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
 |
Amateur Innovators - This Is Your Century!
In the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, the amateur was king in many fields. Early breakthroughs in chemistry, medicine and particularly astronomy form the foundations of modern science. These talented amateur scientists often made their own instruments, or had them fabricated by local craftsmen. But in the twentieth century, the talented amateur was slowly replaced by university-trained PhDs who were hired to build and maintain extremely expensive instruments.
However, according to a new report by Charles Leadbeater and Paul Miller, the 21st century could mark the return of the talented (and obsessed!) amateur to the first ranks of science. This is a fantastically useful and interesting observation; this observation could be as important as the ideas in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published in the 1960's by Thomas Kuhn.
(William Herschel and Heinrich Schwabe)
For example, in the late 18th century, William Herschel became interested in astronomy, and pursued the construction of larger and larger instruments while maintaining his career as a singer. In 1781, he discovered the planet Uranus, the first new planet discovered since ancient times. He became a celebrity, and (further demonstrating his acumen) he named the planet Georgium Sidum, after King George III. He was made "King's Astronomer" and recieved a pension for life. He and his sister continued their observations, working on double stars (proving that gravitation worked outside the solar system), an evolutionary system of the universe, developed evidence that the sun put out energy outside the visible spectrum, and started the study of the effect of the sun on the earth's weather.
Amateur astronomer Heinrich Schwabe ran his family pharmaceutical business in the early 19th century. In his spare time, he tried to discover planets within the orbit of Mercury. In doing so, he accumulated many drawings of sunspots, trying to find a planet making a transit of the sun. He never discovered a planet, but his seventeen years of nearly continuous sunspot observations demonstrated a ten-year periodicity in sunspot activity - the sunspot cycle. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1857.
Look all around you for examples of the important contributions of amateurs to science and world culture - linux, amateur music remixes, The Sims, and specialized blogs and websites. Yes, even amateur astronomers are making a comeback - the charged couple device (CCD), a light-sensitive chip that can capture starlight and is inexpensive enough for ordinary individuals, is revolutionizing amateur astronomy. And people who know nothing about it can use the SETI@home screensaver, which allows the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program use idle machine cycles around the world to analyze data.
As for the tie-in to science fiction, take a look around on this site to see some of the remarkable inventions of talented amateurs - science fiction writers. For a start, take a look at waldoes, geosynchronous telecommunication satellites and computer tapeworms. The original story was taken from Amateur Revolution; get your own copy of the report (when it comes out in November) here.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/7/2004)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Miscellaneous ")
Bush Robots - Fingers On Your Fingers On Your Fingers...
From Heinlein to Moravec to MacLeod - bush robots are cool.
Amateur Innovators - This Is Your Century!
the 21st century could mark the return of the talented (and obsessed!) amateur to the first ranks of science. This is a fantastically useful and interesting observation; this observation could be as important as the ideas in The Structure of Scientif
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 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
Current News
Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
Some Ringworld Configurations Are Stable
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
TRANSFORM Dynamic Furniture Concept Becomes What You Need
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
Dino From Magical Toys An AI Companion To Children
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Darpa 'Defiant' Unmanned Autonomous Ship
'There was no wheel, and no steersman!'
What's The Best Way To Ship And Unpack Humanoid Robots?
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
DNA Printed Book By Isaac Asimov Now Available
'They tied the memory to the bloodline and that was their record!'
AI Computer Chip Designs Passeth Human Understanding
'It seems that at one time computers were designed directly by human beings.'
Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now
'...the spot was a lonely one in an uncharted region, far from the normal lanes of space traffic.'
Fine-Tune Your Infinite Book The Way You Want It
'I squatted down beside the roller and tried to make some sense out of the knobs. There were thirty-nine of them...'
SpiRobs Soft Spiral Robotic Arm
'Beware the long, flexible, glittering tentacles...'
Holland Factory 3D Printing 500 Tons Of Steak Per Month
'...I don’t understand technical things — tell me, does it ever feel anything?"
Stratospheric Solar Geoengineering From Harvard
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
