Technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

in science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

has helped create many common topics found in science fiction today. There have been authors who have taken innovations and have elaborated and created what they thought future technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 would be and how it would be used. Today, new technology has brought about new theories and questions that authors have tried to explain in their writings. Due to the new breakthroughs in technology, Science Fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 has been able to create new genres for these discoveries and have allowed Science Fiction authors their own expansion on these new ideas.

Early writers to mention this topic

E.E. “Doc” Smith: Skylark and Lensman series (1920s)

Science Fiction magazines: Astounding Science Fiction and Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...

 (1930s to 1950s)

Definition of terms in Doc’s SF about this topic:

Interstellar Travel: ships being “inertia-less”; inertia-less state makes travel effortless at huge multiples of the speed of light

Other Terms Used Commonly

Hyper Space: where infinite speeds are possible; a ship may jump to hyper space

Hyperspace (science fiction)

Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...

 or star drive “clutching at the very fabric of time itself” thus making travel that would normally take thousands of years possible in no time at all

Timeline of Probable Influences

1903 - The Wright brothers

Wright brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

 invented the first gas motored and manned airplane, thus making human flight in any sense, possible

1920s - Robert Goddard’s development of liquid fueled rockets, later developed to be used as the V2

V-2 rocket

The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

; long range sub-orbital rockets consuming either solid or liquid fuel that carried warheads (Was the first rocket the beginning idea of the space rocket?)

Early Era Space Exploration:

Space Race

Space Race

The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...

 between the US and Soviet Union to reach the moon

The launch of the first man-made object to orbit Earth; USSR’s Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...

 (October 4, 1957)

Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 putting first man in space; Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1

Vostok 1

Vostok 1 was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961. The flight took Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union, into space. The flight marked the first time that a human entered outer...

 (1961)

First moon landing by America; Apollo 11

Apollo 11

In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...

 (July 20, 1969)

First space station; Salyut 1

Salyut 1

Salyut 1 was the first space station of any kind, launched by the USSR on April 19, 1971. It was launched unmanned using a Proton-K rocket. Its first crew came later in Soyuz 10, but was unable to dock completely; its second crew launched in Soyuz 11 and remained on board for 23 days...

Summary

With new developments in space exploration and technology the idea of space exploration became a reality. Though many writer’s explored space travel before these events and inventions, the reality of new technologies and the evidence that space exploration was now possible opened new doors to create more fantastical ideas of space travel. Many Science Fiction topics are born from reality, but turn these new technologies to create imagined realities, thus creating Science Fiction in itself.

Early Writers and examples of Mechanical Life

Maria - Metropolis

Metropolis (film)

Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...

 Film (1927)

Revolt of the Pedestrian by David H. Keller

David H. Keller

David H. Keller was a writer for pulp magazines in the mid-twentieth century who wrote science fiction, fantasy and horror. He was the first psychiatrist to write for the genre, and was most often published as David H...

 Novel (1932)

Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

’s Robots Short Stories (1954-1992)

Robbie - The Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...

 Film (1956)

Daleks - Doctor Who Television (1963)

Cybermen - Doctor Who Television (1966)

The Iron Man (novel) by Ted Hughes Novel (1968)

The Stepford Wives

The Stepford Wives

The Stepford Wives is a 1972 satirical thriller novel by Ira Levin. The story concerns Joanna Eberhart, a photographer and young mother who begins to suspect that the frighteningly submissive housewives in her new idyllic Connecticut neighborhood may be robots created by their husbands.Two films of...

 by Ira Levin Novel (1972)

The Questor Tapes Television-Movie (1974)

The Bicentennial Man

The Bicentennial Man

The Bicentennial Man is a novella in the Robot Series by Isaac Asimov. It was awarded the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for best science fiction novelette of 1976....

 by Isaac Asimov Novel (1976)

C-3PO

C-3PO

C-3PO is a robot character from the Star Wars universe who appears in both the original Star Wars films and the prequel trilogy. He is also a major character in the television show Droids, and appears frequently in the series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games...

- Star Wars Movie (1977)

Darth Vader

Darth Vader

Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....

- Star Wars Movie (1977)

K9

K-9 (Doctor Who)

K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977...

- Doctor Who Television (1977)

Marvin the Paranoid Android

Marvin the Paranoid Android

Marvin, the Paranoid Android, is a fictional character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. Marvin is the ship's robot aboard the starship Heart of Gold...

- The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1978)

Definitions

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

(also known as machine intelligence and often abbreviated as AI) is intelligence exhibited by any manufactured (i.e.) system. The term is often applied to general-purpose computers and also in the field of scientific investigation into the theory and practical application of AI.

A robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

is an electro-mechanical or bio-mechanical device or group of devices that can perform autonomous or preprogrammed tasks.

An android is a robot made to resemble a human, usually both in appearance and behavior. The word derives from the Greek andr-, " meaning "man, male", and the suffix -eides, used to mean "of the species; alike" (from eidos "species").

A cyborg

Cyborg

A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...

is a cybernetic organism which adds to or enhances its abilities by using technology.
Other terms used commonly.

Machine Intelligence, which is derived up from Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 as you see in the definition above.
How could development of technology over the decades help these different ideas in science fiction?

Early timeline of probable influences

• 1957: Applied Physics Laboratory
  Applied Physics Laboratory
  The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , located in Howard County, Maryland near Laurel and Columbia, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 4,500 people. APL is primarily a defense contractor. It serves as a technical resource for the Department of...
  
   AIS begins with focus on learning machines and self-organizing systems.

• 1961: MINOS 1 First perceptron machine, responds to a pattern of binary inputs using weights.

• 1966: Artificial Intelligence Center
  Artificial Intelligence Center
  The Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International was founded in 1966 by Charles Rosen and studies artificial intelligence. One of their early projects was Shakey the Robot, the first general-purpose mobile robot. More recently, the center funded early development of CALO and Siri....
  
   is formed

• 1966-1972: Shakey the Robot
  Shakey the Robot
  Shakey the Robot was the first general-purpose mobile robot to be able to reason about its own actions. While other robots would have to be instructed on each individual step of completing a larger task, Shakey could analyze the command and break it down into basic chunks by itself...
  
   First autonomous mobile robots, controlled from radio and TV links.

• 1968: A* Algorithm Graph-searching algorithm used to route planning solver for navigation.

• 1969: STRIPS
  STRIPS
  In artificial intelligence, STRIPS is an automated planner developed by Richard Fikes and Nils Nilsson in 1971. The same name was later used to refer to the formal language of the inputs to this planner...
  
   Planning engine for Shakey.

• 1969: QA3 and QA4 Automated problem solving.

Summary

With these developments of Technology through machine engineering and companies that are fully devoted in making the technology, Authors have taken a great interest in this genre or Science Fiction to include technology and have their ideas that are derived from the influences of engineering companies as well as their own imaginations of their creations through technology. The technology that has been created over time has given writers as well as other forms of art the inspiration to create non-human characters.

Terms Commonly Used

Telepathy

Telepathy

Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...

: the ability to read minds

Precognition

Precognition

In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...

: the ability to see the future

Telekinesis: the ability to move objects with mental force (Psychokinesis (PK for short) or "mind over matter")

Teleportation

Teleportation

Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...

: the ability to move oneself from one place to the other, or back and forward in time

Telempathy: Emotion-reading

Remote Viewing

Remote viewing

Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means, in particular, extra-sensory perception or "sensing with mind"...

/Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance

The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...

/Scrying

Scrying

Scrying is a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling. The most common media used are reflective, translucent, or luminescent substances such as crystals,...

: the ability for seeing things not actually before your eyes

Psychometry: the ability to sense what has touched a certain physical object or the imprint it has left behind

Bilocation

Bilocation

Bilocation, or sometimes multilocation, is a term used to describe the ability/instances in which an individual or object is said to be, or appears to be, located in two distinct places at the same instant in time...

: the ability to be in two places at the same time.

Pyrokinesis

Pyrokinesis

Pyrokinesis, derived from the Greek words and , was the name coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter...

: the capability to start fires by mental action alone

Writers to Mention These Topics

• G. H. Ryan: "Fifteen Months in the Moon" (1880)
• Fitz James O’Brien: "The Bohemian" (1885)
• Robert A. Heinlein
  Robert A. Heinlein
  Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
  
  : Time for the Stars
  Time for the Stars
  Time for the Stars is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published by Scribner's in 1956 as one of the Heinlein juveniles. The basic plot line is derived from a 1911 thought experiment in special relativity, commonly called the twin paradox, proposed by French physicist Paul Langevin...
  
  , (1956): Telepathic twins
• Joanna Russ
  Joanna Russ
  Joanna Russ was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny...
  
  : "And Chaos Died" (1970): Telepathy
• Algis Budrys
  Algis Budrys
  Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names "Frank Mason", "Alger Rome", "John A. Sentry", "William Scarff", and "Paul Janvier."-Biography:...
  
  : Rogue Moon
  Rogue Moon
  Rogue Moon is a short science fiction novel by Algis Budrys, published in 1960. It was a 1961 Hugo Award nominee, losing to Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. A substantially cut version of the novel was originally published in F&SF; this novella-length story was included in The Science...
  
  , (1960)
• Chester Aaron: "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" (1986)
• Stephen King
  Stephen King
  Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
  
  : "The Dead Zone" (1979): Precognition affects political candidate
• James H. Schmitz
  James H. Schmitz
  James Henry Schmitz was an American writer born in Hamburg, Germany of American parents.- Life :Aside from two years at business school in Chicago, Schmitz lived in Germany until 1938, leaving before World War II broke out in Europe in 1939.During World War II, Schmitz served as an aerial...
  
  : "These Are The Arts" (1962): Telepathic masters, we're slaves
• Isaac Asimov
  Isaac Asimov
  Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
  
  : "Belief" (1953): Physics versus levitation
• Mark Clifton
  Mark Clifton
  Mark Clifton was an American science fiction writer. About half of his work falls into two series: the "Bossy" series, about a computer with artificial intelligence, was written either alone or in collaboration with Alex Apostolides or Frank Riley; and the "Ralph Kennedy" series, which is more...
  
   & Alex Apostolide: "What Thin Partitions (1953): Industrial psychokinesis
• Randall Garrett
  Randall Garrett
  Randall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s...
  
  : "The Foreign Hand Tie" (1961): Espionage via telepathy between identical twins
• Robert A. Heinlein
  Robert A. Heinlein
  Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
  
  : "Project Nightmare" (1953): Clairvoyance and A-bombs
• Zenna Henderson
  Zenna Henderson
  Zenna Chlarson Henderson was an American science fiction and fantasy novella and short story author, and an elementary school teacher.-Biography:...
  
  : "Ararat" (1952: The first of "The People" stories, about psi-gifted aliens who live on Earth
• Murray Leinster
  Murray Leinster
  Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history...
  
  : "The Leader" (1960): Long-distance mass-hypnotism

Brief History of Psi Phenomena in Science

While ESP

Extra-sensory perception

Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...

 and belief in other powers were, in the beginning, mainly fueled by superstitions, religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 and tradition, the dawn of science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 brought about a way to analyze and study these supposed “powers” giving them an anchor in reality. The Scientific Revolution

Scientific revolution

The Scientific Revolution is an era associated primarily with the 16th and 17th centuries during which new ideas and knowledge in physics, astronomy, biology, medicine and chemistry transformed medieval and ancient views of nature and laid the foundations for modern science...

 featured ideas that life should be “led by reason” and that, “the universe as a mechanistic, deterministic system could eventually be known accurately and fully through observation and reason”. While new science and technology gave rise to skepticism towards the existence of psi phenomena, it also gave way for new technologies to be applied in either proving or disproving such phenomena. One of the first experimental approaches to Psi Phenomena started in the 1930s and was conducted under the direction of J.B. Rhine (1895–1980). Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of card guessing and dice rolling experiments in a laboratory in attempt to find statistical validation for ESP. In 1957 the Parapsychological Association was formed at the preeminent society for parapsychology

Parapsychology

The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...

. Openness to new parapsychology studies and occult phenomena continued to rise in the 1970s.

Technological Developments

The Random Number Generator

Ganzfeld Experiment: homogenous, unpatterened, sensory stimulation to produce an effect similar to sensory deprivation

Development of statistical tools by R.A Fisher in the 1920s

Timeline of Probable Influences

E. Dawson Rogers hopes to gain new respectability for spiritualism

Spiritualism

Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...

 and founds Society for Psychical Research

Society for Psychical Research

The Society for Psychical Research is a non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena...

 in 1882

Government investigations in to parapsychology: Project Star Gate, formed in 1970 with cooperation from the Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

 and Defense Intelligence Agency

Defense Intelligence Agency

The Defense Intelligence Agency is a member of the Intelligence Community of the United States, and is the central producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 U.S. military and civilian employees worldwide...

, investigates remote viewing

Summary

With new developments in science and technology helping to study and promote parapsychology or Psi Phenomena, many SF writers felt the need to incorporate and elaborate on these subjects in their stories. While technology helped the investigation into Psi Phenomena it also created questions that many SF writers chose to answer, through their stories, in their own unique way. If we look at some of the examples of Psi Phenomena prominent in stories, they may have stemmed from how science would take this experimentation with Psi Phenomena and use it. In Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone”, we see how precognition was used to effect political candidates. The idea that someone could harness this power and use it for good or evil was one that many SF writer’s elaborated on. In “The Foreign Hand Tie” by Randall Garret espionage takes on a new form via telepathy through twins. When science and technology can be used to anchor something in reality, via experimentation or exploration, and yield results, it creates controversy that society may fear or even fantasize about. Throughout SF history, Psi Phenomena can be seen to be used for good and evil, and through new science and technological discoveries, this genre then becomes more real and more elaborate.

Early Writers

Martians, Go Home

Martians, Go Home

Martians, Go Home is a science fiction novel, written in 1955 by the American author, Fredric Brown. Written in a light-hearted style, it is a parody of the science-fiction genre.-Synopsis:...

by Fredric Brown

Fredric Brown

Fredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was born in Cincinnati.He had two sons: James Ross Brown and Linn Lewis Brown ....

, 1956

The Moon that Vanished by Leigh Brackett

Leigh Brackett

Leigh Douglass Brackett was an American author, particularly of science fiction. She was also a screenwriter, known for her work on famous films such as The Big Sleep , Rio Bravo , The Long Goodbye and The Empire Strikes Back .-Life:Leigh Brackett was born and grew up in Los Angeles, California...

, 1950

3 From Out There by Leo Margulies

Leo Margulies

Leo Margulies was an American editor and publisher of science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines.- Career :...

, 1959

To Outrun Doomsday

To Outrun Doomsday

To Outrun Doomsday is a science fiction novel written by Kenneth Bulmer. It was first published in 1967.-Plot summary:The novel concerns "Lucky" Jack Waley, a computer salesman and conman unfortunate enough to be aboard the starship Bucentaure when the engine blows...

by Kenneth Bulmer

Kenneth Bulmer

Henry Kenneth Bulmer was a British author, primarily of science fiction.-Life:Born in London, he married Pamela Buckmaster on 7 March 1953. They had one son and two daughters, and were divorced in 1981...

, 1957

Venus Stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

, 1955

Definition

This topic in Science Fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 is one of the most familiar ones. As soon as scientists realized that life is a natural phenomenon, people started to question whether there was life on other planets. Although there isn’t extensive proof that there is life on other planets, people started writing novels about it and it sparked a curiosity in people.Some of these novels were about friendly visits from the visitors where they got along with humans. Other novels showed a different side, where these beings would be warlike and wanted to conquer everything around them. It is well documented that the first UFO sighting was in 1561 in Germany.No one can ever know for sure what the object was back then, but it just shows how people were curious about the unknown. Although this was the first documentation of this, people didn’t coin the term, flying saucer until 1950. The 1950s is when a string of science fiction novels on this subject came out and also when technology started to boom.

Timeline of Probable Influences of Technology

• 1951: The first direct-dial transcontinental telephone call was made

• 1951: The largest television broadcast was made when President Harry Truman made a speech to 30 million people

• 1954: The solar cell was invented, first solar battery

• 1956: First Transoceanic telephone cables were formed

• 1958: The laser was invented

Early Writers

Sideways in Time by Murray Leinster

Murray Leinster

Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history...

 Novel (1934)

Lest Darkness Fall

Lest Darkness Fall

Lest Darkness Fall is an alternate history science fiction novel written in 1939 by author L. Sprague de Camp. The book is often considered one of the best examples of the alternate history genre; it is certainly one of the most influential...

 By L. Sprague De Camp Novel (1939)

Horsesense Hank in the Parallel Worlds by Nelson S. Bond

Nelson S. Bond

Nelson Slade Bond was an American author who wrote extensively for books, magazines, radio, television and the stage....

 Magazine (1942)

The Alteration

The Alteration

The Alteration is a 1976 alternate history novel by Kingsley Amis, set in a parallel universe in which the Reformation did not take place. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1977.-Creative origins:...

 by Kingsley Amis Novel (1976)

The Anubis Gates

The Anubis Gates

The Anubis Gates is a time travel fantasy novel by Tim Powers. It won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award.- Plot summary :...

 By Tim Powers Novel (1983)

Definition

Parallel Universe

Parallel universe (fiction)

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

Parallel universe or alternate reality in science fiction and fantasy is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with our own

Other terms

Multiverse (science)

Multiverse (science)

The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise everything that exists and can exist: the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical laws and constants that describe them...

Set of many universes. There are many specific uses of the concept, as well as systems in which a multiverse is proposed to exist in.

Parallel universe

Parallel universe (fiction)

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

alternate universes, worlds, realities and dimensions in fiction.

Alternate reality

Parallel universe (fiction)

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

alternate universes, worlds, realities and dimensions in fiction.

Alternate future

Alternate future

In science fiction stories involving time travel, an alternative future or alternate future is a possible future which never comes to pass, typically because someone travels back into the past and alters it so that the events of the alternative future cannot occur.An alternative future differs from...

is a possible future which never comes to pass, typically because someone travels back into the past and alters it so that the events of the alternate future cannot occur.

Early timeline

• 1905: Albert Einstein
  Albert Einstein
  Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
  
   Proposes Special theory of Relativity

• 1905: Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity shows that space and time are relative, not absolute, and that time is actually a fourth dimension
  Spacetime
  In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space as being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions...
  
   within what he calls "space-time."
• 1916: Einstein discovers that space-time is curved.

• 1920s: Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Dirac
  Paul Dirac
  Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
  
   reformulate mechanics into Quantum Mechanics
  Quantum mechanics
  Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
  
  , based on the Uncertainty Principle
  Uncertainty principle
  In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states a fundamental limit on the accuracy with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, such as position and momentum, can be simultaneously known...
  
  .

• 1922: Kaluza-Klein theory combined Einstein's General Relativity and Maxwell's electromagnetic field theory in 5 dimensions.

• 1937: Mathematician Kurt Gödel
  Kurt Gödel
  Kurt Friedrich Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape the effects of World War II. One of the most significant logicians of all time, Gödel made an immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the...
  
   proposes that the universe itself may be a time machine.

• 1949: Gödel
  Godel
  Godel or similar can mean:*Kurt Gödel , an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher*Gödel...
  
   demonstrates mathematically that pathways through time are consistent with general relativity
  General relativity
  General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
  
   (see Gödel metric
  Gödel metric
  The Gödel metric is an exact solution of the Einstein field equations in which the stress-energy tensor contains two terms, the first representing the matter density of a homogeneous distribution of swirling dust particles, and the second associated with a nonzero cosmological constant...
  
  ).

• 1967: U.S. physicist John Wheeler invents the name "black hole
  Black hole
  A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
  
  " to describe singularities in space and time.

Summary

The notion of parallel worlds have always intrigued different types of genres, especially the Science Fiction aspect. Many authors have toiled with the idea of travelling back in to prehistoric times or traveling forwards to an unknown universe. The idea of entering a world that has not been touched or entering a world that has evolved into a new incomprehnsible parallel, makes people ponder about what it could looks like or what it could be. Authors have used this notion of an alternate reality and have created their own worlds that have given readers a different view of alternate worlds.

Mythology and folklore precursors

Many myths and legends include gods, spirit

Spirit

The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...

s, angels, and demons that are often invisible or can choose to become invisible at will.

• One of the first stories to explore the idea of invisibility was in Plato
  Plato
  Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
  
  ’s The Republic. A peasant finds a ring in the tomb of a dead king that allows him to become invisible. He enters the palace, seduces the queen, and plots to kill the present king, showing that power such as invisibility corrupts.
• Perseus
  Perseus
  Perseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians...
  
  , the Greek mythic hero who helped establish the Twelve Olympians, was equipped with a cap of invisibility
  Cap of invisibility
  In classical mythology, the Cap of Invisibility is a helmet or cap that can turn the wearer invisible. It is also known as the Cap of Hades, Helm of Hades, or Helm of Darkness. Wearers of the cap in Greek myths include the goddess of wisdom Athena, the messenger god Hermes, and the hero Perseus...
  
   to kill Medusa
  Medusa
  In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...
  
  .

Early writers

• H. G. Wells
  H. G. Wells
  Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
  
   wrote The Invisible Man
  The Invisible Man
  The Invisible Man is a science fiction novella by H.G. Wells published in 1897. Wells' novel was originally serialised in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, and published as a novel the same year...
  
  (1897) which was the first science fiction novel to explore the idea of invisibility. The invisible man is a scientist named Griffin who theorizes that if a person’s refractive index
  Refractive index
  In optics the refractive index or index of refraction of a substance or medium is a measure of the speed of light in that medium. It is expressed as a ratio of the speed of light in vacuum relative to that in the considered medium....
  
   is changed to exactly that of air and his body does not absorb or reflect light, then he will not be visible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but cannot become visible again, leading to mental instability.

• J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings
  The Lord of the Rings
  The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
  
  series which revolves around the function of a ring that renders the user invisible. Unfortunately, it had an evil influence with negative effects on the wearer's actions.

• Douglas Adams
  Douglas Adams
  Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
  
   wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
  
  (1978) novels which encompass a humorous concept of a field which makes people believe the object in question is "somebody else's problem" and therefore do not see it. This concept as explained in the book, bases off of a statement to the effect that actual invisibility is impossible and that the field is merely a way to make something close to being invisible by actually making it hard to notice deliberately.

• Philip K. Dick
  Philip K. Dick
  Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
  
   wrote in his 1974 novel A Scanner Darkly of a "scramble suit." This is a flexible sheath covering the body of the wearer with a reflective/refractive coating on the inside surface that transfers the camouflaging pattern- projected by a holographic lens mounted on the wearer's head- onto the outside surface of the sheath causing a camouflage-like invisibility.

Definition

Invisibility

Invisibility

Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be invisible . The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means; however, its effects can also be seen in the real...

 is a term that is usually used as a fantasy or science fiction term where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means.

Invisibility in Science Fiction

There is an undeniable link between science fact and the ideas that emerge in science fiction. Science fiction authors are inspired by actual scientific and technological discoveries, but allow themselves the freedom to project the possible future course of these discoveries and their potential impact on society, perhaps only weakly bound to the facts.

Invisibility in Fiction

Authors are faced with obstacles presented by the realities of actual technology, however fiction allows a window for the opportunity of inventing completely imaginary technologies to move their storyline forward and maybe even still explore the outcomes of such power.

• Magic objects such as rings and cloaks can be worn to grant the wearer permanent invisibility.
• Spells and potions can be used or cast upon people or objects granting temporary invisibility.

Timeline of possible influences

• 17th century the refractive index was developed. Major advances near the end of the 19th century raised author's awareness

• 1670s Emitting or reflecting light
  Light
  Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
  
   outside the wavelength
  Wavelength
  In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
  
   range of visible light would result in a human-shaped black hole
  Black hole
  A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
  
   which would be completely opaque.

• 1930s Chroma key
  Chroma key
  Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
  
   began to develop which is the removal of color from one image to reveal another image "behind it." The removed color becomes transparent, which is also called "color keying."

• 1938 Stealth technology
  Stealth technology
  Stealth technology also termed LO technology is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive electronic countermeasures, which cover a range of techniques used with personnel, aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles, to make them less visible to radar, infrared, sonar and other detection...
  
   began to develop. It is used with aircraft, ships, and missiles, in order to make them less visible to certain detection methods.

• 2006 In some science fiction stories, a hypothetical "cloaking device" is used to make objects invisible. A team effort of researchers from Britain and the U.S announced the development of a real cloak of invisibility
  Cloak of invisibility
  A cloak of invisibility is a theme that has occurred in fiction, and is a device which is under some scientific inquiry.-Cloaks of invisibility in fiction:...
  
  , though it is only in its first stages.

Summary

The idea of being unseen and hence undetectable has fascinated mankind for generations. This concept has generated scientific pursuit towards defying our physical parameters. Many authors have toyed with the idea of gaining invisibility via both science-based and fictional means. Invisibility in the actual scientific world will be a very difficult achievement, one that will involve much more complication than we have begun to delve into. Further technological developments bring us closer to our goal, while also broadening the horizon for science fiction authors performing thought experiments on the topic of invisibility.

See also

• Science in science fiction
  Science in science fiction
  Science in science fiction is the study of how science is portrayed in works of science fiction. It covers a large range of topics, since science takes on many roles in science fiction...
  
  
• Multiverse (disambiguation)
• Alternate reality (disambiguation)
• Metaverse
  Metaverse
  The Metaverse is our collective online shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet...
  
  
• List of fictional robots and androids
• cloaking device
  Cloaking device
  Cloaking devices are advanced stealth technologies still in development that will cause objects, such as spaceships or individuals, to be partially or wholly invisible to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum...
  
  
• active camouflage
  Active camouflage
  Active camouflage or adaptive camouflage, is a group of camouflage technologies which allow an object to blend into its surroundings by use of panels or coatings capable of altering their appearance, color, luminance and reflective properties...
  
  
• Invisibility in fiction
  Invisibility in fiction
  Invisibility in fiction is a common plot device, found in both the science fiction and fantasy genres. In fantasy, invisibility is often invoked and dismissed at will, with a magic spell, a potion or a ring...