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"I can remember when the first pulsars were discovered. I was able to go and sit down and listen to graduate students talking about what their theories, to explain what pulsars really were."
- Vernor Vinge

Centrifuge Room  
  A small room on a planetoid that is spun to create artificial gravity.  

The mess hall was one of the areas that was centrifuged, spinning slowly in a hollow in the rock. There was a larger wheel that was used as a gymnasium for running and weight lifting, and a third which held bunk rooms for those who did not like sleeping in free-fall.
Technovelgy from The Ophiuchi Hotline, by John Varley.
Published by Quantum Science Fiction in 1977
Additional resources -

Compare to the artificial gravity from Brigands of the Moon (1930 - likely the first reference) by Ray Cummings, the artificial gravity system from Last and First Men (1930) by Olaf Stapledon and the city of space from The Prince of Space (1931) by Jack Williamson. You might also check out Artificial Gravity-Assisted Childbirth from Robert Heinlein's 1973 opus Time Enough for Love.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Ophiuchi Hotline
  More Ideas and Technology by John Varley
  Tech news articles related to The Ophiuchi Hotline
  Tech news articles related to works by John Varley

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