Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"If I had to get a new Ph.D. now, I'd get it in polymer engineering - the manipulation of matter."
- Bart Kosko
 |
| Etherometer | ||
| A device that looked at the 'ether' pervading space as a means of determining gravitation field strength. |
Knowing gravitational field gradients is extremely helpful when navigation around crowded parts of space, like planets and their moons.
| As the vessel roared through frozen space, Richard Greer gazed apprehensively at the rapidly expanding gravity lines in the etherometer at his elbow...
Commander Wormser returned his gaze to the etherometer and stared in tremulous horror at the swiftly widening gravity lines which were flickering across it's opalescent surface. |
| Technovelgy from Spawn of the Red Giants,
by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1937 Additional resources -
|
The theory that there must be an 'ether' needed to transmit electromagnetic radiation had many adherents well into the twentieth century. Shown below is a 1932 German apparatus intended to measure ether drift.
(Ether drift apparatus)
The device was described as follows:
It consists of four arms on a perpendicular axis, containing a series of mirrors, lenses, and reflecting plates. A ray of light enters at the top of the device and is bounced back and fourth thousands of times, finally emerging at the bottom, where its passing leaves a record on a photographic plate.
The experiment demonstrated that if there was any drift, it must be less than one and a half miles per second.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Spawn of the Red Giants
More Ideas
and Technology by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.
Tech news articles related to Spawn of the Red Giants
Tech news articles related to works by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.
| Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside? |
| Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space |
| Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic |
| Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
