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"Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful."
- Philip K. Dick
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| Cosmograph | ||
| A "radio" using light rays, for space communication. |
The first use of this phrase.
| My post from beginning to end of that fateful voyage was at the intricate keyboard of the cosmograph, or space radio, which employed light impulses in the cosmic rays instead of electricity for communication over vast distances. I was in an excellent position to judge the reactions of the crew of nine, and as soon as we recovered from the terrific shock of propulsion through the stratosphere, I began sending our impressions to earth by means of the cosmograph.
We had previously agreed to communicate by numbers aboard ship, each having his numeral displayed on his space suit, which was worn inside the ship continually, owing to fear of sudden disaster, which might force us to parachutes, or arthane* hand-guns at any moment. Not long after projection, which had been made from a huge, steel tower near the experimental plant in the Arizona desert, it became evident that all thinking and acting must be almost as mechanically perfect as our namenumbers if we were to circumnavigate the Moon successfully as planned by Frank Aldane (No. 1), commander and inventor of the space ship... A little later I watched concernedly the answer of Herbert Aldane as it crackled and sputtered in the micro-spectroscope. The cosmograph was being slightly affected by the electrical disturbances, but not enough to hinder the interpretation of the messages. Its immunity I ascribed to its utilization of the cosmic rays as an impulse medium, instead of electrical, or radio waves. |
| Technovelgy from Tyrant of the Red World,
by Richard Tooker. Published by Wonder Stories in 1932 Additional resources -
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
