Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"I can't tell whether or not there's going to be a Singularity. I don't really believe the rapture of the nerds stereotype..."
- Charles Stross
 |
| Pocket Nucleo-Bulb | ||
| A nuclear-powered pocket-sized flashlight. |
The mayor of the Foundation, Salvor Hardin, was having trouble with those little monarchies that tended to spring up as the influence of Trantor went down. At this point in the plan, he needed to demonstrate the value of affordable nuclear power to the Prince Regent Wienis.
| He [Wienis] cast one look out of the window. The city was pitch-black. From below there were the hoarse confused cries of the mob. Only toward the fight, where the Argolid Temple stood was there illumination. He swore angrily, and dragged the king away.
Wienis burst into his chambers, the five guardsmen at his heels. Lepold followed, wide-eyed, scared speechless. "Hardin," said Wienis, huskily, "you are playing with forces too great for you." The mayor ignored the speaker. In the pearly light of the pocket nucleo-bulb at his side, he remained quietly seated, a slightly ironic smile on his face. "Good morning, your majesty," he said to Lepold. "I congratulate you on your coronation." |
| From Foundation,
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Doubleday in 1951 Additional resources -
|
Isaac Asimov did not invent the flashlight; that honor was reserved for the original owner of the American Eveready Battery company, Joshua Lionel Cowen. He had an idea for a decorative lighting fixture for potted plants - a metal tube with a bulb and a battery. One of his salesmen, Conrad Hubert, took over the idea and the company and ran with it, selling the world's first flashlight in 1898.
And Cowen? He was one of those people who seemed to invent something other than what he originally had in mind. He was working on creating a store window display with a little battery powered car that would go round and round on a little circular track. It turned out that people wanted the car and the track more than what they displayed.
Joshua Lionel Cowen went on to found the Lionel Model Train company.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Foundation
More Ideas
and Technology by Isaac Asimov
Tech news articles related to Foundation
Tech news articles related to works by Isaac Asimov
Pocket Nucleo-Bulb-related
news articles:
- Handheld Fusion Reactors Planned
| The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future |
| Arctic Resource Jackpot An Old Wish |
| Marie Curie's Papers Still Radioactive |
| 'Bubble Galaxy' NGC 3521 |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'The prototype blue-bellied, gray-backed tracer-bird with the wide-angle eye...'
'See Vee Threepio - Vee for versatility - at your service...'
'Three and a half centimetres in diameter, permanently fixed in the centre of his forehead.'
"They were half way home when a single flyer, hopping free in a copter harness, approached the little parade."
'...moving with such drifting ease that it was like a single solid cloud of black-grey smoke blown at him in silence.' Almost.
