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"Science fiction represents the modern heresy and the cutting edge of speculative imagination as it grapples with Mysterious Time---linear or non-linear time."
- Frank Herbert
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| Artificial Transparent Element | ||
| A substance as strong as metal that you can see through. |
| Windows of an artificial transparent element, scarcely less strong than the metal of the hull, enabled the voyagers to look around them. |
| From Last and First Men,
by Olaf Stapledon. Published by Not known in 1930 Additional resources -
|
This is an obvious precursor to the idea with which all Star Trek fans are familiar, that of "transparent aluminum".
Also, it turns out that the helio-beryllium from Out Around Rigel, a 1931 story by Robert H. Wilson, also has a transparent variant.
Compare to glassite from Brigands of the Moon (1930) by Ray Cummings,
neo-crystal from Master of the Asteroid (1932) by Clark Ashton Smith,
transparent car roof from Sinister Barrier (1939) by Eric Frank Russell,
plani glass from Crystalized Thought (1937) by Nat Schachner,
thermalite from Planet of Eternal Night (1939) by John W. Campbell and slow glass from Light of Other Days (1968) by Bob Shaw.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Last and First Men
More Ideas
and Technology by Olaf Stapledon
Tech news articles related to Last and First Men
Tech news articles related to works by Olaf Stapledon
Artificial Transparent Element-related
news articles:
- Transparent Aluminum Vs. .50-Cal Bullets
- New Glass Tough As Steel
| Polyaramide Is Stronger Than Steel, Light As Plastic |
| Trinitite, Pentagrams And Isaac Asimov |
| RUSSE Self-Healing Plastic Works Underwater |
| Pyrus, An Alternative Wood Made From Kombucha |
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'It could maintain a steady six miles per hour...'
'Then they press one of these here thirteen buttons...'
'...without burning a single hydrocarbon molecule to injure the diseased atmosphere any further.'
'Bird-like robots now descended from the ceiling of the theatre...'
'The efficient robot waiter of the Sky Club had cleared away the remnants of an epicurean meal.'
'...in the tank the new body and the new mind and memory and life has taken almost instant form.'
'pirate three-vee satellites sanded out of orbit...'
'The atmosphere yielded its moisture with reluctance. It had to be coaxed down...'
