In this episode Curt explores how private investors Roger Babson and Agnew Banhson sparked a controversial push for anti‑gravity that reshaped the development of general relativity. He examines the Gravity Research Foundation essay contest, the Chapel Hill conference, and later connections to string theory and modern documentaries.

- 00:00:00 - Roger Babson & Agnew Banhson
- 00:07:09 - Gravity Research Foundation's "Essay Contest"
- 00:12:22 - Anti-gravity and Amendments to General Relativity
- 00:16:43 - Operation Moonwatch and UFOs
- 00:18:36 - Ed Witten's father (Louis) and Burkhard Heim
- 00:25:43 - Summary
- 00:26:32 - Chapel Hill Conference
- 00:27:58 - Revival of General Relativity (Hawking & Penrose)
- 00:30:44 - String Theory and the Legacy of Babson & Banhson
- 00:33:01 - Dean Rickles, David Kaiser, and Other Documentaries

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RESOURCES:

- The Price of Gravity (Kaiser, Rickles): https://web.mit.edu/dikaiser/www/HSNS4803_03_Kaiser.pdf
- Chapel Hill Conference's Report (The Role of Gravitation in Physics): https://edition-open-sources.org/media/sources/5/Sources5.pdf
- Behind the scenes of the 1957 Chapel Hill Conference: https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/154-2-Rickles.pdf
- Gell-Mann's Shelter Island Notes: https://ncatlab.org/nlab/files/Gell-Mann_ShelterIslandII_1983.pdf
- Louis Witten's Recollections (video): https://youtu.be/iH8btReqv4c?t=6448
- Louis Witten speaks to Rickles: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/36985
- Physical Interpretation of Antigravity by Bars: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.05128.pdf
- Garry Nolan's podcast on TOE: https://youtu.be/g3bk1UXjKLI

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