A COLLEAGUE tells us that not so long ago he acquired a beautiful handmade
“perpetual motion” machine. German patent expert Gerhard Hennig had flown into
London to give a lecture at the Royal Society. At the end of his talk, he
brought out a beautifully engineered machine made from steel and aluminium, with
a handle that turned a collection of wheels, coils and magnets to send current
through a couple of electric sockets and dangling wires.
Hennig had lovingly constructed the device at his workshop in Munich, and he
used it at the Royal Society to demonstrate a magnetic effect…
