Autodidacticism

Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) is self-education or self-directed learning. An autodidact, also known as an automath, is a mostly self-taught person — typically someone who has an enthusiasm for self-education and a high degree of self-motivation. (Wikipedia)

It's that damn self motivation part...

But then there's John Hutchison and the Hutchinson Effect.

Hutchison claims that in the 1980s he worked for the American and Canadian military, investigating various alleged phenomena. He refers to several of these phenomena as "the Hutchison effect".Even the most broad-minded scientists seem to doubt the reality of these phenomena. In a recent posting to sci.physics.research, Marc Millis, who ran the now defunct Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program for NASA, wrote:

[The] Hutchison Effect has been claimed for years, without any independent verification - ever. In fact, its originator can't even replicate it on demand. This has been investigated more than once, been part of documentaries on the discovery channel, but still never seems to pass critical muster. This is in the category of folklore. In general, the "American Antigravity" web site caters to such folklore and its enthusiasts. – Marc G. Millis

Here's a link to an article and some pretty good Hutchinson resources.
John Hutchison, The Wild Scientist From Vancouver.
And a link to American Antigravity.

My take? Hutchinson is sincere, but goofy. I tend to think his effect was fabricated not faked, as faked implies a more willful and /or malicious thought process. I tend to believe his effects are possible, even though I don't think he's necessarily discovered how to create them himself.

Check out related ideas and experimentation at ZPEnergy or zero point energy. From their mission statement:

ZPEnergy is a news portal devoted to experimental research/applications in new revolutionary energy technologies . It aims to connect together people who have the same pragmatic goal: bring to the public amazing devices which can tap a seemingly unlimited supply of energy that fills the universe, the so called "Zero Point Energy" (ZPE).