These two modes are NOT the "solid" vs "fluid" dielectric modes that we're aware of (ie the solid "gravitator" vs the air-based "saucer" or "fan"). Rather, they're something a little stranger: "dynamic counterbary" appears to be weight loss involving electrical current, while "static counterbary" was to do with Townsend's very peculiar idea of "gravitational isotopes" (like quartz sand, or loess clay), that could be potentially charged with static electricity via friction (the well-known phenomenon of triboelectricity), thereby leading to a semi-permanent state of weight reduction.
Unsurprisingly, this second "static counterbary" idea is very unusual and is not well-supported by mainstream physics at all. However, Townsend believed it could be happening on the Moon, as the cause of "dust fountains" (an apparently legitimate phenomenon in which moon dust lofts anomalously during the lunar day); Townsend's belief was that ultraviolet light was imparting an electrostatic charge to the dust, letting "static counterbary" kick in.
So much for Townsend's treatment of the term. I'd thought that "counterbary" was an old term going back to airships and dirigibles, and it might well be - but if you Google for the term today, however, you will mostly find Townsend Brown references and nothing else. Even Google's ngram viewer, which finds unusual word usage in books, does not appear to find anything except a 1950s bump and a post 1980s bump peaking in the mid-2000s.
However! The phrase "dynamic counterbary" or rather its German equivalent, "contrabarie", DOES appear in the writings of Burkhard Heim (1925-2001). 20 years Townsend's junior, Heim is a very controversial figure on the fringe of General Relativity physics who appears in some of the 1950s "gravitics" articles in which his name is linked to that of Townsend's. Townsend's use of Heim's phrase makes me think that the connection between the two must have been more than coincidental.
Heim has a group of followers who became briefly active around 20 years ago, and maintain a website at www.heim-theory.com. There is a 2021 PDF in English which is described here: https://heim-theory.com/?page_id=161 - actual direct link to the PDF here: http://heim-theory.com/wp-content/uploa ... d_Heim.pdf
The relevant mention is here, on page 26:
and a summary of Heim's 1950s timeline:Heim's unified field equations postulate interactions between electromagnetism and gravity which are much stronger than the ones that can derived from Einstein’s geometrical theory on gravity.
As he factored in the field mass of the gravitation field (which Einstein had neglected due to its insignificance), Heim obtained his so-called contrabaric equation. According to that equation, the transformation of electric or magnetic fields into gravitational acceleration fields and vice versa should be possible.
Heim, who had always been a space travel enthusiast, was fascinated by such prospects. In 1955 he gave instructions to his family members regarding the construction of a certain device which could be used to prove that contrabaric effect.
The contrabaric equation states that the double rotation of the electromagnetic radiation vector and the source term cause the temporal change of a gravitative power density. Heim vaguely talked about that in Frankfurt in 1957, and in the magazine Flugkörper [Flying Objects] in 1959
Due to the possible technological consequences, however, he never completely published all of his theory on gravity and the contrabaric equation, and always hoped one day he would be able to verify that effect himself in his laboratory.
The lecture he held in Frankfurt in early November 1957 caused a sensation. “Is a new ‚worldview of physics’ imminent in Germany?” the magazine Neue Illustrierte asked on its cover, followed by “His colleagues call him a genius. The things he has talked about in Frankfurt come close to a sensation. Will he be proved right?” (Sketch 1; see p. 123 et seq.)
The magazine Stern cited an internationally famous professor of physics with the following words about Burkhard Heim: “His thoughts are of revolutionary boldness, of the kind of audacity of the mind that in the past centuries was able to overturn worldviews.”
A reputable British magazine on flight sciences regarded Heim's work as “a theor that greatly outperforms Einstein.”
Jean Cocteau placed a picture of “the inner eye of Heim” on the top of his painting of the great physicists (size 6x8 m²) for the Brussels Art Academy, next to the scientists Copernicus, Newton, Einstein, Lee and Yang. (Sketch 2)
Heim was made lucrative job offers by Americans. Officers of the intelligence service kept him under surveillance and protected him against spies from East Germany.
In other countries, too, it got around that in Frankfurt someone had lectured about anew propulsion concept for astronautics. The space scientists von Braun and Sedov, a Russian, inquired Heim about that new propulsion system. The whole world was waiting for the publication of Heim's Theory, which he had only presented at congresses on astronautics in 1952 and 1957.
The popular German magazine Bild called for donations for Heim in November 1957. Heim’s objective was to gain publicity with his lectures in order to raise funds for his research. This worked out in part. The magazines Bild and Stern as well as the director of the aerospace company Bölkow supported Heim financially to such an extent that he could employ an assistant for some time.
However, Heim hadn't seen the attacks coming that he saw himself subjected to from the community of “purely theoretical physicists”. With a few exceptions, they re sented him for his public appearances, as he had not presented his theory at a reputable physicists' congress and hadn't published his research in a professional journal first.
In the 1950s, space science wasn't taken seriously by German theoretical physicists. In their eyes, it was simply a pastime of technicians and dreamers – but no science. Born3, Heisenberg4 and von Weizsäcker5 regarded space science as a pure waste of money. Heim was called a “space-travel dreamer” and considered absolutely untrustworthy, and hence was shunned by the great physicists. When Heim announced the publication of an essay on gravitation and magnetism in a physics journal, the concerned subject specialist Professor Lamla advised to refrain from doing so. Only the relativity theorist Pascual Jordan6 saw a great colleague in Heim and prepared an experiment on gravitation with him.
Searching for "contrabarie", finds this 1961 DTIC document: a MSc thesis by John T Watson at Southern Methodist University, "Gravitational Control Research". It's a very once-over-lightly survey very much in keeping with "The Gravitics Situation" and other similar writeups of the era. PDF here: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0253588.pdf
(Paul and Jan, you may well have read this one before. I suspect I have. It's one of the many jigsaw puzzle pieces that have floated up out of the murky depths over the decades since 1959.)
Like the other writers, and the physicists like the Wittens and DeWitts of the era, John T Watson is extremely dismissive of Townsend Brown:
Several authors who have published articles of a popular nature on the control of gravitation during the past few years have not been bound by this definition of gravitational control. As a result, some of their statements about gravitational control (or "anti-gravity", a term acquired from the authors of science fiction) encompass a wide spectrum of theories ranging from those which may be applicable to those which are unrelated to gravitational control. A few of these articles actually do an injustice to the serious research which is being conducted relative to gravitational control either by presenting misconceptions or misinterpretations of the facts concerning the status of this research. Misconceptions have even allowed the inclusion of such proposals as ion and photon propulsive devices within the category of gravitational control. While this is an extreme case, there are other schemes which have been erroneously included in this category. The "electro-gravitics" concept of Townsend Brown is such a scheme.
Mr. Brown has received a moderate amount of publicity concerning his scheme for gravitational control.(1)(2)(3)(4) (5) * [Numbers in parentheses refer to articles in the Bibliography.] In the 1920's he conceived the possibility of constructing a device which would utilize the reaction between electrostatic and electromagnetic fields for the purposes of levitation and propulsion. Since he felt that his device was also utilizing an interaction between electromagnetic and gravitational fields, he referred to this principle as "electro-gravitics". Within the past ten years, a model of this device has been demonstrated and Mr. Brown feels that if he can improve the charge capacity of his model, it will operate with Mach 3 capability within the earth's electromagnetic field. Originally, Mr. Brown had attributed anti-gravity properties to his vehicle. Now it would appear that it is no more than a rather sophisticated utilization of known effects. Since it does not modify forces at the fundamental level of matter, the "electro-gravitics" device of Mr. Brown is not within the realm of the gravitational control concept which is to be discussed in this report.
But Watson has a lot of time for Heim, and gives some examples of how Heim, circa 1961, used "contrabarie" - and therefore what Townsend might have been meaning when he borrowed Heim's terms.1. Aviation Studies (International) Limited. Electrogravitics Systems . A Report Prepared by AviationStudies (International) Limited. London, England. February 1956.
2. Aviation Studies (International) Limited. The Gravitics Situation. A Report Prepared by Aviation Studies (International) Limited. London, England. December 1956.
3. Carew, Charles. "The Key to Travel in Space," Canadian Aviation. Vol. 32 (July 1959), pp. 27-32.
4. Intel. "Towards Flight Without Stress, or Strain -- or Weight," Interavia. Vol. 11, No. 5 (May 1956), p. 373.
5. Cleaver, A. V. '"Electro-gravitics: What it is -- or Might Be," Aeroplane. Vol. 92, No. 2376(March 15, 1957), pp. 385-87.
The theory which appears to offer the most promise for application to gravitational control is that of Burkhard Heim, a physicist at the University of Goettingen,Germany.(22) Professor Heim calls his theory the meso-field theory
Emphasis mine. Note that "meson field" must be a typographical error, because as far as I can tell, Heim's "meso-field" is nothing to do with the "meson fields" (now called muons) that were the hot topic in particle physics in the 1950s; the derivation for both terms would be via Greek "mesos" as in "intermediate, middle", but through a very different pathway. Muons were initially called "mesons" because (iirc) their mass was midway between electron and proton. Heim was thinking about a mediating field.If the meso-field equations are approximated in such a way that the four dimensional space-time continuum results, and the matter fields are restricted to their electromagnetic characteristics, it is determined that there are two states of the meso-field. This indicates that if the meso-field does appear it must do so dually. These states were designated by Heim as the contrabaric state and the dynabaric state. The equations describing these states are operator-equations.
In the contrabaric state, the operator acts on electomagnetic waves to produce a gravitational field, along with gravitational waves.
The dynabaric state describes essentially the same process in reverse. The operator of the dynabaric state acts on the gravitational field to transform it into electromagnetic radiation.
The contrabaric state lends itself to experimental verification, according to Professor Heim. There are restrictions placed upon the generation of the dynabaric state which require the usage of a contrabaric transformer for it's development. Thus, the experimental effort is centered around the construction of a suitable contrabaric transformer. With the successful construction of the contrabaric transformer and the utilization of the dynabaric state made possible by this development, it becomes possible to accomplish some rather remarkable things.
Upon contrabaric transformation, the energy of the electromagnetic wave becomes a mechanical acceleration. The result of fixing this transformer in a suitable metal (presumably a good conductor) is that it accelerates the electrons in the metal, thereby functioning as a current generator. If the transformer is not held firm, it, and anything to which it is attached, will be accelerated. With the achievement of the dynabaric state, it will be possible to have a closed system. After the system is initially started, the dynabaric state of the meson field will provide electromagnetic radiation from suitably ionized metal fed continuously into it's field. The electromagnetic radiation can be contrabarically transformed into electric current, which will provide the power needed for the ionization of the metal. As long as the raw material for the ions holds out, this system will continue to operate. Professor Heim calls this operation dynamic contrabarie.
Another hit on "contrabarie" finds this 2011 article about Heim and specifically his old "institute", and the salvaging of Heim's documents from the abandoned and decaying buiilding, with some interesting facts on his life.
https://www.engon.de/protosimplex/north ... nglish.pdf
Burkhard Heim, His Institute and His Legacy
By Holger-Detlef Klein
Heim founded the "Research Institute for Dynamic Contrabarie and Astronautics Association" in 1958 together with Helmut Goeckel at his suggestion, with the formal headquarters in Wiesbaden. Goeckel came from Wiesbaden and also lived there. The experiments were, however, carried out in Northeim in the laboratory on the ground floor. Heim split with Goeckel however, and this institute was disbanded in 1964 and replaced by the foundation "German Research Institute for Force-Field Physics and General Cosmology" with headquarters in Northeim. This Institute covered the entire ground floor. Heim worked there on his theory and he carried out experiments together with his colleague Wolf-Dieter Schott. Schott left the Institute in early 1972, and after that the premises were only used by Heim.
6
From his own theory, he could now predict new, as yet unseen effects. In physics, a theory is measured by how well its predictions agree with the experimental data. Heim was trying to obtain evidence of this experimental confirmation at the Heim Institute.
Heim's theory resulted in two major predictions:
1. First, electrically neutral rotating masses will produce a magnetic field.
2. Second, under special conditions electromagnetic radiation can be converted directly into mechanical acceleration similar to gravity.
It was not possible to check his first prediction experimentally, because at that time the measurement would would have taken a mass as large as a planet to verify the effect. He found however from this part of his theory, an explanation for the magnetic field of the earth.
To his second prediction he gave a name, he called it the "Contrabaric Effect". Heim now speculated that this "Contrabaric Effect” may be suitable for use as the basis of a powerful antigravity drive for spacecraft. He aroused much attention in the mid to late fifties with this speculation. He gave lectures and attracted the attention of the press. He wanted to obtain financing for experiments he was planning to verify this part of the theory.
However the press developed this story in a sensational manner and concocted a story that the Heim Institute was developing a “flying saucer”. In fact, he tried with very limited and primitive means, to develop a sufficiently sensitive measurement to verify the effect. He used a very delicate balance so that the weight of a sample mass, which should change slightly when this sample is suspended over his experimental apparatus, could be detected when the experimental device (the "Contrabator") is turned on and off.
The first attempt failed completely, because Heim needed a microwave generator for his experiment to succeed, however he could not afford to buy a microwave generator. Today these devices exist in the form of microwave ovens in kitchens in huge numbers, but at that time such a device was hardly affordable. Also, further experiments led to no clear result.
Later Heim worked on the idea that the desired effect must also appear in certain crystals and can be optically detected. To make these special crystals he used the chemicals. Unfortunately, he did not proceed past his preliminary tests, however, these tests were very promising. Heim’s coworker, Wolf-Dieter Schott left the Institute in 1972. He had since married and together with his wife purchased a property in Hanover. Now he needed to earn more money than he could while at the Heim Institute. Without competent help, Heim could not continue his experiments because of his severe disabilities.
