Justin Christofleau
Toronto Daily Star, 1 February 1929
Justin Christofleau (1865-1938) has a Wikipedia page in French. In 1927, he published a book titled Electroculture which explains how his apparatus can (allegedly) be used to make plants grow larger; the Internet Archive has this book available for download. His invention attracted interest from newspapers of the time, but they gradually grew skeptical, as the caption from this photograph suggests.
Between 1905 and his death, M. Christofleau filed an average of several patents a year. He had been a baker when he was younger, so some of his patents related to bakery. He also patented motors, a number of electromagnetic devices, and a new type of aircraft, though it is not clear how many of these devices actually worked. He became a Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit and won the National Industry Encouragement Society Gold Medal. His ideas have devotees in various corners of the Internet even today.
Created April 26, 2025.