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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
- Peter Watts

Force-Ray  
  A large, hand-held spear of force.  


(Buck Rogers force-ray brandished)


( Buck Rogers force-ray in use)

Technovelgy from Buck Rogers, 2430 AD, by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins).
Published by Not Known in 1929
Additional resources -

Compare to the blaster from When the Green Star Waned (1925) by Nictzin Dyalhis, the stationary automatic blaster from Red Planet (1949) by Robert Heinlein, the neutron disruption blaster from The Complete Paratime (1951) by H. Beam Piper and the meteor blasters from First Contact (1945), by Murray Leinster.

Compare also to the heat ray from War of the Worlds (1898) by HG Wells, the death-ray from The World Masters (1903) by George Griffiths, the pencil heat ray from Brigands of the Moon (1930) by Ray Cummings and the flesh gun from The Computer Connection (1974) by Alfred Bester.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Buck Rogers, 2430 AD
  More Ideas and Technology by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins)
  Tech news articles related to Buck Rogers, 2430 AD
  Tech news articles related to works by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins)

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