My all time favorite has to be Robert A. Heinlein, as answerfinder-ga
mentioned above. In addition to creating magnificent science fiction,
Heinlein was an unbelievably brilliant man who was way ahead of his
time, and who is today credited with being the first to suggest many
imaginary devices which have now become reality.
"Robert A. Heinlein — science fiction author and inventor of the
waterbed — worked in the 1940s on pressure suit technology for the US
Navy; this work led almost directly to the development of space suits.
But some 21 years before Armstrong and Aldrin even walked on the moon,
Heinlein published a short story in which an astronaut experiences a
problem with his oxygen; by looking at a small device attached to his
belt, the astronaut confirms that the oxygen content in his blood has
fallen... Such a device might not seem all that impressive to us
today... But Heinlein was among the first writers to describe a device
based on the idea of real-time biofeedback."
http://www.computer.org/computer/articles/vospost_2.htm
"...Solution Unsatisfactory, a short story... central idea in
Heinlein's tale is the development of atomic weapons --- in this case,
radioactive "dust" bombs that, when spread over a city, render it
completely uninhabitable.
The story was published in 1940, five years before Hiroshima, and
legend has it that it earned him a visit from the U.S. feds to find
out where, exactly, Mr. Heinlein had gotten his information.
For about fifty years, Heinlein looked really smart, but not quite
totally prescient, given that his dust weapons didn't exactly match
the actual atomic bombs that were created. But now it seems Heinlein
wasn't predicting the future six years in advance -- he was predicting
it sixty years in advance --- as we now are living in a world where
"dirty bombs" which spread radioactive waste are, quite possibly, the
most likely nuclear weapons that may (fate forbid) see use against
civilian populations."
http://www.truthlaidbear.com/001139.html
"With [The Door into Summer], Heinlein... manages to foresee CAD
(computer aided drafting), the equivalent of Velcro for clothing,
cryogenics applied as a method people might use to freeze themselves
hoping for later medical advances to cure their ills, and the
proliferation of robotics down to the household level."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345330129
In addition, Heinlein's novels frequently incorporated the concepts of
genetic engineering as well as cloning.
If you have never read Robert A. Heinlein, I highly recommend that you
give his books a try (they changed MY life).
Regards,
aceresearcher |
