Hi Peter,

> Do you have any suggestions what could be done
> from a metallurgical viewpoint (and has not been
> done before, e.g. as described by Berendt --
> whom I mentioned -- in his book)?

Unfortunately I have not possibility to get the book in near future. But
there are many suggestions I can make if needed.

One ought to use carefully planned and prepared materials and test pieces. I
used in some pieces austenitic stainless steel, as did also the Frenchmen.
The result was very interesting: hardness testing revealed that there was
cold-working martensite formed, typical quantity corresponding cold-working
in room temperature. I also used thin and very hard pieces from saw blades.
They behave like springs, becoming straight after bending even much with
force. One of the boys could not bend the pieces at all but the other
succeeded, giving valuable information: there was no springing effect. The
piece could be seen bend a little between his hands, and it was bent just
that much when he gave it to me.

There could be used very brittle pieces and also very tough pieces. If the
brittle pieces can be bent much and if the tough pieces break without much
bending, then we have extremely convincing pieces in our hands! And they can
be checked and tested as much as is necessary. If the experimenting is
successful it is possible to get as convincing evidence as for example two
wooden rings of different tree species put together as a chain. The
cold-working martensite found in the thick end of a test bar by the
Frenchmen is practically impossible to produce even with best tools.

All measurements that were done with my pieces gave the same answer: the
bending was as if bending by force in room temperature. The only thing that
was paranormal was the method how the bending was accomplished. But there is
some evidence of anomalous results here and there.

Hasted used very brittle material at least once and the pieces were bent
successfully. But apparently he could not appreciate the result enough. The
same with a spoon softened into plastic state by Geller. Hasted understood
it was very convincing to have a spoon as soft as bubble-gum. But he did not
realize what a golden piece he had in his hand, because the breaking end was
_necked_. Steel does not neck in bending. For necking there is needed
tensile testing. I doubt if anybody can draw apart the ends of a steel spoon
by direct pulling.


>> Hasted was also too gullible in many situations in my opinion.
>> The glass spheres with the paperclip scrunches are a sad history.
>> Looking the pictures carefully it easy to see how the scrunches
>> were made.

> Yet when you take the pictures and his narration together it's a
> better story ...

No, the scrunches cannot be saved by any means. Nobody saw how they were
formed. They could not be made without a hole in the sphere. Somebody showed
Hasted how they could be made, but he insisted the boy was working
paranormally because he did it too rapidly.


> However, how -- do you think -- were the deformations
> of the paperclips accomplished fraudulently?


Very simple. First you straighten the paperclips leaving a hook in one end.
Then you push in one paperclip or possibly two twined around each other
through the hole. Then you push two paperclips in, grasp the former
paperclips with the hooks, pull them tightly against the wall and twine the
ends around each other. When you repeat the last step many times, then you
have a scrunch accomplished.


>> The very important article with strong evidence is: 'C. Crussard,
>> J. Bouvaist: Étude de quelques déformations et transformations
>> apparemment anormales de métaux. Mémoires Scientifiques
>> Revue Métallurgie - Fevrier 1978'

>> There is also another less formal but good article in a French
>> magazine: 'François de Closets: Les pemières expériences
>> scientifiques sur "l'effet Uri Geller". Sciences et Avenir 1975,
>> novembre'

> Both articles, I must confessed, went unnoticed by me. Well,
> I should add, better late than never; so, may I politely ask you,
> if it is not too much of a burden for you, to kindly e-mail me
> scans of these two articles off-list?


I will send them to you with pleasure. Unfortunately I do not have a scanner
and all my friend's scanners happen to be inoperative at the moment. Next I
will test taking photos and at least send ordinary copies by snailmail
later.


>>> I should add that there is one elderly gentleman in Germany,
>>> Reiner Höhndorf, who successfully runs courses in PMB.

>> Ok, I am waiting for the results and scientific articles.

> Hope I don't dissappoint you too much: his aim is rather
> the deomstration, not so much the investigation. And so
> far I was not able to find one interested scientist within
> the respective fields who would be prepared to start an
> investigation.

Well, that was a joke by me, because I could imagine what the situation is.
I have contacted some American and Australian spoon-benders, but they do not
answer.


Best,
Olavi