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"[Science fiction] has become big business, where books are merchandised and promoted and distributed and placed on sale like slabs of bacon or cans of soup."
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![]() As far as I know, the first use of this phrase in a science fiction story (see below).
This phrase was attributed by Hugo Gernsback to physicist Hermann Oberth, who described "revolving space stations" in the April 1930 edition of Air Wonder Stories:
It might be asked : what useful purpose would be served by converting a space-flyer into a permanent, rapidly-revolving satellite of the earth in this manner?
Professor Hermann Oberth, perhaps the greatest authority on interplanetary space, points out many uses for such revolving “space stations,” as he calls them. A better word, perhaps, would be “revolving space observatories.”
In the first place, from such a height, it will be possible to make any amount of astronomical observations in free space without having to worry about clouds or the interference of the atmosphere. Marvellous photographs can thus be taken, not only of distant stars and planets, but of the earth’s surface as well.
One important purpose, as Professor Oberth points out, is the invaluable aid that such an observatory can give > to the science of meteorology, or weather prediction, as it is more popularly known.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
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