Joseph Westley Newman (July 2, 1936 – March 6, 2015) was an American inventor and author who developed an " energy machine" deemed by the US Patent and Trademark Office to be a perpetual motion machine. He described this device in a book, '' The Energy Machine of Joseph Newman''. Newman alleged that he had a mechanical explanation for

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

unified field theory In physics, a unified field theory (UFT) is a type of field theory that allows all that is usually thought of as fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a pair of physical and virtual fields. According to the modern ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. After applying for patents on the perpetual motion motor, he battled for over seven years against what he claimed was a government conspiracy to suppress his supposed discoveries, garnering national attention as a result.

Early life

After Newman graduated from Baker High School in Mobile, Alabama, he joined the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

in 1955 to serve as an expediter, and was stationed at

Ramey Air Force Base Ramey Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. It was named after United States Army Air Forces Brigadier General Howard Knox Ramey. Following its closure, it was redeveloped into Rafael Hernandez Airp ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

where he witnessed Hurricane Betsy devastate the island in 1956. The aftermath of the hurricane prompted Newman to make a pledge to God that he would devote the rest of his life to help humanity. After leaving the Air Force a year early on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, Newman attended the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

, enrolling in economics and accounting courses. He left college after acquiring interest in inventing and not long after, was awarded patents for the first plastic barbells. After selling his barbell business, he had the capital "to buy science books" and began to study energy, electrical engineering,

and electromagnetics.

Career controversies

Joseph Newman applied for a patent on his " energy machine" in 1979, which was rejected by the US Patent and Trademark Office as a

perpetual motion machine Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an unperturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work infinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, a ...

. From 1979 to 1986 he filed lawsuits against the patent office to force the award of his patent. The

Federal District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

ordered the machine turned over to the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

for testing, conceding that "It's very unusual for us to be testing something for a patent." Matthew Heyman, a bureau spokesman, said, "I'm not aware of us ever having been involved in a patent case before." Newman persuaded seven members of Congress to sponsor private bills on his behalf that would order the Patent Office to grant him a patent. The NBS concluded that Newman's machine did not reach or exceed 100% efficiency as Newman claimed, and declared the patent unrewardable.

Later life

In 1987 he announced a run for the American Presidency, claiming that God had instructed him to run in order that the extinction of humanity by 1999 might be averted, and that

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book '' Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection ...

had predicted his existence. In 1989 Newman claimed, while already married, to have married his secretary and her 8-year-old daughter, acting on orders from God. The daughter was removed from his home by the authorities.

Documentary

Jon Fox directed a 2015 documentary film about Newman, entitled "Newman". It provides background on Newman's childhood, his struggles to obtain a patent, and interviews with Newman in 2014, shortly before his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Joseph Westley American inventors 1936 births 2015 deaths Perpetual motion