Ning Li (physicist)
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Ning Li (Chinese: 李宁, pinyin: ''Lǐ Níng''; January 14, 1943 – July 27, 2021) was a
Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...
scientist. Born in
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
, she graduated from the Department of Physics of
Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
, and in 1983 she emigrated with her family from China to the United States. She is known for her physics and
anti-gravity Anti-gravity (also known as non-gravitational field) is the phenomenon of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to either the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or to ba ...
research. In the 1990s, Li worked as a research scientist at the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research,
University of Alabama in Huntsville The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is a public research university in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and comprises eight colleges: arts, humanities ...
. In 1999, she left the university to form a company, AC Gravity LLC, to continue anti-gravity research.


Anti-gravity research

In a series of papers co-authored with fellow university physicist Douglas Torr and published between 1991 and 1993, she claimed a practical way to produce anti-gravity effects. She claimed that an anti-gravity effect could be produced by rotating ions creating a gravitomagnetic field perpendicular to their spin axis. In her theory, if a large number of ions could be aligned (in a
Bose–Einstein condensate In condensed matter physics, a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that is typically formed when a gas of bosons at very low Density, densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero#Relation with Bose–Einste ...
), the resulting effect would be a very strong gravitomagnetic field producing a strong repulsive force. The alignment may be possible by trapping superconductor ions in a lattice structure in a high-temperature superconducting disc. Her claim of having functional anti-gravity devices was cited by the popular press and in popular science magazines with some enthusiasm at the time. In 1997, Li published a paper stating that recent experiments by Eugene Podkletnov reported anomalous weight changes of 0.05-2.1% for a test mass suspended above a rotating superconductor, but that her own experiments with a non-rotating superconductor showed little, if any gravitational effect. Li is reported to have left the University of Alabama in 1999 to found the company AC Gravity LLC. AC Gravity was awarded a
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...
grant for $448,970 in 2001 to continue anti-gravity research. The grant period ended in 2002 but no results from this research were ever made public. No evidence exists that the company performed any other work, although as of 2021, AC Gravity still remains listed as an extant business. A 2023 article published by the '' Huntsville Business Journal'' cited an interview with Li's son, George Men. According to Men, Li continued anti-gravity research for the Department of Defense until suffering an auto-related injury in 2014. She stopped publishing or discussing her research findings upon attaining a
top secret Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...
security clearance. Men also stated that members of the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
approached her in 2008 regarding returning to China to continue her research. Li rejected their offer, which resulted in her being barred from entering China to attend her mother's funeral.


Death

In 2014, Ning Li was struck by a vehicle while crossing the street on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus. Li’s husband, seeing the accident, suffered a heart attack and died a year later in 2015. For Li, this accident caused permanent brain damage that resulted in
Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
shortly after. On July 27, 2021, Ning Li died at the age of 78.


References


External links


Breaking the Law of Gravity
A 1998 ''Wired'' magazine article reviewing her work, as well as others.
Bose-Einstein and Anti-Gravity
A narrative of Li's theory of operation and her future plans from the 1990s. {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Ning 21st-century American physicists University of Alabama faculty Anti-gravity American women physicists American women academics 1943 births 2021 deaths 21st-century American women scientists American academics of Chinese descent People's Republic of China emigrants to the United States People from Shandong