Viktor Petrik

Viktor Ivanovich Petrik (; born 1946) is a Russian businessman. He claims to have made many scientific breakthroughs that he markets through his company, Goldformula. Mainstream scientists dismiss his inventions as pseudoscience.

Early life Viktor Petrik was born in 1946 in Zhytomyr, Ukrainian SSR. Petrik attended Leningrad State University and received a degree in psychology in 1976. He later worked in the export business. In the 1980s, he spent time in prison for fraud and extortion. After his release, he started a laboratory and worked on several inventions. In the early 1990s, according to rumors, he became friends with Vladimir Putin, then a city official in Saint Petersburg. In December 2004, he visited former U. S. President George H. W. Bush in Texas and discussed his technology for cleaning groundwater. Petrik lives in Saint Petersburg.

Inventions Petrik claims to have invented several groundbreaking devices. Some of these include a cell that generates electricity when breathed upon, a filter that turns radioactive waste into potable water, a device that extracts rhenium from scrap material, and a compound which turns light into electricity. He also claims to have discovered a method of producing silicon from fertilizer.

In 2010, Petrik sued two Russian newspapers for defamation after they ran articles about him. He won a judgment against them in which they were ordered to run a retraction and pay damages to him. However, the settlement awarded him significantly less than he had sought. The papers have since insisted that their reports were accurate.

Patents The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued two patents to Viktor Petrik. United States Patent 7842271 is for "Mass production of carbon nanostructures", with an issue date of November 30, 2010. United States Patent 7128881 is for "Configurations and methods for water purification", with an issue date of October 31, 2006.

Politics Petrik has close ties with many Russian politicians, particularly members of United Russia. Boris Gryzlov, the former Speaker of Russia's State Duma (the lower house of parliament), is a staunch defender of Petrik's work. Gryzlov has claimed that criticism of Petrik is modern-day obscurantism.

Petrik has named one of his filters after Russian politician Sergei Shoigu and used the logo of United Russia political pary on other filters. Shoigu and United Russia have requested Petrik cease using their names in his marketing.