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"Science fiction and science have always danced around each other. Science fiction is the subconscious of science."
- Greg Bear
 |
| Weightlessness (Kepler) | ||
| The notion that there could be a location with zero effective gravity. |
If Somnium is the first science fiction book (which many people argue is true), then this is probably the first reference to the idea of zero gravity, or weightlessness.
| "...for, as magnetic forces of the earth and moon both attract the body and hold it suspended, the effect is as if neither of them were attracting it..." |
| Technovelgy from Somnium (The Dream),
by Johannes Kepler. Published by Not Known in 1634 Additional resources -
|
Note that the word "gravity" is not used to describe the attraction between masses; Isaac Newton did not describe universal gravitation until 1687.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Somnium (The Dream)
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and Technology by Johannes Kepler
Tech news articles related to Somnium (The Dream)
Tech news articles related to works by Johannes Kepler
| Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside? |
| Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space |
| Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic |
| Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station |
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'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
