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
"I long ago realized that I could reach far more people by writing something, than by walking down the street with a banner."
- John Brunner
 |
| Lasgun | ||
| A continuous-wave laser projector; can be used as a weapon or as a cutting tool. |
The lasgun is another in a series of laser-based weapons; the descendant of the "blasters" of the science fiction of the 1920's.
This term was coined by Herbert for the Dune universe.
| Kynes took a deep breath, said: "This door should hold for at least twenty minutes against all but a lasgun." "They'll not use a lasgun for fear we've shields on this side," Paul said. |
| Technovelgy from Dune,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Putnam in 1965 Additional resources -
|
I’ve only seen it used one other time, in Pater One, Pater Two (1969) by Patrick Meadows; published in F&SF:
"Start looking. Mehmet and I will work on the metal with a lasgun in the meantime.”
… When he returned to the tunnels, the lights were on, and Osman was cursing tightly in front of the door. He had spent the power pack of one gun trying to cut through, and then the door had simply started sliding back into the wall when the power came on. It was stuck half open because the jagged edges of the laser cut wouldn’t clear.
Its use as a weapon is limited by subatomic fusion that occurs when the beam of a lasgun (offensive weapon) intersects that of a shield using the Holtzman field (defensive weapon). See the blaster (1925) from When the Green Star Waned by Nictzin Dyalhis, the neutron blaster (1951), from The Complete Paratime, by H. Beam Piper and the heat ray from The War of the Worlds (1898), by H.G. Wells.
Compare to nuclear shears from Foundation (1951) by Isaac Asimov, the
toaster from Accidental Flight (1952) by WF Wallace, the
Slaver disintegrator from Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven and the
atomic torch from One Against the Legion (1939) by Jack Williamson.
He scanned the neighboring walls with a torch. "The doors were probably electrically operated. The power is off at this end. Somewhere there is a switch for the door and a generator.”
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Dune
More Ideas
and Technology by Frank Herbert
Tech news articles related to Dune
Tech news articles related to works by Frank Herbert
| Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait |
| Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade |
| Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones |
| China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun |
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
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
