 |
Science Fiction Dictionary: Ideas, Terms and Technology
(
3946 Inventions Available)
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
| Device Name | Book/Story | Author | Date |
| Vac Suit A space suit, designed for use in vacuum. |
Child of the Sun | Brackett | 1942 |
| Vacutubes A system of public transportation that used partially evacuated tubes and capsules big enough for passengers. |
Double Star | Heinlein | 1956 |
| Vacuum Armor An armor-plated space suit. |
Skylark Three | Smith | 1930 |
| Vacuum Cylinder Traveling first class, but like mail, in a tube system. |
Wandl, The Invader | Cummings | 1932 |
| Vacuum Suit An early description of a space suit, and the first use of this now archaic phrase. |
The Man from the Atom | Wertenbaker | 1926 |
| Vacuum Wall Compartments Shielding against heat by using walls with evacuated sections. |
The Achilles Heel | Gallun | 1940 |
| Vacuum-Cupped Sandals Used for walking in weightless environments. |
Voyage 13 | Cummings | 1938 |
| Vagus Nerve Bio-Chip Relief from nausea without drugs. |
Diplomatic Immunity | Bujold | 2002 |
| Vai-Chi Tai-Chi movements translated into the virtual world |
Rim | Besher | 1994 |
| Van Goom's Gambit A chessboard pattern that unhinges the mind of any player who sees it. |
Von Goom's Gambit | Contoski | 1966 |
| Vandelite Gun An artillery device that freezes the explosive material for firing so it doesn't explode in the gun when it fires. |
The World Masters | Griffith | 1903 |
| Vanwinkling Another name for time-traveling into the future. |
The Best-Laid Scheme | de Camp | 1941 |
| Vapor Charge A bullet that discharges gas. |
Logan's Run | Nolan (w/G.C. Johnson) | 1967 |
| Vaporator A device which extracted moisture from the air for use in farming. |
Star Wars | Lucas | 1976 |
| Variable Modifier Provides the capability of altering standard jokes to fit new circumstances. |
The Jester | Tenn | 1951 |
| Variable Sword A sword that could vary in length, and cut through anything. |
Ringworld | Niven | 1970 |
| Vastening It's hard to describe, but it's a robotic sense perception. |
The Proud Robot | Padgett | 1943 |
| Vat Grown Meat Meat tissue for consumption, grown apart from an animal. |
Neuromancer | Gibson | 1984 |
| Vat Meat (Albert) Meat grown in a vat. |
The End of the Line | Schmitz | 1951 |
| Vehicle Energy Reclamation Reclaiming the energy gained by climbing a hill on the way back down. |
A Journey In Other Worlds | Astor IV | 1894 |
| Vehicle Seeds A matrix of materials and instructions that allow vehicles to grow themselves when placed in an environment of plentiful materials. |
Killing Titan | Bear | 2015 |
| Vehicle Sleep Sensor Better stay awake, the machines know if you're sleeping. |
The Velvet Glove | Harrison | 1956 |
| VEIL A wearable device used to foil facial recognition systems. |
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell: A Novel | Stephenson | 2019 |
| Venus Cities Float In Atmosphere Cloud cities on Venus. |
Bread Overhead! | Leiber | 1958 |
| Venus Equilateral Relay Station A converted asteroid that served as the relay station for telecommunications throughout the solar system. |
QRM - Interplanetary | Smith | 1942 |
| Verhaeren Factor Provides autonomous robots with the capacity for independent creative action. |
Robinc | Boucher | 1943 |
| Veridicator A device that measured physiologic responses (biometric data) and translated it to a set of colors that unerringly reported whether or not the measured person was telling the truth. |
Little Fuzzy | Piper | 1962 |
| Verse Transcriber A device that would produce perfect poetry, given the necessary parameters. |
Studio 5, The Stars | Ballard | 1971 |
| Versificator A device that composes words to music. |
1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four) | Orwell | 1948 |
| Vestan Parasite Semi-intelligent creatures that take control of the nervous system of other animals. |
The World With A Thousand Moons | Hamilton | 1942 |
| Vibration Machine A device that neutralized the gravitational force of the sun on the earth. |
The Comet Doom | Hamilton | 1929 |
| Vibration Screen Subtle rays prevent electronic surveillance. |
The Shining One | Schachner | 1937 |
| Vibration-Propelled Cruiser A spacecraft with a propulsion system relying on waves in spacetime itself. |
Crashing Suns | Hamilton | 1928 |
| Vibratium Wall Time Machine An element that is unstable in time makes time travel possible and enables the Grandfather Paradox. |
Ancestral Voices | Schachner | 1933 |
| Vibratory Mass Penetrator A device that allows a person to walk through earth and even solid rock. |
Rock Diver | Harrison | 1951 |
| Vibra-Transmitter (Teleportation) An early use of the notion of matter transmission. |
Into the Meteorite Orbit | Kelly | 1933 |
| Vibroblade A knife-like weapon. |
If This Goes On... | Heinlein | 1940 |
| Vibrowriter A device that translated speech and typed it out for you. |
The Lost Language | Keller | 1934 |
| Video Communicator A device that carried both voice and image, letting the two parties see each other. |
The Machine Stops | Forster | 1909 |
| Video Unit Video units attached directly to the optic nerve, giving sight to the blind. |
Idoru | Gibson | 1996 |
| Video Wallpaper Very thin, large scale display. |
A Deepness in the Sky | Vinge | 1999 |
| Video-Glasses Special light-gathering elements allowed the end user to see omni-directionally. |
Islands in the Net | Sterling | 1988 |
| Video-Manicuring Program Manipulates live video images in real time. |
Schismatrix | Sterling | 1985 |
| Videophone A person-to-person communication device offering sight as well as sound. |
The Golden Girl of Munan | Vincent | 1928 |
| Videoshades Sunglasses that let you watch what you want. |
Islands in the Net | Sterling | 1988 |
| Viewing Tank A display monitor. |
The Man in the Maze | Silverberg | 1969 |
| Viewplate A flat panel viewing display. |
Armageddon: 2419 A.D. | Nowlan | 1928 |
| Viewscreen Pentagon A display with a central, pentagonal display surrounded by square displays attached to the sides. |
Sunward Flight | Zagat | 1943 |
| Violet Shrink Ray A miniaturization ray. |
The Pygmy Planet | Williamson | 1932 |
| Violet-Gun (Ion Gun) Ultra-violet fury! |
The Brain Stealers of Mars | Campbell | 1936 |
| Virtual Assembly Use of holograms to accomplish an assembly of people. |
If The Sun Died | Starzl | 1931 |
| Virtual Childrearing Learn childcare the virtual way; maybe long distance childcare, too. |
Natulife | Brin | 1994 |
| Virtual Immortality A method for storing the mind and memories of a person, and recalling and reconstituting them at will. |
The City and the Stars | Clarke | 1956 |
| Virtual Keyboard A keyboard that appears at the right moment in game play. |
The Age of The Pussyfoot | Pohl | 1966 |
| Virtual Kiss (Tactile Net) A phone-like device that will communicate a kiss in a tactile manner. |
The Age of The Pussyfoot | Pohl | 1966 |
| Virtual Meeting A meeting space that exists only in a computer; the descendant of today's web conferences. |
Idoru | Gibson | 1996 |
| Virtual Panopticon A method that gathers information from many sources to effectively surveil any citizen as effectively as if he was in a glass cell. |
The Traveler | Twelve Hawks | 2005 |
| Virtual Punishment It seems like decades in prison. |
Complete Sentence | Haldeman | 2011 |
| Virtual Reality (Virtual Matrix) An early use of a term very similar to the idea of cyberspace. |
The Judas Mandala | Broderick | 1982 |
| Virtual Reality Ceremony Don't just put your motion capture suit on - do it with style. |
Rim | Besher | 1994 |
| Virtual Reality Construct A means of projecting a virtual reality experience without special headsets. |
The Age of The Pussyfoot | Pohl | 1966 |
| Virtual Reality Video Game A description of a computer game simulation played in real time as entertainment. |
The Age of The Pussyfoot | Pohl | 1966 |
| Virtual World Kiss Kissing mediated by a computer system. |
True Names | Vinge | 1981 |
| Virtual world metaphor use of fanciful imagery to represent real-world data systems in a virtual world. |
True Names | Vinge | 1981 |
| Virtual World Theft A method of stealing or reassigning ownership to items of value in virtual worlds. |
Halting State | Stross | 2007 |
| Virtuality Helmet ('Virching' Helmet) A helmet with a communication system and a display; a pilot wearing this helmet could sit on the ground and control a distant aircraft. |
Heavy Weather | Sterling | 1994 |
| Visible Halo Providing a religious figure with a technological sign of grace. |
Sixth Column | MacDonald | 1941 |
| Visicastor A person who presents video broadcasts. |
Second Foundation | Asimov | 1953 |
| Visiglobe A display that provided a spherical, 3D visualization of a scene. |
Agent of Vega | Schmitz | 1949 |
| Visigraphic Crowd Emotional Record A graphic record of the emotions of a crowd. |
Gather, Darkness! | Leiber | 1943 |
| Vision Cube A solid-state memory device. |
The Man in the Maze | Silverberg | 1969 |
| Vision Implant Photoelectric cell implanted in the forehead grants some vision to the blind. |
The Dream Master (He Who Shapes) | Zelazny | 1966 |
| Vision Plate A flat panel monitor. |
First Contact | Leinster | 1945 |
| Vision Strip A circular vision strip for robots. |
Orphans of the Void | Shaara | 1952 |
| Vision Tubes Microminaturized vision for UAV's. |
The Scarab | Gallun | 1936 |
| Vision-Based Autonomous Cars A vehicle that uses a visual sensor to gather information sufficient to safely drive. |
Paradise and Iron | Breuer | 1930 |
| Visiphone Visual as well as audio communication. |
The Message From Space | Speaker | 1930 |
| Visiplate A flat screen for viewing remote images. |
Skylark Three | Smith | 1930 |
| Visi-Screen A display device. |
Satellite Five | Barnes | 1938 |
| Visi-Sonor An entertainment device which appeared to create both sound and light by acting directly on brain cells. It also stimulated emotions directly. |
Foundation and Empire | Asimov | 1952 |
| Visiwave Even faster than ultrawave! a means of instantaneous communication over lightyear distances. |
One Against The Legion | Williamson | 1939 |
| Visor A snap-down video screen for your eyes only. |
Freezone | Shirley | 1985 |
| Vistascreen Large screen entertainment. |
Assignment to Aldebaran | Crossen | 1953 |
| Visual Ad An advertisement that forces its way directly into the brain of the viewer. |
Sales Pitch | Dick | 1954 |
| Visual Pattern Recognition A robot's ability to respond to programmed visual stimulus |
Rust | Kelleam | 1939 |
| Visual Report Screen A device that allows a robot nanny to let the owners view what the robot sees from a remote location. |
Nanny | Dick | 1955 |
| Vita-Light A special form of bulb or light source that could keep people who were never exposed to the sun perfectly healthy. |
If The Sun Died | Starzl | 1931 |
| Vitalium A rare radioactive metal which enables solar power cells. |
The Prince of Space | Williamson | 1931 |
| Vitalizer Tired? Try Henderson's Vitalizer! |
The Soma Racks | St. Clair | 1947 |
| Vitrisheen A translucent glass-like fashion choice. |
Moon Crystals | Haggard | 1936 |
| Vivatape Perfectly seals cuts also helps through-skin implants heal. |
Babel-17 | Delany | 1966 |
| Vivification A process by which the body can be preserved for centuries at body temperature and then revived. |
In the Deep of Time | Lathrop | 1897 |
| Vivisector A program that takes another computer program apart, while it's running, to see what it does. |
Earth | Brin | 1990 |
| Vivo-Gel Semi-living material. |
Agent of Vega | Schmitz | 1949 |
| Vizzyprint A printer attached to a video phone. |
Wetware | Rucker | 1988 |
| Vocal Typewriter A device that accepts spoken dictation and produces printed copy. |
Dr. Hackensaw's Secrets Some Minor Inventions | Fezandie | 1926 |
| Vocalex Kitchen Voice command automatic kitchen. |
The Jester | Tenn | 1951 |
| Voder Device that produces speech by purely mechanical means. |
Exit From Asteroid 60 | James | 1940 |
| Voice Combines exceptional insight into personalty with voice modulation to achieve control over individuals. |
Dune | Herbert | 1965 |
| Voice Dialing Speak the name of the person and call them on the phone. |
The Age of The Pussyfoot | Pohl | 1966 |
| Voice Encyclopedia Access to information via robotic voice recognition over the phone. |
Galactic Pot-Healer | Dick | 1969 |
| Voice in the Ear Project a voice or sound to one individual's ears only. |
Childhood's End | Clarke | 1953 |
| Voice-Activated Door A door that opens upon verbal command. |
Assignment to Aldebaran | Crossen | 1953 |
| Voice-Changing Bowtie Special device allows wearer to take on the voice of another person at will. |
Case Closed (Detective Conan) | Aoyama | 1994 |
| Voice-Clock A clock that could state the time out loud. |
The Martian Chronicles | Bradbury | 1950 |
| Voicecorder A device that records verbal output and determines truth or falsehood. |
Whipping Star | Herbert | 1969 |
| Voice-Enabled Smartphone A smartphone capable of complete voice-enabled operation. |
The Age of The Pussyfoot | Pohl | 1966 |
| Voicewriter Screen (Computer Monitor) A screen that displays characters. |
Granny Won't Knit | Sturgeon | 1954 |
| Voight-Kampff Empathy Test A test consisting of a set of images and questions, asked while the subject's biometric data are gathered; intended to separate humans from non-humans. |
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Dick | 1968 |
| Voight-Kampff Test A test intended to distinguish human beings from replicants. |
Blade Runner | Scott | 1982 |
| Volplane A small vehicle used in transporting people around the moon's surface. |
Blood of the Moon | Cummings | 1936 |
| Vortal Tube An energy passage providing instantaneous transportation between points across the galaxy |
Whipping Star | Herbert | 1969 |
| Vortex Gun A device that projects whirling fields of atomic instability. |
One Against The Legion | Williamson | 1939 |
| Voxbox An intelligent home agent. |
Tekwar | Shatner | 1989 |
| Voxcoder Device for secure communication. |
Storm Thief | Wooding | 2006 |
| VR Dyslexia Severe disorientation brought about by excessive use of virtual reality equipment. |
Rim | Besher | 1994 |
| Vulcan 3 Artificially intelligent self-modifying supercomputer. |
Vulcan's Hammer | Dick | 1960 |
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
Didn't find
what you were looking for?
Want to Submit
an Item? Comments? Corrections? Contact
us!
Technovelgy.com is devoted to the creative inventions, devices and technology of science fiction authors and movie makers. Look for the Science Fiction Invention Category that interests you, the 3,300+ item Dictionary of Science Fiction, the Science Fiction Timeline, or see what's New. Read more than 6,000 science fiction made real stories - Science Fiction in the News.
Science Fiction
in
the News
Miss Alabama Beauty Contest Offers Different Standards
re: Jack Vance
(11/29/2024)
Has Musk Given Up On Full Self Driving (FSD)?
re: Charles Stross
(11/27/2024)
Prufrock-3 'The Monster' Ready To Launch
re: Frank Philips
(11/25/2024)
Drones In Vast Airborne Grids
re: Neal Stephenson
(11/23/2024)
Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle
re: Arthur C. Clarke
(11/21/2024)
Capturing Asteroids With Nets
re: VE Thiessen
(11/19/2024)
Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed!
re: Judson W. Reeves
(11/17/2024)
AI Welfare Position At Anthropic Filled By Human
re: Isaac Asimov
(11/15/2024)
Marslink Proposed By SpaceX
re: George O. Smith
(11/13/2024)
Simple Way To Defeat AI Face Recognition
re: Neal Stephenson
(11/11/2024)
Wood-Panelled LignoSat Launched
re: Dan Simmons
(11/9/2024)
Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories
re: Jerry Pournelle
(11/7/2024)
'Iceberg House' Of Travis Kelce Reflects Science Fiction Of Past Century
re: Clifford Simak
(11/5/2024)
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
re: Edmond Hamilton
(11/3/2024)
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
re: Neal Stephenson
(11/1/2024)
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
re: Philip K Dick
(10/29/2024)
Hybrid Wind Solar Devices
re: Simpson Stokes
(10/27/2024)
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
re: AG Stangland
(10/25/2024)
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
re: AE van Vogt
(10/23/2024)
Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon
re: Arthur C. Clarke
(10/21/2024)
Drone Deliveries Instead Of Waiters In Restaurants?
re: H. Beam Piper
(10/19/2024)
Skip Movewear Arc'teryx AI Pants
re: Edmond Hamilton
(10/17/2024)
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself
re: William Morrison
(10/17/2024)
'Robovan' Name Already Taken - Elon, Try These
re: Weinbaums
(10/15/2024)
