Otto Grande
From Kook Science
Otto Grande was a Czechoslovakian-born hotel steward at Perth, Australia who was charged and convicted in June 1956 for an assault that he claimed to have done while in a fugue state. While at trial, Grande was described in press accounts as a refugee and inventor who had drafted a perpetual motion design but had not built a model at that time.
Press Coverage
- "DREAM OF ATTACK ON WOMAN WAS ACTUALITY - Young Inventor charged - A young Czechoslovakian hotel steward, who claimed that he had solved the problem of perpetual motion, was this week convicted of having unlawfully assaulted a married woman, thereby doing her bodily harm.", Mirror (Perth, WA, Australia): 12, 23 June 1956, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/75862757, "He had no chance of getting an education and in his spare time was working on an invention — a perpetual motion machine. 'I am satisfied my invention is an accomplished fact,' he said. 'I never made any model but drew up plans and designs. I discussed my invention with a number of people, but they all laughed at me and said it was impossible.'"
- "WAS "CONVENIENT DREAM" CHIEF JUSTICE TELLS YOUNG STEWARD", Mirror (Perth, WA, Australia): 13, 30 June 1956, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/75862543