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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
- Peter Watts
 |
| Force-Field | ||
| A barrier to objects, created by projected forces. |
The notion of a force-field is widely used in science fiction; this is a very early reference.
| Arcot had used the force field that produced the directed motions of the molecules as a weapon. |
| From Islands of Space,
by John W. Campbell. Published by Amazing Stories in 1931 Additional resources -
|
Here's another very early reference, from the same year, by 'Doc Smith writing in Space Hounds of IPC:
Compare to other early ideas about projecting force, like attractive ray from Edmond Hamilton's 1928 novel Crashing Suns or the super-photon ray from Campbell's 1932 story Invaders from the Infinite.
He first called Mars, the home planet of Alcantro and Fedanzo, the foremost force-field experts of three planets; and was assured in no uncertain terms that those rulers of rays were ready and anxious to follow wherever Brandon and Westfall might lead.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Islands of Space
More Ideas
and Technology by John W. Campbell
Tech news articles related to Islands of Space
Tech news articles related to works by John W. Campbell
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