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
"A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Matter Transmitter | ||
| Device which causes a physical object to disappear from one place and reappear in another. |
This reference to transmitting an object from place to place is not as early as you might think; however, it is probably the first use of this modern term to describe it.
| But when the word of the strangers' descent over our home city, Tola, came to us, all else was forgotten. With me at her side, Geble hastened to the beam station and there in the matter transmitter we dispatched our physical beings to the palace at Tola, and the next moment were staring upward at the two strange shapes etched against the sky. |
| From The Conquest of Gola,
by L.F. Stone. Published by Wonder Stories in 1931 Additional resources -
|
For an earlier (maybe earliest) use of the concept, see the entry for the telepomp from the still-enjoyable 1877 story The Man Without a Body by Edward Page Mitchell.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Conquest of Gola
More Ideas
and Technology by L.F. Stone
Tech news articles related to The Conquest of Gola
Tech news articles related to works by L.F. Stone
| Poisoning Big Tech's Data Well |
| Sci-Fi Organic Technology |
| Nuclear Batteries May Pack Inner Punch |
| Listen Up, Coppertop - Wearable Device Turns You Into A Battery |
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
'Employees... were implanted with advanced microprocessors...'
'... sweating, heat-blistered engineers at every interplanetary radiograph station on three planets.'
'The huge plow... seemed to shake itself - and began to move back southward.'
'... he went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet and his mandatory cooling-unit.'
'We still use people at the main gates, but here it's an automated sentry.'
