¹ The French physicist Gerard Renault [c.1926] had already occupied himself with the problem of obtaining electricity from the air. In his laboratory in Grenoble he worked night and day on his invention and even the scant information that emerged publicly created a sensation in scientific circles. One day a machine stood in his workshop which was held to be a wonder. Day after day its wheels turned without any observer being able to determine whence the driving force originated. Neither steam, nor combustion gases, nor electrical motive forces could be detected. The machine stood on its base, completely insulated from the ground, and ran independently like a perpetuum mobile. For a while Renault enjoyed the general wonderment, and then one day he said, "This machine is in fact driven by electricity, but with electricity from the air ! I have solved the problem. With its practical application, in a few years we shall achieve a paradise on Earth."

The French Academy requested Renault to come to Paris so that he could demonstrate his invention there. The inventor agreed, hastening to the capital with his assistant, setting up his machine in the experiment theatre. Just before the beginning of the demonstration, he wanted to explain how it worked. His assistant was present. Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion, flames shot out of the doors and windows, and once the fire brigade had succeeded in extinguishing the fire, the machine was a heap of wreckage. Renault and his assistant died in the explosion.
(Extracted from the periodical Der Weg (7/11/1946, 1^st year, no 48, p12) (and reprinted in "The Energy Evolution" edited by Callum Coats (2000) p125).