Arthur C.Clarke

Dear John,
If you take a look at the story "Brick Moon" by Nathan Hale ( yes, that Nathan
Hale) you will see a description of space based orbiting telescopes that
predates Clarke ( the child abusing member of NAMBLA) by many decades.
best
Penny

Clarke gets credit for the idea of using a synchronous satellite as a
commication satellite--too bad the idea was published by Constantine TS. many
decades earlier.

He did write some nice SF stories though.

Dear Robin,
However, the idea was around. Wiley Ley mentioned it, and so did Van Bush.
John Von Neumann--who died in the fifties--even predicted that self-reproducing
machines would be a way to explore the galaxy.
As a little girl in the 1950's , I watched science fiction movies like
"Tobor, the robot" and "Gog" where robots were envisioned as the way to explore
the solar system. In Tobor ( a children's movie), the robot is shown dealing
with a simulated asteriod belt flyby, and in Gog, the Roboticist is clearly
modeled on John Von Neumann.
GOG also shows the military potential of a space station with an orbiting
solar mirror
as described by Wiley Ley.
Best
Penny

Really? Did you, in 1956, predict that unmanned probes would fly past Mars?

Dear Robin,
However, the idea was around. Wiley Ley mentioned it, and so did Van Bush.
John Von Neumann--who died in the fifties--even predicted that self-reproducing
machines would be a way to explore the galaxy.
As a little girl in the 1950's , I watched science fiction movies like
"Tobor, the robot" and "Gog" where robots were envisioned as the way to explore
the solar system. In Tobor ( a children's movie), the robot is shown dealing
with a simulated asteriod belt flyby, and in Gog, the Roboticist is clearly
modeled on John Von Neumann.
GOG also shows the military potential of a space station with an orbiting
solar mirror
as described by Wiley Ley.
Best
Penny

Really? Did you, in 1956, predict that unmanned probes would fly past Mars?

On 06 Jul 2003 02:56:14 GMT, (PSmith9626) wrote:


Really? Did you, in 1956, predict that unmanned probes would fly past Mars?

Dear Robin,
However, the idea was around. Wiley Ley mentioned it, and so did Van Bush.
John Von Neumann--who died in the fifties--even predicted that self-reproducing
machines would be a way to explore the galaxy.
As a little girl in the 1950's , I watched science fiction movies like
"Tobor, the robot" and "Gog" where robots were envisioned as the way to explore
the solar system. In Tobor ( a children's movie), the robot is shown dealing
with a simulated asteriod belt flyby, and in Gog, the Roboticist is clearly
modeled on John Von Neumann.
GOG also shows the military potential of a space station with an orbiting
solar mirror
as described by Wiley Ley.
Best
Penny

Penny, thanks for that. My parents did not have a TV until after I had left
for university in 1961, so I missed all of the stuff of the 1950s.

Von Neumann was so far ahead of his time that you do not surprise me. I
don't remember reading anything by Ley on the subject at the time, but I
don't remember reading much by him.

If you go to SF, however, it's a different story. Jules Verne had a
submarine able to go all around the world underwater and with endless power
in the 19th century. In the first years of the 20th century, Wells had the
Martians fired from Mars by huge guns, and yet they were flesh and blood
enough to be destroyed by earth's micro-organisms. He needn't have
bothered, because the acceleration and deceleration would have killed them.
But if you disregard the science in his stories, each one was really a
social comment.

In the 1930s, the golden era of pulp SF, it was assumed that such things as
travel to the stars would become possible, or most of the stories could not
have been written. Such things as force fields and ray guns were used
automatically by future generations. Etc. And yet we had an Astronomer
Royal, in the early 1950s, stating "Space travel is bunk". I remember
coughing my breakfast up when I read that! Now, I suspect he meant that
commercial space travel even within our system is bunk. There is little to
go out there for except scientific research, IMO, and that can be done
easier and cheaper by robots. Even relatively recently, and neglecting
black monoliths on the moon sending signals to Jupiter, Arthur Clarke's
predictions of what the world of 2001 might be like have not come to pass.
We do not have a shuttle service to the moon, or a HAL, or suspended
animation.

Scientific thinking, about such things as black holes or string theory, for
example, is already thousands of years ahead of our technological
capabilities, as is reaching just about all of the objects that interest
astronomers.

And that assumes that we will actually survive in order to get to the point
where we will develop that technology, which I sincerely doubt.

--

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm

On 06 Jul 2003 02:56:14 GMT, (PSmith9626) wrote:


Really? Did you, in 1956, predict that unmanned probes would fly past Mars?

Dear Robin,
However, the idea was around. Wiley Ley mentioned it, and so did Van Bush.
John Von Neumann--who died in the fifties--even predicted that self-reproducing
machines would be a way to explore the galaxy.
As a little girl in the 1950's , I watched science fiction movies like
"Tobor, the robot" and "Gog" where robots were envisioned as the way to explore
the solar system. In Tobor ( a children's movie), the robot is shown dealing
with a simulated asteriod belt flyby, and in Gog, the Roboticist is clearly
modeled on John Von Neumann.
GOG also shows the military potential of a space station with an orbiting
solar mirror
as described by Wiley Ley.
Best
Penny

Penny, thanks for that. My parents did not have a TV until after I had left
for university in 1961, so I missed all of the stuff of the 1950s.

Von Neumann was so far ahead of his time that you do not surprise me. I
don't remember reading anything by Ley on the subject at the time, but I
don't remember reading much by him.

If you go to SF, however, it's a different story. Jules Verne had a
submarine able to go all around the world underwater and with endless power
in the 19th century. In the first years of the 20th century, Wells had the
Martians fired from Mars by huge guns, and yet they were flesh and blood
enough to be destroyed by earth's micro-organisms. He needn't have
bothered, because the acceleration and deceleration would have killed them.
But if you disregard the science in his stories, each one was really a
social comment.

In the 1930s, the golden era of pulp SF, it was assumed that such things as
travel to the stars would become possible, or most of the stories could not
have been written. Such things as force fields and ray guns were used
automatically by future generations. Etc. And yet we had an Astronomer
Royal, in the early 1950s, stating "Space travel is bunk". I remember
coughing my breakfast up when I read that! Now, I suspect he meant that
commercial space travel even within our system is bunk. There is little to
go out there for except scientific research, IMO, and that can be done
easier and cheaper by robots. Even relatively recently, and neglecting
black monoliths on the moon sending signals to Jupiter, Arthur Clarke's
predictions of what the world of 2001 might be like have not come to pass.
We do not have a shuttle service to the moon, or a HAL, or suspended
animation.

Scientific thinking, about such things as black holes or string theory, for
example, is already thousands of years ahead of our technological
capabilities, as is reaching just about all of the objects that interest
astronomers.

And that assumes that we will actually survive in order to get to the point
where we will develop that technology, which I sincerely doubt.

--

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm

Dear robin,
One good book series from the 1950's showing solar mirrors ( but only as a
power source), an orbiting telescope, and a wheel space station was the series
by Wiley Ley and W. Von Braun:
"Conquest of Space"
" Conquest of the Moon"
" Conquest of Mars"

It was the their mention of the Bode-Titus Law that was one of the two major
events leading to my becoming a mathematician.

best
Penny



Von Neumann was so far ahead of his time that you do not surprise me. I
don't remember reading anything by Ley on the subject at the time

If you go to SF, however, it's a different story.

Oh absolutely. We had "Brick Moon" at home and it was remarkable. I also recall
a very inspiring story called Ralph 124C41+ by Hugo Gernsback ( based on
articles by Tesla).
And, of course, Johnathan Swift got the details of the moons of mars correct,
BEFORE they were actually discovered.

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

The same.

Dear robin,
One good book series from the 1950's showing solar mirrors ( but only as a
power source), an orbiting telescope, and a wheel space station was the series
by Wiley Ley and W. Von Braun:
"Conquest of Space"
" Conquest of the Moon"
" Conquest of Mars"

It was the their mention of the Bode-Titus Law that was one of the two major
events leading to my becoming a mathematician.

best
Penny



Von Neumann was so far ahead of his time that you do not surprise me. I
don't remember reading anything by Ley on the subject at the time

If you go to SF, however, it's a different story.

Oh absolutely. We had "Brick Moon" at home and it was remarkable. I also recall
a very inspiring story called Ralph 124C41+ by Hugo Gernsback ( based on
articles by Tesla).
And, of course, Johnathan Swift got the details of the moons of mars correct,
BEFORE they were actually discovered.

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

The same.

On 07 Jul 2003 03:58:46 GMT, (PSmith9626) wrote:

Dear robin,
One good book series from the 1950's showing solar mirrors ( but only as a
power source), an orbiting telescope, and a wheel space station was the series
by Wiley Ley and W. Von Braun:
"Conquest of Space"
" Conquest of the Moon"
" Conquest of Mars"

It was the their mention of the Bode-Titus Law that was one of the two major
events leading to my becoming a mathematician.

Without looking it up, isn't Bode's Law the one that suggests that the
distances of the planets from the sun are all simple ratios? If so, that's
my nine-year-old self speaking, because I've not thought about it since.
best
Penny

I remember reading about von Braun after the war, and his place (and
members of his team) in the US space programme. I know the name Wiley Ley
well, but cannot remember much. Will have a google after this.
I can't say that they inspired me to become a physicist, because I would
not have known the word in the late 1940s. I had not even heard of O-levels
at 15, for my secondary modern did not take any exams at all. If you lived
long enough to get your certificate of eligibility which ensured that no
longer would you have to have to legally attend school, and could
more-or-less read your own name, write it and work out the change from a
pound having bought something for three and fourpence ha'penny, you were
all set for 'life'. (My tongue was in cheek just a little, there!)


Von Neumann was so far ahead of his time that you do not surprise me. I
don't remember reading anything by Ley on the subject at the time

If you go to SF, however, it's a different story.

Oh absolutely. We had "Brick Moon" at home and it was remarkable. I also recall
a very inspiring story called Ralph 124C41+ by Hugo Gernsback ( based on
articles by Tesla).
And, of course, Johnathan Swift got the details of the moons of mars correct,
BEFORE they were actually discovered.

And just think of the word 'atom' and how long ago it was derived, by
people thinking about apparently solid matter actually consisting of
particles invisible to the naked eye; and the fact that objectors to the
early railways thought that travelling at 30 mph would tear people's heads
off; the fact that in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) they thought
that 4000 mph was super-fast and 250 million miles away a huge distance;
the fact that the film was a cop-out anyway, for in the original story it
was the robot which was the life-form, and Michael Rennie was just a robot
they had created to look human so as not to scare the natives!

It is quite hard to judge how the future, even 20 years, will develop. In
1963 I saw my first Startrek, with Kirk flipping his portable phone. 40
years later, everybody has one. In the 1930s, the world of the future would
have us all using personal transport in the form of helicopters at least,
if we'd been too slow to discover anti-gravity by now. Where are they?

--

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm

On 07 Jul 2003 03:58:46 GMT, (PSmith9626) wrote:

Dear robin,
One good book series from the 1950's showing solar mirrors ( but only as a
power source), an orbiting telescope, and a wheel space station was the series
by Wiley Ley and W. Von Braun:
"Conquest of Space"
" Conquest of the Moon"
" Conquest of Mars"

It was the their mention of the Bode-Titus Law that was one of the two major
events leading to my becoming a mathematician.

Without looking it up, isn't Bode's Law the one that suggests that the
distances of the planets from the sun are all simple ratios? If so, that's
my nine-year-old self speaking, because I've not thought about it since.
best
Penny

I remember reading about von Braun after the war, and his place (and
members of his team) in the US space programme. I know the name Wiley Ley
well, but cannot remember much. Will have a google after this.
I can't say that they inspired me to become a physicist, because I would
not have known the word in the late 1940s. I had not even heard of O-levels
at 15, for my secondary modern did not take any exams at all. If you lived
long enough to get your certificate of eligibility which ensured that no
longer would you have to have to legally attend school, and could
more-or-less read your own name, write it and work out the change from a
pound having bought something for three and fourpence ha'penny, you were
all set for 'life'. (My tongue was in cheek just a little, there!)


Von Neumann was so far ahead of his time that you do not surprise me. I
don't remember reading anything by Ley on the subject at the time

If you go to SF, however, it's a different story.

Oh absolutely. We had "Brick Moon" at home and it was remarkable. I also recall
a very inspiring story called Ralph 124C41+ by Hugo Gernsback ( based on
articles by Tesla).
And, of course, Johnathan Swift got the details of the moons of mars correct,
BEFORE they were actually discovered.

And just think of the word 'atom' and how long ago it was derived, by
people thinking about apparently solid matter actually consisting of
particles invisible to the naked eye; and the fact that objectors to the
early railways thought that travelling at 30 mph would tear people's heads
off; the fact that in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) they thought
that 4000 mph was super-fast and 250 million miles away a huge distance;
the fact that the film was a cop-out anyway, for in the original story it
was the robot which was the life-form, and Michael Rennie was just a robot
they had created to look human so as not to scare the natives!

It is quite hard to judge how the future, even 20 years, will develop. In
1963 I saw my first Startrek, with Kirk flipping his portable phone. 40
years later, everybody has one. In the 1930s, the world of the future would
have us all using personal transport in the form of helicopters at least,
if we'd been too slow to discover anti-gravity by now. Where are they?

--

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm

I had not even heard of O-levels
at 15, for my secondary modern did not take any exams at all. If you
lived
long enough to get your certificate of eligibility which ensured
that no
longer would you have to have to legally attend school, and could
more-or-less read your own name, write it and work out the change
from a
pound having bought something for three and fourpence ha'penny, you
were
all set for 'life'. (My tongue was in cheek just a little, there!)

How true, I was told "there's no point in you learning your tables, -
you'll always have your slide rule "
(this was 6 months before (Sir) Clive Sinclair brought out his "pocket
calculator" )
jc



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