathematicianat the University ofCambridge but he is notnew affiliated with any' university or institute.Using ms own moncy and some privatesponsorship, he is detennined ta settle theissue once and for a11 by repeating theexperiments ofAllais with scveral pcndulumsduring an eclipse. "It'spossible to build muehmore accurate and sensitive equipment than1lJn 1954,"he savs. "With20 to 100 times betterresolution and accurate electronics the effectshould hevery clear.'Maurice Allais repcrteu bizarre pendulum ettectsdllring two partialsularernpses in Paris in the 1950~J-lARAWIiICiI1 PEIHlUillMBiomedis!,}ni! red"Gravitational anomaliesare notJust confinedto eclipses"uonng tneceuneotaOOHIlal Gay,thëswfng directionappears tc œuœdm:-kvmedue tcthe.rœaûcnetthetarthAt 51iHt of sula! I1tlipsl',theswlnglllœctkmbeginstoroti;lw rapidlyiln!iclo/JI.wtseMter theecllpse,tnere 15 il serum tcnormal as thedirectionofrotationlemmes ilsslowtnenge ducklN1seTop vew 01 $Winging pendutumNwww'i 9of22 September2006 will hean acid test,hesays. That'sbecause the position ofthe sunandmoon as observed frOID the island ofSt Helena in the South Atlantic will healmostidenticalto the situation in Paris in 1954."It's an idealcase." says Goodey. "rdhec210 disappointedif we didn't sec any effects."Sorne argue that Goodey is not the rightperson to give the final verdict on the Allaiseffect. "Apparently, bis starting point is toeanied out during solar eclipses, but alsoAcld testduring lunar eclipses, which arc visible from aGoodey is convinced that Allais never received mucb larger area of the globe. (9), Saxl and prove that the effect is real." says Duifthe attention he deserves. He believes Allais's 2toAllen recorded a weak effeet in their torsion "1 hope he turns out to be critical enough."big rnistake was to publish ahnost exclusively pendulum during a lunar eclipse Goodey's Portuguese collaborator has evenin French. "Ifhc had rcported bis results in Goodey speculates that the anomalies are accused the scientific community ofcoveringEnglish from the beginning, that would have somehow related to an observer being ne-ar the up results that contradict the establishedmade a big difference. '1 Goodey has begun to Iine that commets the centres of masses of the theory. Duifis now considering teaming uptranslate Allais's publications, but ms major sun and the moon. During a total solar eclipse. 50? with colleagues in Barcelona to cany out4ovorkl'Anisotropie de J'espace is still only the sun-moon linc intersects the surtace ofthe independent experiments next year.available in French (www.allais.info). Earth at two points on roughly opposite sidcs (10) ,Allais himselfis convincedOver the next tew years, Goodey plans to orthe globe. According to Go-dey, observations that experiments will eventually praye himtravel the world with 12 newly constructed at the "anti-eclipse" point where no eclipse is right. ABfor the theory behind the mysteriouspendulums. In May, he presented his strategy ~\isible becausc ii is night-tirnerrugln carry pendulum effects, he says bluntly: "Myat a meeting ofthe Society for Scientific much grcater weight philosophy is that a11 theories are conditionalExploration in Las Vegas and invited phvsicists Alter aIL at these points therc would be and will eventua1lydisappear. But aIl the faetsta join him. Several leapt at the chance. no environmental eclipse-related effecrs thar remain. Facts are the main thing. Il ..On 8 April 2005, when ml annuler eclipse could spoil the experiments. ln fact, Goodevoceurs in Latin America, Goodey will team up~l)\~th Héctor Mùnera ofthe National Universityand astronomer Diniirrie Olcnici ortheSuceava Planetarium in Remania carried. Govert Schilling is an astronomy wrlterbased in the Netherlandsof'Colombia in Bogotà. And when another out a dry run of the expcrimcnt last 1110nthFurther reading: "Areview ofconventionalannular eclipse crosses Portugal and Spain in Malaysia ai the anti-eclipse point ofexplanations ofanomalous observations during soaron 3 October ncxt year. he plans to work with a lunar eclipse whiclt occurred on 28 October. eclipses" by Chris DUifwww.arxiv.orglgr-qclsbs/0408023José Borges de Ah11eida orthe University of ;i{o During this dry ruD, Gonde.y dctectcdMinho in Braga, Portugal.no dTcct He is noV\' looking fonvard to hvoPendulum experiments willllot onl)' be solar eclipses lle\.'1 ycar. He \-\'iIl use sevcralpmdulums at each location. And the eclipse