Juin 2005

few kilometres per second. The resultingpressure changes and air -mass movementsbehave in ways that mighr possiblv explain theobservations, eccording ta calculutions bvTom Van Flandem ofthe Meta Research:ceorporation in Washington De and Xin-SheYang orthe University ofWales Swanseain theUK (Physical ReviewD, vol67, P 022CX!2).Duifbelieves this model cannot account forthe effects observed with pendulurns. He savsthat a dense ruass ofair moving through theatrnosphere cines not change gravity enough toknock a pendulum significantlv off-course.(8) .Duit'doesn't want to jump taconclusions. "It is likely that the reported~anomalies will tum out ta be due to acombination ofeffects and instrumentalerrors," he says. But he concedes that thereis a slight chance sorne ether force is at work.Given the potentiel implications, Duifthinksthat further experimenta are justified.The problem, of course, is money. Ailer all.who wants to invest in a wildlv uncorrventionaland controversial topic like this?Enter Thomas Goodey, an independent~searcherbased in Brentford. Middlesex.in the UK. Goodev trained as a mathematicianat the I Jniversirvof Cambridge but he is notnow affiliated with anv university or institute.Using ms 0\'\11 monev·and sorne privatesponsorship, he is determined to seule theissue once and for aIl by repeating theexperiments ofAllais with severa] pendulumsduring an eclipse. "It's possible 10 build muchmore accuratc and sensitive cquipment thanBJ.11 1954," he savs. "With 20 to 100 times betterresolution and accuratc electronics the effecrshouldbe vervclear."MlIurÎ(l' Allais raperted beerre pencutum ettects duringtwo partialsolereclipses in Paris in the 19S0sPI\RACQ!lIu\L PEN[iUWH~\lrljJQrt bauBion;;;'·ili"s(anu r~Jl1"Gravitatlonal anomaliesare l'lotJust confinedta eclipses"Durlng thereuaeofanormal da1,the~wing difl2(tîoneppeaefcrotate(jockwlsl! clue totherotation ofHl(' ëartnropvew 01 swmgmg peuüutumAtsart orsoter l!dipsl.', Iltnë swing diredion..begins W rctateraplril'lMltlclockwisew1After the echpI\'.mere tsa return 10!lUfm~l asthedirection ofrotationfemme; its slowchange clod{Wi,eW/1Il\ 9of22 September2006 will be an acid test,he says. That's because the position of the sunandmoon as observed from the island ofSt Helena in the South Atlantic will be almostidentica1 to the situation in Paris in 1954."It'san idea1 case," says Goodey. "l'd be;210 disappointedifwe didn't see any effects."Sorne argue that Goodey is not the rightperson to give the final verdict on the Allaiseffect "Apparently, bis starting point is tocarried out during solar eclipses. but alsoAcid testduring lunar eclipses. which are visible from aGoodey is convincedthat Allais neverreceived much larger area of the globe. (9)" Saxi and prove that the effect is real," says Duifthe attention he deserves. He believes Allais's 2G?Allen recorded a wcak effect in their torsion "1 hope he tums out to be critical enough."big mistake was to publish almost exclusively pendulum during a Iunar eclipse. Gocdey's Portuguese collaborator has evenin French. "Ifhe had reported his results in Goodev speculatcs that the anomalies are accused the scientific community of coveringEnglish from the begiuning, 013twould have somehow related to an observer being uear the up results that contradict the cstablishedmade a big difference. Tl Goodev has begun ta Iine that connects the centres of masses ofthe theory. Duifis now considering teaming uptranslate Allais's publications, but bis majorM-vorkI'Anisotropte de l'espaceis stillonIy the SUil-11100n line intersecrs the surface orthe independent experiments next ycar.available in French rwww.ellais.infot Eorth at two points on roughlv opposite sides (10) , Allais himselfis convinced.Over the next lev,' years, Goodey plans to ofthe globe. According 10Goode\·, ohservations that experiments will eventually praye himtravel the world with 12 ncwly constructed at the "anti-eclipsc" point 1,.vhere no cdipse is right.ABfor the theory behind the mysteriouspendlÙUl11s. In May, he presented lus strategy ;th,\,isib1c becuuse it is night-time might car0 pendulum effects, he says bhmtly: "MyOlt a meeting ofthe Society for Scientific 111uch greater weigbt. philosophy is that ail theories are conditionalExploration in Las Vegas·and rnvited physicists Mer alL at these points there would be and will eventually disappear. But ail the factstojoin him. Severalleapt at the chance. no environrnental ec1ipse-related eftects that remam Facts are the main thing." ..On 8 April 2005, when an aIU1Ular ec1îpse could spoiJ the experiments_ In faet. Goode\"occurs in Latin America, Goodey will tcam up and astronomer Dimitrie Olellici orthe . Govert Schilling is an astronomy writerbased in the NetherlandsMvith Héctor MlUlera of the NationallJJuversity Suceava Planetarium in Romania carriedofCülombia in Bogotà. And when another out a dG' mn or the experiment last monthFurther reading: "Arevle'N ofconventionalmmular eclipse crosses Portugal and Spain in Malaysia al the anti-eclipse point ofexplanations ofanomalous obselYatîons during solaron 3 October ne~1 year. he plans to work with a lunar cc1ipsewhich occlm·ed. on 28 Octüber.ecli~' by Chn, Duifwww.arx".orglgr-qclabsl0408023Jose Borges de Almeida ofthe University of J'lo During this dG· mil. Cioodey detectedMinho in Braga. Portugal.no crfeet. He is no\\' looking fonv