View source for Biography:Ning Li (physicist)

{{Short description|American physicist (1943–2021)}}
'''Ning Li''' (January 14, 1943 – July 27, 2021) was a Chinese American scientist. In 1983 she emigrated with her family from China to the USA.<ref name="HBJ"/> She is known for her physics and [[Physics:Anti-gravity|anti-gravity]] research. In the 1990s, Li worked as a research scientist at the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, [[Organization:University of Alabama in Huntsville|University of Alabama in Huntsville]]. In 1999, she left the university to form a company, AC Gravity LLC, to continue anti-gravity research.

==Anti-gravity claims==
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 [[Physics:Bose–Einstein condensate|Bose–Einstein condensate]]) the resulting effect would be a very strong gravitomagnetic field producing a strong repulsive force. The alignment may be possible by trapping [[Physics:Superconductor|superconductor]] ions in a lattice structure in a [[Physics:High-temperature superconductivity|high-temperature superconducting]] disc. Li claimed that experimental results confirmed her theories.<ref name="CSPAAR">{{Cite web|date=August 11, 1998|title=CSPAAR - Research [Gravity]|url=http://cspar.uah.edu/www/research/gravity.htmlx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000520044627/cspar.uah.edu/www/research/gravity.htmlx|archive-date=May 20, 2000|access-date=|website=Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) at University of Alabama in Huntsville}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Physical Review|date=January 15, 1991|title=Effects of a gravitomagnetic field on pure superconductors|last1=Li|first1=Ning|last2=Torr|first2=DG|volume=D43|issue=2|pages=457–459|doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.43.457|pmid=10013404|bibcode = 1991PhRvD..43..457L }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Physical Review|date=September 1, 1992|doi=10.1103/PhysRevB.46.5489|pmid=10004334|title=Gravitational effects on the magnetic attenuation of superconductors|last1=Li|first1=Ning|last2=Torr|first2=DG|volume=B46|issue=9|pages=5489–5495|bibcode = 1992PhRvB..46.5489L }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Ning|last2=Torr|first2=DG|journal=Foundations of Physics Letters|title=Gravito-electric coupling via superconductivity|volume=6|issue=4|pages=371–383|date=August 1, 1993|doi=10.1007/BF00665654|bibcode = 1993FoPhL...6..371T |s2cid=122075917}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Jim|date=October 1, 2000|title=Taming Gravity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXYo4mrq9Q4C&pg=PA40|url-status=bot: unknown|journal=Popular Mechanics|volume=177|issue=10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920110240/https://books.google.com/books?id=OXYo4mrq9Q4C&pg=PA40|archive-date=September 20, 2022|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Powell|first=Corey|date=May 1999|title=Zero Gravity – Antigravity devices|work=Discover Magazine|url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/magazine/1999/may|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826124953/https://www.discovermagazine.com/magazine/1999/may|archive-date=2021-08-26|access-date=2021-08-26|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> In 1997 Li published a paper stating that recent experiments reported anomalous weight changes of 0.05-2.1% for a test mass suspended above a rotating superconductor. Although the same paper describes another experiment that showed the gravitational effect of a non rotating superconductor was very small, if any effect existed at all.<ref>{{cite journal| author=N. Li| display-authors=4| author2=D. Noever| author3=T. Robertson| author4=R. Koczor| author5=W. Brantley| name-list-style=amp |title=Static Test for a Gravitational Force Coupled to Type II YBCO Superconductors|journal=[[Physics:Physica C|Physica C]]|volume=281|issue=2–3|date=August 1997|pages=260–267|bibcode = 1997PhyC..281..260L |doi = 10.1016/S0921-4534(97)01462-7 }}</ref>

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 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/Docs/FY01RPT.doc|title=Annual Report on Cooperative Agreements and Other Transactions Entered into During FY2001 Under 10 USC 2371|publisher=US Department of Defense|format=doc|page=66|access-date=March 6, 2014|archive-date=August 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801183915/https://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/Docs/FY01RPT.doc|url-status=dead}}</ref> No evidence exists that the company performed any other work, although as of 2021, AC Gravity still remains listed as an extant business.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arc-sos.state.al.us/cgi/corpdetail.mbr/detail?corp=603063&page=name&file=|title=Business Entity Details, AC Gravity, LLC|publisher=Alabama, Secretary of State|access-date=March 6, 2014}}</ref>

==Death==
In 2014 she 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 [[Medicine:Alzheimer's disease|Alzheimer’s disease]] shortly after.<ref name="HBJ">{{cite web|url=https://huntsvillebusinessjournal.com/news/2023/07/30/solving-the-mystery-of-huntsvilles-brilliant-scientist-disappearing |title=Solving the mystery of Huntsville’s brilliant anti-gravity scientist |last=Logan |first=Noah |date=July 30, 2023 |publisher=Huntsville Business Journal |access-date= November 9, 2023}}</ref> On July 27, 2021, Ning Li died at the age of 78.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obituary for Ning Li at Berryhill Funeral Home & Crematory|url=https://www.berryhillfh.com/obituary/ning-li?lud=4CF765EE88E7526FCBA619C30101F7E6|access-date=August 25, 2021|website=berryhillfh.com|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Biography:Eugene Podkletnov|Eugene Podkletnov]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.03/antigravity_pr.html Breaking the Law of Gravity] A 1998 ''Wired'' magazine article reviewing her work, as well as others.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180501055747/http://www.scansite.org/scan.php?pid=157 Bose-Einstein and Anti-Gravity] A narrative of Li's theory of operation and her future plans from the 1990s.


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[[Category:Anti-gravity]]

{{Sourceattribution|Ning Li (physicist)}}