text: Physicists overwhelmingly reject any possibility that the zero-point energy field can be exploited to obtain useful energy (work) or uncompensated momentum; such efforts are seen as tantamount to perpetual motion machines.
  Nevertheless, the allure of free energy has motivated such research, usually falling in the category of fringe science. As long ago as 1889 (before quantum theory or discovery of the zero point energy) Nikola Tesla proposed that useful energy could be obtained from free space, or what was assumed at that time to be an all-pervasive aether. Others have since claimed to exploit zero-point or vacuum energy with a large amount of pseudoscientific literature causing ridicule around the subject. Despite rejection by the scientific community, harnessing zero-point energy remains an interest of research, particularly in the US where it has attracted the attention of major aerospace/defence contractors and the U.S. Department of Defense as well as in China, Germany, Russia and Brazil.