Podkletnov himself complained that he had never claimed to block gravity, only to have reduced its effect. Podkletnov withdrew his second paper after it had been initially accepted. The resulting uproar over the alleged claims in the withdrawn paper is reported to be the primary reason for his expulsion from his lab and the termination of his employment at the university. Attempted verification In a 1997 telephone interview with Charles Platt, Podkletnov insisted that his gravity-shielding work was reproduced by researchers at universities in Toronto and Sheffield, but none have come forward to acknowledge this. The Sheffield work is known to have only been intended as partial replication, aimed at observing any unusual effects which might be present, since the team involved lacked the necessary facilities to construct a large enough disc and the ability to duplicate the means by which the original disc was rotated. Podkletnov counters that the researchers in question have kept quiet "lest they be criticized by the mainstream scientific community". Podkletnov is reported to have visited the Sheffield team in 2000 and advised them on the conditions necessary to achieve his effect, conditions that they never achieved. In a BBC news item, it was alleged that researchers at Boeing were funding a project called GRASP (Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion) which would attempt to construct a gravity shielding device based on rotating superconductors, but a subsequent Popular Mechanics news item stated that Boeing had denied funding GRASP with company money, although Boeing acknowledged that it could not comment on "black projects". It is alleged that the GRASP proposal was presented to Boeing and Boeing chose not to fund it. In July 2002, an article by Nick Cook in Jane's Defence Weekly reported about Boeing's internal project GRASP — Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion to evaluate the validity of Podkletnov's claims. The briefing obtained by Jane's says "If gravity modification is real, it will alter the entire aerospace business." The briefing allegedly says that Boeing, as well as BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin tried to approach Podkletnov directly and that "Podkletnov is strongly anti-military and will only provide assistance if the research is carried out in the ‘white world’ of open development." See also Anti-gravity Ning Li References External links Eugene Podkletnov on Antigravity A recounting of recent work claimed by supporters in 2014. Russia's 'gravity-beating' scientist A BBC News profile on Podkletnov from