With his gifts as a magnetizer, he had applied seven years ago for the Prix-Défi under the auspices of the Zetetic Laboratory located at the Faculty of Sciences of Nice, led by physics professor Henri Broch.
Details of this amazing Prix-Defi adventure that started in 1987 can be followed on the [Laboratory of Zetetics website](https://www.unice.fr/zetetique/defi.html).
This famous Broch-Majax-Theodor challenge involved inviting anyone who wished to demonstrate a so-called “paranormal” phenomenon by subjecting it to a strict verification and control protocol established by scientists, in accordance with rules freely accepted by both parties.
(This prize was offered to anyone who could prove a paranormal phenomenon, of any kind, before physicist Henri BROCH, illusionist Gérard MAJAX, and Doctor Jacques THEODOR who wrote the check from his own funds).
If these experiments, conducted in good humor and with an open mind, had revealed a phenomenon that science could not explain, the winner of this challenge would have pocketed a hefty check of 200,000 euros.
After 264 applications, mostly from people genuinely believing they held unexplained powers and a few less sincere cases…, the Prize remained contested, with none of these claims of unexplained powers withstanding the zetetic method of experimentation over 15 years.
Jean-Claude Pinoteau, a magnetizer, registered his candidacy at the Zetetic Laboratory of the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis on September 12, 2001.
Even though no tests had ever been conducted with him, nor had there ever been any written agreement on a testing procedure—an obligatory agreement before any experiment, as specified in Article 5 of the declaration of the 200,000 euros International Prix-Défi—Mr. Jean-Claude PINOTEAU then claimed the amount and, for this purpose, sued the three organizers in July 2003.
Mr. Jean-Claude PINOTEAU explicitly declared on the internet: “It took a troublemaker like me, with a sharp and universal mind, to understand that the ‘zetetic challenge’ was mostly a legal challenge and not a scientific one.”
Or, more elegantly: “I legally screw them over.”
What somewhat clouded the otherwise jovial spirit of the Challenge was the discovery that our trickster seemed to be merely a litigious individual who, sore loser, even launched on the internet a wide campaign of insulting and malicious statements with astonishing bad faith and filed a legal suit against the Lab of Zetetics obviously intending to get his hands on the 200,000 euros.
But the “sharp and universal minded” magnetizer did not have the gift of foresight.
After losing at first instance, he appealed the decision and it backfired badly: the Court did not support him and not only dismissed all his claims but also heavily fined him more than 40,000 euros in its decision on appeal, three times the initial penalty.
The organizers of the Prix-Défi were obviously satisfied with this decision, while regretting the energy and funds wastefully spent during the 5 years of proceedings: vital energies that could have been allocated to much more exciting tasks.
Will they put the jackpot back in play to celebrate this event?
To be continued…
Marc B
