''Einstein's Bridge'' is a

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

novel by physicist and science fiction writer John G. Cramer.

Publication history

The novel was published in June 1997 by

Avon Books Avon Publications is a leading publisher of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reaching and ma ...

. The hardback and trade paperback were followed by a mass-market paperback in 1998. The novel is out of print .

Plot

The plot revolves around three characters, George Griffin, Roger Coulton, and Alice Lang. Set between the years 1987 and 2004, the book details the efforts of

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

s George and Roger as they work to bring the

Superconducting Super Collider The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), nicknamed Desertron, was a particle accelerator complex under construction from 1991 to 1993 near Waxahachie, Texas, United States. Its planned ring circumference was with an energy of 20 TeV per proto ...

(SSC) online in

Waxahachie, Texas Waxahachie ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ellis County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,140 in 2020. The city was founded in 1850, and incorporated in 1871. Much of the employment is provided by a number of industries and by ...

. Alice is a novelist who becomes involved with the pair while researching material for her new horror book at the SSC. She and George fall in love just as preliminary trial runs of the SSC produce an unexplained phenomenon: a ''Snark,'' to borrow an expression from

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

, or an impossible event, in the form of a heavy

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...

which emerged from the planned head-on collision between two 20 TeV

proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...

s inside the SSC. In addition to violating

physical law Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. The term ''law'' has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow) ...

s such as the

conservation of mass In physics and chemistry, the law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter the mass of the system must remain constant over time. The law implies that mass can neith ...

, this particle emits pulses of

radioactivity Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

, spelling out the numerical

prime number A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...

sequence of 2-3-5-7-11-13-17-19-23-29-31-37. Therein begins the unraveling of an even greater mystery than the particle: a powerful intelligence is behind this event, seeking to communicate with humankind, which has unwittingly announced itself to the universe through the powerful bursts of energy unleashed from the collisions of particles within the SSC. For a while, first contact is conducted by a benevolent species. A different species is also working to make contact—a ''less'' benevolent one, who may ultimately destroy the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and perhaps even the fabric of the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

. The plot does not occur on our timeline but in an

alternative history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

—one in which the Superconducting Super Collider was completed in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In reality, the project was cancelled in 1993 and never implemented. In this alternate history, American forces invaded

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

and overthrew

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

after liberating

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

during the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

(1990-1991), leading to

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

's re-election in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

over

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. The sinister significance of all this, and the relation of the alternative history to us, become clear in the end.

Critical reception

In reviewing the novel, ''SF Site'' said, "Cramer weaves a compelling tale." Kirkus Reviews noted "Cramer splendidly demonstrates just how fascinating and mind-boggling real science can be, and shows exactly how vulnerable basic research is to political whim."

References

External links

*{{ISFDB title, id=7476
Einstein's Bridge on Overdrive.com
1997 American novels 1997 science fiction novels Fiction about wormholes Novels set in Texas Hard science fiction Waxahachie, Texas American alternate history novels