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
"I went back to science fiction to try a few experiments …and my first experiment was a disaster…"
- Alfred Bester
 |
| Hyperspace | ||
| A realm or parallel universe in which it may be possible to travel much faster than light. |
As far as I know, this is the first use of the term "hyperspace" in fiction.
| AS a psychologist I was, and am, not unknown. My monographs on “The Will” and “The Fundamentals of Character” are accepted as authoritative. I have also some reputation as a mathematician, or rather that branch of it which is included in the domain of metaphysics, transcendental mathematics, which was developed by the mystics of antiquity and more recently by Zollner, Hinton, and Einstein.
Into the mysteries of hyperspace T have penetrated farther than any man now living. I am one of the few who can say that physically I have been in the fourth dimension. It was while in this plane that I learned that J. Ensley Kendall had betrayed me. I read his thoughts as if they were an open book. When I returned to three dimensional space I went to him and accused him of his treachery and upbraided him. He listened. It even seemed to me that he listened patiently. |
| Technovelgy from The Statement of Archibald Swayne,
by Burton Peter Thom. Published by Weird Tales in 1924 Additional resources -
|
Here's another quotation from The Invisible Bubble (1928), by Kirk Meadowcroft:
...We have discovered by my synthesis the factors necessary to produce a disturbance of spatial relation. We see that they may occur in nature; that under certain conditions, by the aid of lightning as well as by my tube, there may be produced the globules of hyper-space, which then seek each other out - flow together - and travel in vague and erratic fashion, as they may be drawn here and there by one influence or another.
Hyperspace as usually presented today is as an alternative to "normal space," that being the reality that we humans occupy.
John W. Campbell used it just three years later sans hyphen in Islands of Space:
Are we not justified in supposing, by the analogy of the reversibility of reactions in chemistry, that the boundary lines of space and hyper-space may not be so rigidly drawn as we have supposed?
(The Invisible Bubble, by Kirk Meadowcroft)
Well we would be stuck if we didn't have this new method, for the acceleration would take too long. However, in the hyperspace we are going into, a new condition exists. Well you go into a hyperspace and move at any speed you please. I wonder then, how are you going to see where you are going?
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Statement of Archibald Swayne
More Ideas
and Technology by Burton Peter Thom
Tech news articles related to The Statement of Archibald Swayne
Tech news articles related to works by Burton Peter Thom
| Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft |
| Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars |
| Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris |
| Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand |
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
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
