Robert Heinlein:
Science Fiction Technology and Ideas
Robert Anson Heinlein was born in Missouri in 1907; he died in 1988. He entered the Naval Academy in 1925 and was commissioned in 1929; his career as a naval officer was cut short by ill health. He studied engineering and mathematics at UCLA.

Heinlein also wrote as Anson MacDonald and Lyle Monroe. He wrote his first short story (Lifeline) in 1939. He wrote many well-known novels (see below). He received the Nebula Grand Master award in 1975.

Invention/Technology Source Work (Publication Date)

Ramsbotham Gate - wormhole
A means of getting from point A to point B without traversing the space in-between.

Tunnel in the Sky (1955)

Reading Machine - read while reclining
A projector which showed text on a screen or the ceiling for easy reading.

Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)

Reading Plate - 50's style flat panel
A flat screen that provided computer output for viewing.

The Star Beast (1954)

Refreshing Chamber
Replaces the bathroom in the future history of Robert Heinlein.

Coventry (1940)

Ring Road - mag-lev old-style
A magnetically levitated train.

Starman Jones (1953)

Robopark - automated parking garage
An automated parking garage.

Methuselah's Children (1941)

Robotic Hand
A dexterous manipulator for robots.

The Door Into Summer (1956)

Rolling Road - public transport
A set of fast-moving strips to move people over distances.

The Roads Must Roll (1940)

Screensaver (Inventor of) - the original idea
Screen savers are used to prevent phosphor burnout in CRTs, and to provide restful entertainment on computer screens.

Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)

Security Restraint Field
A force field that restricts personal movement.

Between Planets (1951)

Selector Card
Pneumatic delivery of book films by using a mechanical form of data storage; selector cards - probably punch cards.

The Puppet Masters (1951)

Self-Lighting Cigarette
A cigarette with a matchhead built in.

Methuselah's Children (1941)

Shipstone - lots of power
A lot of power in a small, manufactured package.

Friday (1982)

Shuttle Ship - early Space Shuttle
A spacecraft that could take off from a planet, rendezvous with an object in orbit, and fly back to the surface like a glider.

Between Planets (1951)

Simulacrum Window
A 'window' that provides a realistic outdoor view in an interior room.

Tunnel in the Sky (1955)

Skew-Flip Turnover
Used halfway to the destination by torch ships to slow for one's destination.

Have Space Suit - Will Travel (1958)

Sleep Surrogate - substitute for sleep
Pharmaceutical designed to make up for lost sleep.

Methuselah's Children (1941)

Slideway - moving sidewalk
A slidewalk, or moving walkway, that moves people forward.

Beyond This Horizon (1942)

Smoke Filter
Allows grizzled spacemen to smoke in space ships.

Misfit (1939)

Solar Reception Screen - photovoltaics in action
A device for converting sunlight to electricity

The Roads Must Roll (1940)

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