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Orphans Of The Sky
''Orphans of the Sky'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, consisting of two parts: "Universe" (''Astounding Science Fiction'', May 1941) and its sequel, "Common Sense" (''Astounding Science Fiction'', October 1941). The two novellas were first published together in book form in 1963. "Universe" was also published separately in 1951 as a 10¢ Dell paperback. The work presents one of the earliest fictional depictions of a generation ship. Plot The gigantic, cylindrical generation ship ''Vanguard'', originally destined for "Far Centaurus", is cruising without guidance through the interstellar medium because long ago, a mutiny killed most of the officers. Over time, the descendants of the surviving loyal crew have lapsed into a pre-technological culture that is marked by superstition and forgotten the purpose and nature of their ship. Since they come to believe the "Ship" is the entire universe, "To move the ship" is considered an oxymoron, and refer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert A
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microcephaly
Microcephaly (from New Latin ''microcephalia'', from Ancient Greek μικρός ''mikrós'' "small" and κεφαλή ''kephalé'' "head") is a medical condition involving a smaller-than-normal head. Microcephaly may be present at birth or it may develop in the first few years of life. Since brain growth is correlated with head growth, people with this disorder often have an intellectual disability, poor motor function, poor speech, abnormal facial features, seizures and dwarfism. The disorder is caused by a disruption to the genetic processes that form the brain early in pregnancy, though the cause is not identified in most cases. Many genetic syndromes can result in microcephaly, including chromosomal and single-gene conditions, though almost always in combination with other symptoms. Mutations that result solely in microcephaly (primary microcephaly) exist but are less common. External toxins to the embryo, such as alcohol during pregnancy or vertically transmitted infec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proxima Centauri
Proxima Centauri is a small, low-mass star located away from the Sun in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Its Latin name means the 'nearest tarof Centaurus'. It was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes and is the nearest-known star to the Sun. With a quiescent apparent magnitude of 11.13, it is too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. Proxima Centauri is a member of the Alpha Centauri star system, being identified as component Alpha Centauri C, and is 2.18° to the southwest of the Alpha Centauri AB pair. It is currently from AB, which it orbits with a period of about 550,000 years. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star with a mass about 12.5% of the Sun's mass (), and average density about 33 times that of the Sun. Because of Proxima Centauri's proximity to Earth, its angular diameter can be measured directly. Its actual diameter is about one-seventh (14%) the diameter of the Sun. Although it has a very low average luminosity, Pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methuselah's Children
''Methuselah's Children'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Originally serialized in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in the July, August, and September 1941 issues, it was expanded into a full-length novel in 1958. The novel is part of Heinlein's ''Future History'' series of stories. It introduces the Howard families, a fictional group of people who achieved long lifespans through selective breeding. According to John W. Campbell, the novel was originally to be called ''While the Evil Days Come Not'', a quotation from Ecclesiastes used as a password on the second page of the story. The novel was the origin of the term " masquerade", now used to refer to a fictional trope of a hidden society within the real world. Plot summary Starting off a grocer, Ira Howard became rich as a sutler wholesaler during the American Civil War, but died of old age at 48 or 49 years old. The trustees of his will carried out his wishes to prolong human life by financial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Future History (Heinlein)
''Future History'' is a series of stories created by Robert A. Heinlein. It describes a projected future of the human race from the middle of the 20th century through the early 23rd century. The term ''Future History'' was coined by John W. Campbell Jr. in the February 1941 issue of '' Astounding Science Fiction''. Campbell published an early draft of Heinlein's chart of the series in the May 1941 issue. Heinlein wrote most of the ''Future History'' stories early in his career, between 1939 and 1941 and between 1945 and 1950. Most of the ''Future History'' stories written prior to 1967 are collected in ''The Past Through Tomorrow'', which also contains the final version of the chart. That collection does not include ''Universe'' and ''Common Sense''; they were published separately as ''Orphans of the Sky''. Groff Conklin called ''Future History'' "the greatest of all histories of tomorrow". It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series in 1966, along with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Watch Below
''The Watch Below'' (1966) is a science fiction novel by British writer James White about a colony of humans stranded underwater in a sunken ship, who survive by air pockets, and a water-breathing alien species in search of a new home. The two generation ships encounter each other in the Earth's ocean. Reception Algis Budrys of ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' liked the novel, stating that it was the first generation ship story to expand on Robert Heinlein's ''Orphans of the Sky ''Orphans of the Sky'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, consisting of two parts: "Universe" (''Astounding Science Fiction'', May 1941) and its sequel, "Common Sense" (''Astounding Science Fiction'', October 1941). ...''. References External links * * 1966 British novels 1966 science fiction novels Novels by James White (author) British science fiction novels Ballantine Books books 20th-century Irish novels Irish science fiction novels Underwater civilizations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James White (author)
James White (7 April 1928 – 23 August 1999) was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. After a few years working in the clothing industry, he worked at Short Brothers Ltd., an aircraft company based in Belfast, from 1965 until taking early retirement in 1984 as a result of diabetes. White married Margaret Sarah Martin, another science fiction fan, in 1955 and the couple had three children. He died of a stroke. He became a fan of science fiction in 1941 and co-wrote two fan magazines, from 1948 to 1953 and 1952 to 1965. Encouraged by other fans, White began publishing short stories in 1953, and his first novel was published in 1957. His best-known novels were the twelve of the Sector General series, the first published in 1962 and the last after his death. White also published nine other novels, two of which were nominated for major awards, unsuccessful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John A. Sentry, William Scarff, and Paul Janvier. He is known for the influential 1960 novel ''Rogue Moon''. Biography Budrys was born in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad) in the then East Prussia, Germany. His father Jonas Budrys was the consul general of Lithuania; as a child he saw Adolf Hitler in a parade in the city. In 1936, when Budrys was five years old, Jonas was appointed as the consul general in New York, instead of Paris as he had hoped. After the Soviet Union's occupation of Lithuania, the Budrys family ran a chicken farm in New Jersey while Jonas remained part of the exile Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, since the United States continued to recognize the pre-World War II Lithuanian diplomats. During most of his adult life, Budry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He is the author of "To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for ''The Twilight Zone''.Stanyard, ''Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone'', p. 51. He was married to fellow writer Kate Wilhelm. Biography Knight was born in Baker City, Oregon in 1922, and grew up in Hood River, Oregon. He entered science-fiction fandom at the age of eleven and published two issues of a fanzine titled ''Snide''. Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, ''Amazing Stories''.Knight, "Knight Piece," Brian W. Aldiss & Harry Harrison, ''Hell's Cartographers'', Orbit Books, 1976, p. 105. His first story, "The Itching Hour", appeared in the Summer 1940 number of ''Futuria Fantasia'', edited and published by Ray Bradbury. "Resilience" followed in the February 1941 number of ''Stirring Science Stories'', edited by Donald A. Wollh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title, ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. The first issue was titled ''The Magazine of Fantasy'', but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. ''F&SF'' was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley "set ''F&SF'' apart, giving it the air and authority of a superior magazine". ''F&SF'' qu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avram Davidson
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews and God; in Christianity, he is the spiritual progenitor of all believers, whether Jewish or non-Jewish; and in Islam, he is a link in the chain of Islamic prophets that begins with Adam (see Adam in Islam) and culminates in Muhammad. His life, told in the narrative of the Book of Genesis, revolves around the themes of posterity and land. Abraham is called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in the land of Canaan, which God now promises to Abraham and his progeny. This promise is subsequently inherited by Isaac, Abraham's son by his wife Sarah, while Isaac's half-brother Ishmael is also promised that he will be the founder of a great nation. Abraham purchases a tomb (the Cave of the Patriarchs) at Hebron to be Sarah' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Giant
A gas giant is a giant planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Gas giants are also called failed stars because they contain the same basic elements as a star. Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants of the Solar System. The term "gas giant" was originally synonymous with "giant planet". However, in the 1990s, it became known that Uranus and Neptune are really a distinct class of giant planets, being composed mainly of heavier volatile substances (which are referred to as "ices"). For this reason, Uranus and Neptune are now often classified in the separate category of ice giants. Jupiter and Saturn consist mostly of hydrogen and helium, with heavier elements making up between 3 and 13 percent of their mass.The Interior of Jupiter, Guillot et al., in ''Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere'', Bagenal et al., editors, Cambridge University Press, 2004 They are thought to consist of an outer layer of compressed molecular hydrogen surrounding a layer of liquid metallic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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