The summer science series kicks off with an episode from award-winning podcast Black Sheep, about a backyard inventor called Victor Penny who sparked sensational headlines about death ray inventions in 1935.

In 1935, a series of extraordinary newspaper articles claimed a backyard inventor called Victor Penny was trying to build a death ray for the New Zealand government.

Follow Our Changing World on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRADIO, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Welcome to the summer science series from Our Changing World. We're kicking off the holiday season with a science-themed episode from award-winning history podcast Black Sheep.

Victor Penny was a self-taught engineer and inventor who worked with early radio technology - and at a secret government laboratory on Matiu/Somes Island.

Listen to find out the truth - and the science - behind the sensational 'death ray' headlines.

Learn more:

Hear the story of the first radio broadcast in New Zealand in 100 years of radio and the spectrum of light.

Listen to more Black Sheep episodes.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details