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"...science fiction is sort of like a sociological genome. It's a huge range of possible futures, most of them useless; some vital. You never really know in advance."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Bolognium | ||
| Very early fictional element, courtesy of metallurgists. |
See also the article for the word "unobtainium".
| ...the Sillinoise Steel company was described. In the absence of the author, the paper was read by Dr. E.Z. Dame of Never Ready Batteries (Edgar C. Bain). The author's abstract follows:
This paper describes some of the alloys of the newly discovered element Gafnium. The element is named after the famous worker in steel who has but to mention a certain steel when lo! it becomes a super-metal... The element Gafnium is very similar to the element Bolognium with which it alloys in all proportions following a series of inter metallic compounds none of which are attracted by mice at ordinary pressures. |
| Technovelgy from Transactions of Amer Soc for Steel Treating,
by Edgar Bain. Published by Amer Soc Steel Treating in 1926 Additional resources -
|
This is not really a science fiction short story, but was instead a humorous effort by diligent metallurgists and materials scientists. Compare to many entries in List of Materials in Science Fiction.
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Tech news articles related to Transactions of Amer Soc for Steel Treating
Tech news articles related to works by Edgar Bain
| Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick |
| GNoME AI From DeepMind Invents Millions Of New Materials |
| Omniphobic Liquid-like Surfaces And de Camp's Telelubricator (1940) |
| MXenes - Atomic-Thin Metal Sheets Now Easier To Make |
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'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
