![]() |
Science Fiction
Dictionary Latest By
"We follow the scientists around and look over their shoulders. They're watching their feet: provable mistakes are bad for them. We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes."
|
![]() |
![]() As far as I know, this is the first use of the idea of connecting what we now call a television or video camera to a telescope in science fiction.
Here is another excerpt with more details on how this is used:
A portlike door opened with a brisk swiftness in the
blinding sunlight. A long metal arm reached out. A
lens glittered at its end. A little scanning-disk began
to twinkle vividly...
Presently the long lens-bearing tube changed its position. The lens had pointed roughly toward the sun.
It was as if an observation had been taken to find the
Power Planet and check the course of the rocket. Now
it pointed back toward the earth.
Again seeming motionlessness save for the twinkling
of the scanning-disk. The scanning telescope would
bring the earth astoundingly close. The continents and
the polar caps would be quite distinct...
Historians may recall that, before LCDs or even cathode ray tubes, there was a mechanical means of creating, transmitting and showing a picture:
Mechanical-scanning methods were used in the earliest experimental television systems in the 1920s and 1930s. One of the first experimental wireless television transmissions was by John Logie Baird on October 2, 1925, in London. By 1928 many radio stations were broadcasting experimental television programs using mechanical systems. However the technology never produced images of sufficient quality to become popular with the public.
(Via Wikipedia)
Although not quite the same thing, the inventor of the scanning disk idea actually patented it as an "electric telescope" in 1884:
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
resources:
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
|
![]() |
Science Fiction
Timeline
JAXA Int Ball 2 Coming Right Along As Star Wars Remote
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer?
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
Robot Gas Station Attendant Pumps Gas For You
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
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.'
|
![]() |
![]() |
Home | Glossary
| Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact
Us | FAQ | Advertise | ![]() Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™ Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved. |
![]() |