The monument is an “Anti-Gravity Rock” and although it has never been to space or in any sort of anti-gravity situation, its history at UT is still worth looking into.
Roger Babson founded Babson College in Massachusetts and Webber College in Babson Park, Florida. He was an entrepreneur, businessman, economist, writer and philanthropist.
He founded the Gravity Research Foundation, which was an organization that researched and attempted to discover a way to create gravitational shielding which, according to bibliotecapleyades.net, is “a material which would intercept gravitational fields, creating a field-free region.”
The organization is currently out of commission but they still live on in an annual contest, which gives scholarships to essays written about gravity related topics.
The monuments were placed at several universities, paid for by Babson in the ‘60s to spread word about the foundation. UT’s “Anti-Gravity Rock” lies between the science wing of Plant Hall and Sykes and has the inscription,“It is to remind students of the blessings forthcoming when science determines what gravity is, how it works, and how it may be controlled.”
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