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 did more research, and realized I almost would rather be a biologist than a writer, because there was incredible stuff going on!"
- Greg Bear
 |
| Farside | ||
| The portion of the Moon's surface that faces away from Earth. |
This appears to be the earliest use in science fiction of this handy term, if not in scientific literature (see below).
| The Authority booked first-class passages for all expeditionary personnel, which in the case of a hop up to the Moon meant a direct ferry traveling at one gee all the way. Standing by the observation window, an untasted drink in his hand, David Ryerson remarked: "You know, this is only the third time I’ve been off Earth. And the other two, we trans-shipped at Satellite and went free-fall most of the way.” "Sounds like fun,” said Maclaren. "I must try it sometime.” "You . . .in your line of work . . . you must go to the Moon quite often,” said Ryerson shyly. Maclaren nodded. "Mount Ambarzumian Observatory, on Farside. Still a little dust and gas to bother us, of course, but I'll let the purists go out to Pluto Satellite and bring me back their plates.” |
| Technovelgy from We Have Fed Our Sea,
by Poul Anderson. Published by Astounding in 1958 Additional resources -
|
Arthur C. Clarke picked up on this expression quickly; this quote is from A Fall of Moondust (1961):
The first person to use the word "farside" for the far side of the moon was the English astronomer Richard Proctor in his book "The Moon" published in 1873. Proctor wrote:
Depending on your lights, you might consider this quote from The Other Side of the Moon (1929) by Edmond Hamilton to be the first use of the term:
Compare to near side from The Moon Master (1930) by Charles W. Diffin, dark side from Power Planet (1931) by Murray Leinster, the ungainly (but descriptive) spaceward lunar hemisphere from Dawn of the Demigods, by Raymond Z. Gallun, published by Planet Stories in 1954, dirtside from Starman Jones (1953) by Robert Heinlein.
"It won't take me long to describe the MOONCRASH organization," said Pat. "And, frankly, it wasn't planned to deal with a situation like this. When a ship's down on the Moon, it can be spotted very quickly from one of the satellites—either Lagrange II, above Earthside, or Lagrange I, over Farside. But I doubt if they can help us now; as I said, we've probably gone down without a trace."
"The side of the moon which is turned towards the earth is called the near side; the other side, which is never seen from the earth, is called the far side."
OVER that colossal city, lying in dusk beneath the lunar night, our flying-circles drove, a city that I recognized was built upon the far side of the moon from earth, and which amazed me utterly. Why had these turtle-races built their tremendous, air-tight city on the moon's far side alone, where it could never be seen from earth?
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from We Have Fed Our Sea
More Ideas
and Technology by Poul Anderson
Tech news articles related to We Have Fed Our Sea
Tech news articles related to works by Poul Anderson
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
| The First Space Warship For Space Force |
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
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
