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Ylem
Ylem ( or ) is a hypothetical original substance or condensed state of matter, which became subatomic particles and chemical element, elements as are understood today. The term was used by George Gamow, his student Ralph Alpher, and their associates in the late 1940s, having resuscitated it from Middle English after Alpher found it in Webster's Second dictionary, where it was defined as "the first substance from which the elements were supposed to have been formed." In modern understanding, the "ylem" as described by Gamow was the primordial Plasma (physics), plasma, formed in baryogenesis, which underwent Big Bang nucleosynthesis and was opaque to radiation. Recombination (cosmology), Recombination of the charged plasma into neutral atoms made the universe transparent at the age of 380,000 years, and the radiation released is still observable as cosmic microwave background radiation. History The term comes from an obsolete Middle English philosophical word that Alpher said he fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mythology
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion. Myths are often endorsed by religious (when they are closely linked to religion or spirituality) and secular authorities. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. Etymology The word "myth" comes from Ancient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lexico
''Lexico'' was a dictionary website that provided a collection of English and Spanish dictionaries produced by Oxford University Press (OUP), the publishing house of the University of Oxford. While the dictionary content on ''Lexico'' came from OUP, this website was operated by Dictionary.com, whose eponymous website hosts dictionaries by other publishers such as Random House. The website was closed and redirected to Dictionary.com on 26 August 2022. Before the Lexico site was launched, the ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' and ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' were hosted by OUP's own website ''Oxford Dictionaries Online'' (''ODO''), later known as ''Oxford Living Dictionaries''. The dictionaries' definitions have also appeared in Google Dictionary, Google definition search and the Dictionary (software), Dictionary application on macOS, among others, licensed through the Oxford Dictionaries API. History In the 2000s, OUP allowed access to content of the ''Compact Oxford Englis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Institute Of Physics
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corporate headquarters are at the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland, but the institute also has offices in Melville, New York, and Beijing. Historical overview The AIP was founded in 1931 as a response to lack of funding for the sciences during the Great Depression. /www.aip.org/aip/history "History of AIP" American Institute of Physics. July 2010. The AIP was founded in 1931 at a joint meeting between four physics societies: the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the Acoustical Society of America, and the Society of Rheology. These were soon joined by the American Association of Physics Teachers, for a total of five societies. It formally incorporated in 1932 consisting of five original "member so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dead Girls (novel)
''Dead Girls'' is a science fiction novel by British author Richard Calder, first published in the UK in 1992 (HarperCollins) and 1995 in the US (St Martin's Press). It was his début novel. ''Dead Girls'' tells the tale of a virus that turns pubescent girls into vampiric gynoid dolls called Lilim, and the doomed love affair between 15-year-old Ignatz Zwakh and a Lilim assassin called Primavera. The novel is the first in Calders 'Dead' trilogy, and is followed by the novels ''Dead Boys'' and ''Dead Things''. Background The novel was written in 1990, soon after Richard Calder had taken up residence in Thailand. He was living in Nong Khai, a small town on the Mekong overlooking Laos. He was also making frequent trips to Bangkok. The idea for the quantum clockwork Cartier dolls comes from the story of ''Coppélia'', a mechanical doll in one of ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. Richard Calder cites Jacques Offenbach's opera version of the tale in which Hoffmann falls in love with Olymp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Mechanical
Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is the foundation of all quantum physics, which includes quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science. Quantum mechanics can describe many systems that classical physics cannot. Classical physics can describe many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic and (optical) microscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at very small submicroscopic (atomic and subatomic) scales. Classical mechanics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation that is valid at ordinary scales. Quantum systems have bound states that are quantized to discrete values of energy, momentum, angular momentum, and other quantities, in contrast to classical systems where these quantities can be measured co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Calder (writer)
Richard Calder (born 1956) is a British science fiction writer who lives and works in the East End of London. He previously spent over a decade in Thailand (1990–1997) and the Philippines (1999–2002). Writing career Born in London, Calder began publishing stories in 1989, and first came to wider notice with the postcyberpunk novel '' Dead Girls'' (1992). ''Dead Girls'' was expanded into a trilogy; the other volumes are ''Dead Boys'' and ''Dead Things''. Since 1992, he has produced a further nine novels, and about twenty short stories. A theme running through his work (such as in the 'Dead' trilogy) is agalmatophiliac male lust for young female gynoids, as well as the darker undercurrents of British national culture. His novels and stories have links and plot overlaps between one another, and together form a mythos. He cites as inspirations Angela Carter and Georges Bataille, among others. He was interviewed in the magazine '' Interzone'' in August 2001 about the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Laumer
John Keith Laumer ( – ) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. His older brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz (also mentioned in Laumer's ''The Other Side of Time''). Frank Laumer, their youngest brother, is a historian and writer. Early life Keith Laumer was born in 1925 in Syracuse, New York. He attended Indiana University, 1943–44, and then served in the United States Army Air Forces in the Second World War in Europe. He later attended Stockholm University, 1948–49, and then received a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1950 from the University of Illinois. He served twice in the US Air Force, 1953–56 and 1960–65, attaining the rank of captain in the latter tour. In between the two terms in the military, Laumer was a member of the US Foreign Service in Burma. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Not Before Time
''Not Before Time'' () is a collection of science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ... short stories by John Brunner, published in 1968. Contents * Prerogative * Fair Warning * The Warp and the Woof-Woof Singleminded* A Better Mousetrap * Coincidence Day * Seizure * Treason is a Two-Edged Sword * Eye of the Beholder * Round Trip References * 1968 short story collections Short story collections by John Brunner {{sf-book-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Brunner (novelist)
John Kilian Houston Brunner (24 September 1934 – 25 August 1995) was a British author of science fiction novels and stories. His 1968 novel ''Stand on Zanzibar'', about an overpopulated world, won the 1969 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel and the BSFA Award the same year. '' The Jagged Orbit'' won the BSFA Award in 1970. Life Brunner was born in 1934 in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne. He did his upper studies at Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, ''Galactic Storm'', at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt. He did not start writing full-time until 1958, some years after his military service. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955. He married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958. Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Blish
James Benjamin “Jimmy” Blish () was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is best known for his ''Cities in Flight'' novels and his series of ''Star Trek'' novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel ''A Case of Conscience'' won the Hugo Award. He is credited with creating the term "gas giant" to refer to large planetary bodies. His first published stories appeared in ''Super Science Stories'' and ''Amazing Stories''. Blish wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen name William Atheling Jr. His other pen names included Donald Laverty, John MacDougal, and Arthur Lloyd Merlyn. Life Blish was born on May 23, 1921, at East Orange, New Jersey. While in high school, Blish self-published a fanzine, called ''The Planeteer'', using a hectograph. The fanzine ran for six issues. Blish was a member of the Futurians. Blish attended meetings of the Futurian Science Fiction Society in New York City during this period. Futurian members ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space exploration, time travel, Parallel universes in fiction, parallel universes, and extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial life. The genre often explores human responses to the consequences of projected or imagined scientific advances. Science fiction is related to fantasy (together abbreviated wikt:SF&F, SF&F), Horror fiction, horror, and superhero fiction, and it contains many #Subgenres, subgenres. The genre's precise Definitions of science fiction, definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Major subgenres include hard science fiction, ''hard'' science fiction, which emphasizes scientific accuracy, and soft science fiction, ''soft'' science fiction, which focuses on social sciences. Other no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kelvin
The kelvin (symbol: K) is the base unit for temperature in the International System of Units (SI). The Kelvin scale is an absolute temperature scale that starts at the lowest possible temperature (absolute zero), taken to be 0 K. By definition, the Celsius scale (symbol °C) and the Kelvin scale have the exact same magnitude; that is, a rise of 1 K is equal to a rise of 1 °C and vice versa, and any temperature in degrees Celsius can be converted to kelvin by adding 273.15. The 19th century British scientist Lord Kelvin first developed and proposed the scale. It was often called the "absolute Celsius" scale in the early 20th century. The kelvin was formally added to the International System of Units in 1954, defining 273.16 K to be the triple point of water. The Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Rankine scales were redefined in terms of the Kelvin scale using this definition. The 2019 revision of the SI now defines the kelvin in terms of energy by setting the Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
