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"The SF approach: an awareness that things could have been different, that this is one of many possible worlds, that if you came to this world from some other planet, this would be a science fiction world."
- Neal Stephenson

Medical Use for Weightlessness  
  Early reference to the idea of using a weightless environment for medical purposes.  

"Now, Anti, don't be cynical. Doctors have an economic sense as well as the next person," said Docchi gravely. He turned to Cameron. "You see, after Anti grew too massive for her skeletal structure, doctors reasoned she'd be most comfortable in the absence of gravity. That was in the early days, before successful ship gravital units were developed. They put her on an interplanetary ship and kept transferring her before each landing.
Technovelgy from Accidental Flight, by W.F. Wallace.
Published by Galaxy in 1952
Additional resources -

In Jack Vance's excellent 1952 story Abercrombie Station, he uses the device of space as a place where morbidly obesity is not just doable, but fashionable and desirable.

A similar idea was used in the 1997 movie Contact (and maybe in the Saga novel from 1985), but weightlessness is not as important medically.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Accidental Flight
  More Ideas and Technology by W.F. Wallace
  Tech news articles related to Accidental Flight
  Tech news articles related to works by W.F. Wallace

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