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"It wasn't until I was past forty that it bacame clear that I was going to be quote, successful, unquote."
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This is a very clear reference to radar, which uses electromagnetic radiation to determine how far away an object is (or to detect an object in the first place). RADAR is an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging.
Many science fiction fans believe that Hugo Gernsback came up with the idea for radar. From the standpoint of the history of ideas, this is probably not true; however, Gernsback had an engineering background and may have conceived of the idea independently.
In the late 1880’s Henrich Hertz demonstrated that electromagnetic waves existed; they could be generated and observed. He also found that these “radio” waves traveled through some objects and were reflected by others.
I found several references to the possibility that Hertz actually developed a system to measure the distance between himself and an object that reflects radio waves, and that this was demonstrated to the German navy (without much interest) in the mid 1890's.
The basic effects of radar detection were known to the US Naval Research Laboratory in the early 1920’s.
The first practical radar equipment was created in 1935 by British physicist Sir Robert Watson-Watt; England had established a chain of radar stations along its south and east coasts to detect planes by 1939. Comment/Join this discussion ( 5 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
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'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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