A lay of science ostracized by his colleagues in France, whose discoveries have nevertheless enabled Russia to acquire undeniable military superiority. This scientist is Jean-Pierre Petit, former research director at the CNRS and astrophysicist. He is no less than the pioneer of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), a technology he imagined and conceptualized in the 1970s. Denigrated in France because of a spirit of structural immobility, this scientific innovation will be recovered and developed by Russia, now equipped with hypersonic missiles. Even today, this 85-year-old avant-garde researcher remains confronted with a wall of silence. Also, we gave him the floor in this debriefing:
Understanding hypersonic technology is essential to grasping the reasons that ensure Russia military domination over a France ignorant of its own inferiority, which Jean-Pierre Petit likes to mock: “ It’s a technology that’s been neglected for 20 years, [les experts militaires des plateaux de télé] don’t even know what it is ».
Defining herself as a Cassandre ” scientist ” ahead of its time “, the astrophysicist explains that he worked on the conceptualization of this technology no less than 47 years earlier. But in 1988, faced with the disinterest of the French scientific community, he decided to throw in the towel. ” We are appalled by the rigidity of state structures “, deplores the researcher, formerly considered a “ crazy by his CNRS colleagues, which is reminiscent of the adventures encountered by a certain Professor Luc Montagnier. Conversely, the Russians were quick to spot the potential of this technology. But too late for France. According to Jean-Pierre Petit, our research institutes will never be able to make up for the delay accumulated over the past decades.
History of the MHD in video
In 2018, Jean-Pierre Petit posted three videos that explain the ins and outs of MHD.
The first, dated April 17, 2018, is in French: Putin unveils the new Russian MHD strategic weapons.
The following two videos, which include all the illustrations likely to illustrate the MHD, are in English. Faced with total indifference in France on this subject, he did not translate them.
May 21, 2018: Putin’s new Russian MHD weapons explained (part one)
June 17, 2018: Putin’s new Russian MHD weapons explained (part two)