Thomas Townsend Brown was an American inventor and researcher best known for his pioneering work on asymmetric capacitors and their potential connection to gravity and propulsion. His experiments and patents from the 1920s onward inspired both serious scientific inquiry and a lasting legacy in antigravity folklore, despite never achieving mainstream scientific validation.
The Biefeld–Brown effect refers to the phenomenon Brown observed in high-voltage asymmetric capacitors, where a thrust appears to act toward the positive electrode. While Brown believed this effect hinted at a link between electricity and gravity, later research showed the force is due to ionized air movement—an electrohydrodynamic effect—rather than any modification of gravity itself.
Early experiments and Biefeld–Brown effect
Brown began testing high-voltage asymmetric capacitors at Denison University in 1921, observing a thrust toward the positive electrode. He patented the first "gravitator" device in 1928 and spent the next decade refining laboratory rigs that appeared to lighten when charged.12
Eager for institutional support, Brown enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1930. A posting to the Naval Research Laboratory gave him access to precision equipment, and in 1932 he joined Dutch geophysicist Felix Vening Meinesz on a submarine gravity-survey cruise, one of several occasions where military contacts intersected with his electrogravitics agenda.3
During the war Brown worked on radar and minesweeping projects at Vega Aircraft and briefly served as a radar instructor. Family accounts describe clandestine 1945 missions to secure German technology, claims that remain undocumented yet feed later conspiracy lore.4
Electrogravitics craze of the 1950s
Brown's public demonstrations of tethered "flying discs" in 1952 drew press attention and prompted the Office of Naval Research to commission physicist Willoughby Cady, whose report attributed the motion to ionised air, not new physics.5 Despite the verdict, aviation firms including Martin and Convair opened exploratory gravity-control projects, and a 1956 industry brief forecast near-term field propulsion.
European tests and NICAP chairmanship
Between 1955 and 1957 Brown worked with French engineer Jean-Jacques Barré on vacuum-chamber trials dubbed Project Montgolfier; thrust vanished once air was removed, reinforcing the ion-wind model. Back in Washington he became the first chairman of NICAP, only to be forced out months later when board members feared donor funds might flow into his private research.
Bahnson laboratory and filmed levitation
Financier Agnew Bahnson funded a well-equipped lab in Winston-Salem in 1957-58. High-speed footage from January 1958 shows a multi-kilovolt capacitor stack lifting off its stand, a scene often quoted by antigravity enthusiasts. Subsequent measurements, however, matched electrohydrodynamic thrust predictions in air.
Classified phase and Northrop transfer
In 1967 Brown demonstrated a silent ion-propelled fan for investor Floyd Odlum; observers included Gen. Curtis LeMay and physicist Edward Teller. Weeks later the project moved behind corporate gates at Northrop, and Odlum granted Brown a lifetime stipend, effectively retiring him from public work.6
Later commercial spin-offs
Brown's ionic-flow patents underpinned later electrostatic air purifiers and cooling fans, most famously the "Ionic Breeze" line sold in the 1990s. NASA and academic labs replicated his devices, confirming their efficiency for moving air but finding no reaction force in high vacuum.7
Scientific assessment
Selected patents
Influence on UFO culture
Brown's asymmetric capacitors became a staple reference in antigravity literature, and rumors persist that the B-2 bomber uses derivative charge-control techniques. Though unsupported by open data, the narratives keep Brown central to discussions of exotic propulsion.