"Earnshaw's theorem proves that using only static ferromagnetism it is impossible to stably levitate against gravity, but servomechanisms, the use of diamagnetic materials, superconduction, or systems involving eddy currents permit this to occur."

"Static stability means that any small displacement away from a stable equilibrium causes a net force to push it back to the equilibrium point.

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Earnshaw's theorem proved conclusively that it is not possible to levitate stably using only static, macroscopic, paramagnetic fields. The forces acting on any paramagnetic object in any combination of gravitational, electrostatic, and magnetostatic fields will make the object's position unstable along at least one axis, and can be unstable along all axes. However, several possibilities exist to make levitation viable, for example, the use of electronic stabilization or diamagnetic materials (since relative magnetic permeability is less than one[2]); it can be shown that diamagnetic materials are stable along at least one axis, and can be stable along all axes."