Friday 6 July 2007

Steorn have already given up

Well that was quick! It looks like Steorn have given up on the idea of a public demonstration. Here's their press release:

Steorn announcement: Kinetica Demonstration

Further to Steorn’s announcement yesterday (5th July) regarding the technical difficulties experienced during the installation of its “Orbo” technology at the Kinentica Museum in London, Steorn has decided to postpone the demonstration until further notice.

Sean McCarthy CEO stated that “technical problems arose during the installation of the demonstration unit in the display case on Wednesday evening. These problems were primarily due to excessive heat from the lighting in the main display area. Attempts to replace those parts affected by the heat led to further failures and as a result we have to postpone the public demonstration until a future date.”

He continued that “we apologise for the inconvenience caused to all the people who had made arrangements to visit the demonstration or were planning on viewing the demonstration online.”

Over the next few weeks the company will explore alternative dates for the public demonstration.


Steorn have rearranged their site to hide any mentions of their ill-fated attempt at demonstrating that the laws of physics don't apply to them. Before and after shots below - the demonstration link is gone...



Amusingly though, it looks like they forgot to switch the cameras off. I've seen a couple of people wandering around - probably museum curators. If I were them, I don't know whether I'd be more angry or embarrassed. To their credit though, they're a gallery, not a scientific exhibition, so I think it's well within their remit to show controversial things irrespective of scientific merit. As for Steorn, I'm not feeling as forgiving...


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