Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Cyberspace is a metaphor that allows us to grasp this place where since about the time of the second world war we've increasingly done so many of the things that we think of as civilization."
- William Gibson
 |
| Communicate with Extraterrestrials | ||
| Early plan to communicate with life on planets removed from the earth. |
This effort preceded SETI by over a century. As far as I know, this is the first proposal to communicate with life not of this earth.
| I am bound to add that some practical geniuses have attempted to
establish actual communication with her. Thus, a few days ago,
a German geometrician proposed to send a scientific expedition
to the steppes of Siberia. There, on those vast plains, they
were to describe enormous geometric figures, drawn in characters
of reflecting luminosity, among which was the proposition
regarding the `square of the hypotenuse,' commonly called the
`Ass's Bridge' by the French.
`Every intelligent being,' said the geometrician, `must understand the scientific meaning of that figure. The Selenites, do they exist, will respond by a similar figure; and, a communication being thus once established, it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.' So spoke the German geometrician; but his project was never put into practice, and up to the present day there is no bond in existence between the Earth and her satellite. It is reserved for the practical genius of Americans to establish a communication with the sidereal world. |
| Technovelgy from From the Earth to the Moon,
by Jules Verne. Published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel in 1867 Additional resources -
|
How prophetic can you be? It was indeed reserved for Americans to establish communication with other bodies in the solar system.
Frank Drake - a young radio astronomer working in West Virginia - independently fashioned an experiment to search for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. On April 8, 1960, he aimed a 26-meter radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank at two nearby stars. Sweeping his single-channel receiver up and down the microwave band, Drake spent several weeks listening for extraterrestrial signals. Known as Project Ozma, this was the first modern SETI search.
It's probable that this method was put forward by Carl Fredrich Gauss (1777-1855) who in 1820 apparently suggested drawing an enormous pythagorean triangle on the Siberian tundra. In 1840, the Vienna Observatory's Joseph von Littrow suggested digging great trenches to form geometric shapes. The trenches would be filled with kerosene, and lit on fire at night. Gauss eventually went so far as to suggest 100 heliotropic mirrors synchronized to beam light at the moon.
Compare to planetary telegraphing from In the Deep of Time (1879) by George Parsons Lathrop, the ether-traffic from The Duel on the Asteroid (1932) by P. Schuyler Miller (w/D. McDermott), the Interplanetary Communications Center from QRM - Interplanetary (1942) by George O. Smith and the Quantum Communications Hub from Defeated (2004) by Sean McKee.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from From the Earth to the Moon
More Ideas
and Technology by Jules Verne
Tech news articles related to From the Earth to the Moon
Tech news articles related to works by Jules Verne
Communicate with Extraterrestrials-related
news articles:
- Earth Barcoded For Alien Convenience
- Google Earth Typography
- Syrians Ask For Help From Mars
- Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) Workshop
- 'A Sign in Space' Gives Practice In Decoding ET Messages
| Will Whales Be Our First Contact? |
| NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards |
| Holobox? Who Doesn't Want A Home Hologram? |
| EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.'
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
