Philosophy
by
Ron Miller
June 7th, 2014
io9
In 1904, while Robert H. Goddard was a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, his professor of creative writing asked his class to write a theme on the subject of what travel might be like in 1950. Goddard imagined what it might be like to travel in a mag lev train that shot at high speed through an airless tunnel.
Goddard's super-train.
His fellow students enjoyed Goddard's ideas even if they thought them a little over-imaginative. In 1906, Goddard rewrote and expanded the theme into a short story called "The High-Speed Bet" which he eventually sent to Scientific American. The magazine published a condensed version—more a summary in fact—along with an editorial critique under the title, "The Limit of Rapid Transit."
Meanwhile... French-born American scientist Emile Batchelet had been working on magnetic levitation since the turn of the century. He patented the idea in 1910 (patent #1,020,942). In 1914, a demonstration of a working model of one of his trains in England made national news. Goddard, who all his life vigorously defended his priority regarding an idea or invention (even if he really didn't come up with it first), submitted his story to the WPI Journal solely in order to prove his precedence. He included a preface that carefully explained how he had advanced the idea of a magnetically propelled train years before Batchelet.
You can read Robert Goddard's story exclusively here .
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Philosophy
Robert H. Goddard's super-train
"The SciFi Story Robert H. Goddard Published 100 Years Ago"
by
Ron Miller
June 7th, 2014
io9
In 1904, while Robert H. Goddard was a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, his professor of creative writing asked his class to write a theme on the subject of what travel might be like in 1950. Goddard imagined what it might be like to travel in a mag lev train that shot at high speed through an airless tunnel.
Goddard's super-train.
His fellow students enjoyed Goddard's ideas even if they thought them a little over-imaginative. In 1906, Goddard rewrote and expanded the theme into a short story called "The High-Speed Bet" which he eventually sent to Scientific American. The magazine published a condensed version—more a summary in fact—along with an editorial critique under the title, "The Limit of Rapid Transit."
Meanwhile... French-born American scientist Emile Batchelet had been working on magnetic levitation since the turn of the century. He patented the idea in 1910 (patent #1,020,942). In 1914, a demonstration of a working model of one of his trains in England made national news. Goddard, who all his life vigorously defended his priority regarding an idea or invention (even if he really didn't come up with it first), submitted his story to the WPI Journal solely in order to prove his precedence. He included a preface that carefully explained how he had advanced the idea of a magnetically propelled train years before Batchelet.
You can read Robert Goddard's story exclusively here .
- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky...a Visionary
"Space formula of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky" by Mikhail Aristov September 18th, 2012 SPACETRAVEL 155 years ago, on September 17, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics, was born in the Russian province. One of...
- Moon Gets 2.5 Minutes Of Fame On Youtube
"Video: Year of Moon Motion in 2.5 Minutes" by Alice Vincent June 15th, 2011 Wired UK Many claim to see a man in the moon, but now an animation has been made that showcases a year’s worth of moon movements in less than three minutes. Topographical...
- "new York Times"--0; Newton--1
"New York Times to NASA: You're Right, Rockets DO Work in Space" by Bjorn Carey July 20th, 2009 The New York Times On the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, it seems like every news outlet worth its weight in regolith is reproducing...
- "the Universe Is Rated R"--maybe Violence Is Universal?
Okay, it's entertaining and informative. But to label, what human's define as violence, to the universe is stretching the connotation of "violence". From: uctelevision From time immemorial the cosmos has comforted humanity with its seemingly placid...
- Scan Those "cubetainers" For Radioactivity.
Oak Ridge Associated Universities At last a methodology to scan incoming cubetainers for radioactive materials...technological fallout from sound science. "NASA Gamma-Ray Detector Finds Homeland Security Uses" Lori Keesey June 16th, 2008 NASA Tech Briefs...