Abstract: This disclosure discusses a means of generating a magnetic field around a device such that it can interact with the geomagnetic field of the earth in such a manner to develop a net lift against the pull of gravity. A flow of electric current is directed in a manner that exposes only a part of the magnetic field while the balance is sequestered within the device and shielded from exposure to the geomagnetic field. Hence an object can be lifted off the surface of the earth by electromagnetic means alone without the need for interacting with the atmosphere, as in airplanes, or the need for the expulsion of material as in chemical rockets. The magnetic flotation device can be likened to a gas-filled balloon except that the buoyancy is provided by the interaction of magnetic fields, not gas density.