Dip.Eng Claude Poher
Claude Poher | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | "Universons" theory of quantum gravitation |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space research |
| Institutions | Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) |
Claude Poher is a French astronomer and space researcher known for proposing the "Universons" theory, a corpuscular ("pushing gravity") model of gravitation. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Career
Poher holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics and spent some three decades working in space research and aeronautics with France's space agency, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES). He is also known as the founder, in 1977, of GEPAN, the CNES unit tasked with the scientific study of unidentified aerospace phenomena.
Universons theory
Poher's central theoretical proposal is a quantum model of gravitation based on hypothetical massless particles he calls "universons." In his account these quanta propagate through space at the speed of light as a dense, isotropic flux, each carrying a small linear momentum. Ordinary matter is held to briefly absorb and re-emit these particles, producing gravitation as a net "pushing" effect — a modern variant of the Le Sage kinetic theory of gravity. Poher argues that this framework implies the existence of a large energy flux permeating the universe that could, in principle, be converted to other forms of energy.
He has reported experiments in which small masses were said to accelerate during low-energy electric discharges, which he interprets as emission of momentum-bearing gravitational quanta. These claims and the universons model lie well outside mainstream physics, where gravitation is described by general relativity. Poher has published on the theory in venues including the journal Applied Physics Research and in the French-language book Gravitation: Les Universons, énergie du futur.