Those wishing to compare and contrast the predictions of science fiction with the reality of science may enjoy The Science in Science Fiction: 83 SF Predictions That Became Scientific Reality, Robert W. Bly (BenBella Books, 2005); Different Engines: How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science, Mark L. Brake and Neil Hook (Macmillan, 2008); and Follies of Science: 20th Century Visions of Our Fantastic Future, Eric Dregni and Jonathan Dregni (Speck Press, 2006).
Background information on the history of the pulp magazines can be found in Cheap Thrills: The Amazing! Thrilling! Astonishing! History of Pulp Fiction, Ron Goulart (Hermes Press, 2007); Pulpwood Days Volume One: Editors You Want to Know, edited by John Locke (Off-Trail Publications, Volume 2007); Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, James Gunn (Prentice-Hall, 1975); Science Fiction of the 20th Century: An Illustrated History, Frank M. Robinson (Collectors Press, 1999); The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines by Peter Haining (Prion Books, 2000); Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines, Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson (Collectors Press, 1998); and The Great Pulp Heroes by Don Hutchinson (Book Republic Press, 2007).
Those who would judge these pulps by their cover will find many excellent collections of the enduring artwork that promoted these disposable fantasies, including Worlds of Tomorrow: The Amazing Universe of Science Fiction Art, Forrest J. Ackerman with Brad Linaweaver (Collectors Press, 2004); Sci-Fi Art: A Graphic History, Steve Holand (Collins Design, 2009); Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for the Great American Pulp Magazines, Robert Lesser (Gramercy Books, 1997); From the Pen of Paul: The Fantastic Images of Frank R. Paul, edited by Stephen D. Korshak (Shasta-Phoenix, 2009); Out of Time: Designs for the Twentieth Century, Norman Brosterman (Harry N. Abrams, 2000); and Fantastic Science-Fiction Art 1926-1954, edited by Lester Del Ray (Ballantine Books, 1975).
Readers interested in more information about Doc Savage and his merry band of adventurers will enjoy Philip Jos Farmer’s “biography” of the great man, Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (Doubleday, 1973); a summary of the plot of each adventure is provided in A History of the Doc Savage Adventures, Robert Michael “Bobb” Cotter (McFarland and Company, 2009); and Doc Savage’s creator is profiled in Lester Dent: The Man, His Craft and His Market, by M. Martin McCarey-Laird (Hidalgo Pub. Co., 1994) and Bigger Than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage, Marilyn Cannaday (Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1990). Those interested in the secrets of the Shadow (such as his true identity—and no, its not Lamont Cranston) can consult The Shadow Scrapbook, by Walter B. Gibson (who wrote 284 of the 325 Shadow pulp novels, including the first 112) (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979); Gangland’s Doom: The Shadow of the Pulps by Frank Eisgruber Jr. (CreateSpace, 2007); Chronology of Shadows: A Timeline of The Shadow’s Exploits by Rick Lai (CreateSpace, 2007); and Pulp Heroes of the Thirties, edited by James Van Hise (Midnight Graffiti, 1994).
This is a golden age for fans of Golden Age pulps, comic strips, and comic books. There are many publishers who are reprinting, often in high-resolution, large-format hardcovers, comic strips from the 1920s and 1930s, featuring the first appearances of Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Maggie and Jiggs in Bringing Up Father, Popeye in Thimble Theater, and Walt and Skeezix in Gasoline Alley. Several volumes of Phil Nowlan’s and Dick Calkin’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (Hermes Press) and Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon (Checker Press) are available. There are also hard-cover reprints of the Gold Key comics, with at least four volumes of Dr. Solar—Man of the Atom by Paul S. Newman and Matt Murphy (Dark Horse Books) in print. A string of issues of DC Comics’ Strange Adventures from 1955 to 1956 has been reprinted in black and white in an inexpensive Showcase Presents volume (DC Comics, 2008). Several volumes of the Marvel Comics Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense from this time period are also available, in Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era hardcovers (Marvel Publishing). The pulps themselves are also returning to print, and Sanctum Productions/Nostalgia Ventures every month is publishing classic Shadow and Doc Savage adventures from the 1930s and 1940s, often with the original interior and cover artwork reproduced. Some of the above, along with copies of Amazing Stories from the 1920s and 1930s, are available as e-books. We can now, in the present, download and read on our electronic book readers stories from the past, predicting what life would be like in the world of tomorrow. This is the future no one saw coming!
INDEX
Note: Page numbers in italics indicate photos and illustrations.
Abbott, Edwin
ablation
absorption spectra. See atomic-light-emission spectra
Across the Space Frontier (Klep)
Action
action at a distance
Action Comics #
adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
Adventure Comics
age of earth
age of the universe
Air Wonder Stories
aircraft
alpha particles
and discovery of neutron
and fusion
and phosphorescence
and radiation
and radioactive decay
and radioactive half life
and scattering experiments
and transmutation
Alpher, Ralph
aluminum
The Amazing Colossal Man (1955)
Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Stories
American Institute of Physics
amorphous carbon
amplification
angular momentum. See also intrinsic angular momentum (spin)
anti-Semitism
antigravity
arc reactor
argon
Aristotle
Armageddon 2419 A.D. (Nowlan)
arms race
Arness, James
artificial intelligence
Asimov, Isaac
The Atom
atom smashers (particle accelerators)
atomic energy
The Atomic Kid (1954)
atomic-light-emission spectra
and Bohr model
in comic books
and de Broglie matter waves
described
and magnetic resonance imaging
and matter waves
and particle spin
and the Schrödinger equation
and transition rates
and the ultraviolet catastrophe
and uncertainty principle
and wave functions
atomic weapons. See nuclear weapons
atomic weights
The Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
audio recordings
automobiles
barium
Barker, Floyd
Batman
batteries
The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)
Bednorz, Johannes
The Beginning of the End (1957)
The Beginning or the End (1947)
bell curve
Bell Labs
and lasers
and semiconductor diodes
and solar cells
and transistors
beryllium
Bester, Alfred
beta particles
and Cerenkov radiation
decay of
and light exposure on metals
and particle decay
and radioactive decay
Bethe, Hans
big bang
biology
blackbody radiation. See also atomic-light-emission spectra
Blu-ray DVD players
Bohr, Niels
Bohr diagrams
Bonestell, Chesley
Born, Max
Bose, Satyendra
Bose-Einstein condensates
Bose-Einstein statistics
bosons
brain scans
Britain
Brownian motion
Brush, Charles
Buck Roger
s
calculus
Calkins, Dick
“Can Man Free Himself from Gravity?”
capacitors
Captain Atom
carbon
carbon dating
Carson, Jack
cathode ray tube
celestial mechanics
cell phones
ceramic superconductors
Cerenkov, Pavel
Cerenkov radiation
Chadwick, James
chain reactions
Challengers of the Unknown
charge density
charges of particles
Charlton (publisher)
chemical bonds
chemical reactions
chemistry
chromosomal damage
Civil War Files
climate change
clockwork universe perspective
cloud chamber
“cold fusion,”
collective consciousness
Collier’s Magazine
combustion
comic books. See also specific titles
compact discs (CDs)
complex numbers
compound interest
computation speed
computers
hard-drives
and magnetic resonance imaging
in science fiction
and transistors
Concentrator
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Twain)
conservation of energy
Considine, Joe
constants
constructive interference
consumer electronics. See also specific devices
Cooper, Leon
Cooper pairs
Copenhagen Institute
cordless phones
Cornell, Eric
“Corpse Cavalry of the Yellow Vulture,”
cosmic microwave background radiation
The Cosmic Rape (Sturgeon)
cosmic rays
Cranston, Lamont
critical mass
cryptology
crystals
Daisy Manufacturing Company
data security
Davidson, Sidney
Day, Doris
DC Comics
De Broglie, Louis
de Broglie matter waves
and atomic spectra
and Bose-Einstein condensates
and Dr. Manhattan
and electron microscopes
and electron orbits
and the exclusion principle
and nanostructured materials
and nuclear fission
and quantum mechanical tunneling
and quantum mechanical wave functions
and quantum theory
and reflection
and spin=0 particles
and superfluids
and temperature
and two-electron wave functions
and uncertainty principle
and wave functions
death rays. See also lasers
Death Stalks the Shadow
Debye, Pieter
Decepticons
decoherence
The Demolished Man (Bester)
Dent, Lester
Destination: Moon
destructive interference
Detroit News
deuterium
DeWitt, Bryce
diamagnetism
diamond
Dick Tracy
diffraction
diffusion
digital cameras
digital information
digital versatile discs (DVDs)
diodes
dipoles
Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice
Disneyland (television)
dissipative forces
DNA
Doc Savage
doping
Dr. Cyclops (1940)
Dr. Manhattan (Jonathan Osterman)
with Bohr
and Cerenkov radiation
hydrogen symbol
and intrinsic field disruption
predecessors of
and wave function manipulation
Dr. Solar—Man of the Atom
drag
duality
DVDs (digital versatile discs)
Eddington, Arthur
Ehrenfest, Paul
Einstein, Albert
and Bose-Einstein statistics
and development of quantum mechanics
and light quanta
and nuclear weapons
on the photoelectric effect
and quantum entanglement
and speed of light
electric dipole transitions
electric fields
electric motors
electrical current
and glow-in-the-dark materials
and LEDs
and resistance
and semiconductors
and solar cells
electrolysis
electromagnetism. See also magnetic fields
and electromagnets
and experimental science
and “intrinsic field,”
and light
and matter waves
and particle decay
and propagation in vacuum
and solid-state physics
and the strong force
and the ultraviolet catastrophe
and visible light
electron microscopes
electrons
and Bohr diagrams
charge density
and the exclusion principle
internal angular momentum
and “intrinsic field,”
and lasers
and leakage effect
and metals
orbits of
and particle spin
and quantum computers
and quantum entanglement
and radioactivity
and scattering experiment
and the Schrödinger equation
and semiconductors
and solar cells
and spin
and superconductors
and thermoelectrics
and transistors
and uncertainty principle
and wave functions
electrostatic attraction
and fission
and hydrogen
and intrinsic field
and liquid crystals
and metallic ions
and quarks
Schrödinger’s equation
electrostatic repulsion
Element X,
elementary particles
elevators
ellipses
emission spectra. See atomic-light-emission spectra
Empire State Building
encryption
energy. See also kinetic energy
availability of
conservation of
global energy consumption
mass-energy equivalency
measurements of
and momentum
and nanotechnology
solar energy
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
entanglement
Enterprise
Ernest, Marsden
Evans, Leslie
Everett, Hugh
excimer laser
exotic particles
experimentation
exponential time dependence
fallout, radioactive
the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain (Asimov)
Faraday, Michael
faster-than-light transmission of information
fax machines
Feiffer, Jules
Fermi, Enrico
Fermi-Dirac statistics
fermions
Fert, Albert
Feynman, Richard
field-effect transistors
field theory
“The Fifth Dimensional Catapult” (Leinster)
film
fine structure constant
Finkelstein, David
fire
fission
Five Weeks in a Balloon (Verne)
The Flash
Flash Gordon
flash memory
Flatland (Abbott)
floating gates
fluorescence
flying cars
Ford Motor Company
Forrest, Hank
fossil fuels
Foster, Bill
free electrons
frequency of waves
From the Earth to the Moon (Verne)
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
functions
fundamental constants
fusion
Galaxy
gamma rays
and fusion
and particle decay
and radioactive half life
and radioactivity
Gamow, George
gas lasers
geeks
Geiger, Hans
Geiger counters
gender issues
gene sequencing
General Dynamics
General Theory of Relativity
genetic mutation
Gerlach, Walther
German Physical Society
Gernsback, Hugo
giant magnetoresistance effect
Gibbons, Dave
gigantism
Gila Flats Research Facility
Gilbert, Alfred Carlton
global communication
glow-in-the-dark materials
Goddard, Robert H.
gold
Gold Key comics
Goldfinger (1964)
Goliath
Goudsmit, Samuel
Gould, Chester
graphite
gravity
The Great Comic Book Heroes (Feiffer)
Greek nomenclature
Groot
ground state
Groves, Leslie R.
Grünberg, Peter
Guido
Haber, Heinz
Hahn, Otto
half-life
hard drives
heat. See also temperature
heavy elements
heavy water
Heisenberg, Werner
Helgoland
helium
and “cold fusion,”