This week, Adrian dives into the amazing story of Ireland’s most fantastically controversial startup of the last 20 years: Steorn. The company raised €20m on the premise of having invented a perpetual motion machine using magnets. The startup claimed to have uncovered an “anomaly” in the laws of physics that would allow for never-ending power.
From a full page ad in the Economist boasting of their breakthrough to a dramatic demonstration fiasco in London, the story of Steorn is a mixture of ambition, delusion and hubris.
To explain the ins and outs of the story to Adrian is Barry Whyte, chief feature writer for the Business Post. Barry’s newly-published book, ‘The Impossible Dream’, recounts in great detail the entire Steorn story, painting a brilliant picture of the characters involved, the key moments and the ultimate outcomes.

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