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"it slowly dawned on me that the landscape of science is maybe what interests people a great deal in science fiction."
- Gregory Benford
 |
| Magnetic Shoes | ||
| Footgear magnetized for working on steel hulls. |
The earliest reference to this idea that I know about.
| "...But we must change shoes — here is a pair of magnetic shoes for you. You
have to wear them when the gravity is nullified or you
won't be able to walk about. While we are in the air
nothing in the ship has weight so you understand the
necessity for magnetic shoes to hold you to the deck."
Addison felt awkward in the shoes that clung to the carpet-covered steel floor... [Later...] "If you will take off your magnetic shoes..." Addison unbuckled his shoes a little dubiously and drew his foot from one of them. "Be careful," the captain warned. "Hang onto me when you take your other foot out. If you should exert force against the floor you would overcome the inertia of your body's mass and continue upward until you bumped your head against the ceiling and continue bouncing between the floor and ceiling until the tissue and air friction stopped you or until somebody with shoes caught you." Addison clung to his host and gingerly removed his other foot, leaving the shoes fast to the floor. A feeling of utter helplessness came over him. He attempted to walk but could gain absolutely no traction for there was no force to set up friction between his feet and the floor. It occurred to him that he was like a wisp of smoke to be wafted hither and yon as suited the fancy of any air current that might stir. |
| Technovelgy from The Silent Destroyer,
by Henri Dahl Juve. Published by Air Wonder Stories in 1929 Additional resources -
|
Murray Leinster gives a vivid description in his 1931 story The Power Planet:
Another example from The Dual World (1938) by Arthur K. Barnes:
Compare to space-boots from The Passing of Ku Sui (1932) by Anthony Gilmore, magnetic boots from Atomic Fire (1931) by Raymond Z. Gallun, antigrav boots from The Day We Celebrate (1941) by Nelson S. Bond, Steel-Lined Space Boots from Roamer of the Stars (1938) by Clyde Wilson, the neutronium slippers from Revolt on the Tenth World (1940) by Edmond Hamilton, space socks from Lost Rocket (1941) by Manly Wade Wellman, the weight shoes from The World With A Thousand Moons (1942) by Edmond Hamilton, magnetic sandals from The Warriors (1966) by Larry Niven, magnetic-soled shoes from Space Tug (1953) by Murray Leinster, the grip shoes from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke and the flexible sprung boots from Inherit the Stars (1977) by James P. Hogan.
In the abysmal darkness, Jimmy could “feel” the
clanking of his magnetic shoe-soles upon the outer
skin of the Power Planet. That noise was uncannily distinct. He could sense too, the less loud, but still startlingly distinct clankings of the feet of those about him. A dozen of them, in all, in the utter cold and airlessness of
the dark side of the Planet
Two men crawled about the gleaming hull, equipped with magnetic shoes. Both wore antiseptic helmets, as they, worked slowly forward from stern to bow. The forernost carried a heat-ray gun, with the beam diffused and spread wide. Every time he came to one of the many ugly .yellowish blotches that dotted the hull, he rayed it out of existence, then moved on.
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