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"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Solar Car | ||
| A car the energy for which comes from the sun. |
As far as I know, this is the first mention of this phrase in science fiction. This is not a vehicle that uses solar panels actually on the car to power it, however.
| IN ten minutes Hal was in his private
solar car driving at a smooth 500 m.p.h. down the elevated city track to the space grounds.* As he drove he meditated, still none too certain of the setup in which he had landed. To own a planet was one thing: to be sure how much others knew about it was another. He glanced up suddenly at his rear mirror as he heard a roar behind him. In the mirror was a powerful black solar car striving to overtake him. To move out of his single car track was impossible. Then his alarm abated and he grinned. Of course! These cars were not like 1970. They moved in a fixed groove and the black car was on the faster track anyway. He waited for it to overtake him. * Solar car — A car assumed to utilize the power of the sun, this power operating from a central plant and distributed to all Vehicles. The idea exists today in the minds of scientists.— Ed. |
| Technovelgy from The Man Who Bought Mars,
by Polton Cross. Published by Fantastic Adventures in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the steel tortoise from Coventry (1940) by Robert Heinlein.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Man Who Bought Mars
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Tech news articles related to The Man Who Bought Mars
Tech news articles related to works by Polton Cross
| Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Will Be Ready This August, 2024 |
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| More Like A Tumblebug Than A Motorcycle |
| Tesla Camera-Only Vision Predicted In 1930's SF |
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Science Fiction
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'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
