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
"There's a tendency to think that maybe if we can just throw enough hardware at the AI problem, then evolution can take care of the rest. Certainly that's how God went about making us."
- Rudy Rucker
 |
| Helio-Beryllium | ||
| Unusual alloy combines a metal and a gas. |
The amazing spaceship Comet is full of modern conveniences, but what of the ship itself?
| I had seen the Comet before, but never so close. With a hull of helio-beryllium - the new light, inactive alloy of a metal and a gas - the ship was a cylinder about twenty feet long by fifteen in diameter, while a pointed nose stretched five feet farther at each end. Fixed in each point was a telescopic lens, while there were windows along the sides and at the top - all made, Garth informed us, of another form of the alloy almost as strong as the opaque variety. |
| From Out Around Rigel,
by Robert H. Wilson. Published by Street and Smith in 1931 Additional resources -
|
Star Trek fans who think that Gene Roddenberry invented everything will be surprised to note that helio-beryllium is an alloy that has a transparent variant. Wilson wrote about it forty years before anyone thought about transparent aluminum.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Out Around Rigel
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert H. Wilson
Tech news articles related to Out Around Rigel
Tech news articles related to works by Robert H. Wilson
| 'Metallic Wood' Strong Like Titanium, Floats In Water |
| Self-Healing Material Pulls Carbon Out Of The Air |
| Shapeshifting Materials Transform By Light |
| Superstrong Multilayer Metal-Graphene Composite Material |
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'... there was enough flexibility to allow for wide variation.
'...a man carried a white rectangular sign, blank on both sides.'
'... electronic, private cash, unbacked by any government, untraceable, completely anonymous.'
'Your Dip digs back into antiquity. Rome. Greece. Dust and old volumes.'
'Then it appeared to make up its mind, and trundled over to a wall socket...'
'... The biological robots were not living creatures.'
'The surveillance cameras can all see it, but then they forget they’ve seen it.'
