Brilliant sage that he was, he did not quite get the nuclear bomb right: "Those used by the Allies were lumps of pure Carolinum, painted on the outside with unoxidised cydonator inducive enclosed hermetically in a case of membranium. A little celluloid stud between the handles by which the bomb was lifted was arranged so as to be easily torn off and admit air to the inducive, which at once became active and set up radio-activity in the outer layer of the Carolinum sphere. This liberated fresh inducive, and so in a few minutes the whole bomb was a blazing continual explosion."
It was more like a giant fire than an explosion. I also hope he did not get the "War of the Worlds" right. :-) Terry On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 11:00 AM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > H. G. Wells described the situation with cold fusion in his 1913 S.F. novel > "The World Set Free" which is about nuclear energy. A character describes > the world as it was before the coming of ultra-cheap, plentiful nuclear > energy and a nuclear war: > > ". . . Everywhere there were obsolete organisations seizing upon all the new > fine things that science was giving to the world, nationalities, all sorts > of political bodies, the churches and sects, proprietorship, seizing upon > those treat powers and limitless possibilities and turning them to evil > uses. And they would not suffer open speech, they would not permit of > education, they would let no one be educated to the needs of the new > time.... You who are younger cannot imagine the mixture of desperate hope > and protesting despair in which we who could believe in the possibilities of > science lived in those years before atomic energy came.... > > 'It was not only that the mass of people would not attend, would not > understand, but that those who did understand lacked the power of real > belief. They said the things, they saw the things, and the things meant > nothing to them.... > > 'I have been reading some old papers lately. It is wonderful how our fathers > bore themselves towards science. They hated it. They feared it. They > permitted a few scientific men to exist and work—a pitiful handful.... > 'Don't find out anything about us,' they said to them; 'don't inflict vision > upon us, spare our little ways of life from the fearful shaft of > understanding. But do tricks for us, little limited tricks. Give us cheap > lighting. And cure us of certain disagreeable things, cure us of cancer, > cure us of consumption, cure our colds and relieve us after repletion....'" > > http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1059/1059-h/1059-h.htm > > Chapter 1, Section 3 of this book reads like my book. No coincidentally; I > read this years ago, before it was converted to e-text. So did Arthur > Clarke, of course, and it was one of the inspirations for "Profiles of the > Future." To find this section look for this text: > > "Holsten, before he died, was destined to see atomic energy dominating every > other source of power, but for some years yet a vast network of difficulties > in detail and application kept the new discovery from any effective invasion > of ordinary life. . . ." > > - Jed > >
