Overview
- Vividly portrays how Science Fiction anticipated many of the key scientific developments of the Cold War
- Offers a plethora of little known facts and insights from previously classified military projects
- Shows how Cold War science and related SF changed our perception of science and scientists
Part of the book series: Science and Fiction (SCIFICT)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
The Cold War saw scientists in East and West racing to create amazing new technologies, the like of which the world had never seen. Yet not everyone was taken by surprise. From super-powerful atomic weapons to rockets and space travel, readers of science fiction (SF) had seen it all before.
Sometimes reality lived up to the SF vision, at other times it didn’t. The hydrogen bomb was as terrifyingly destructive as anything in fiction, while real-world lasers didn't come close to the promise of the classic SF ray gun. Nevertheless, when the scientific Cold War culminated in the Strategic Defence Initiative of the 1980s, it was so science-fictional in its aspirations that the media dubbed it “Star Wars”.
This entertaining account, offering a plethora of little known facts and insights from previously classified military projects, shows how the real-world science of the Cold War followed in the footsteps of SF – and how the two together changed our perception of both science and scientists, and paved the way to the world we live in today.
Reviews
“In Rockets and Rayguns, Andrew May draws on the parallels between reality and fiction, each influencing the other. … A solid contribution to the history of science fiction and its relation to the real world, alongside a reminder of Cold War technologies that now seem like something from a very distant past.” (Popular Science, popsciencebooks.blogspot.com, July, 2018)
“Rockets and Ray Guns: The Sci-Fi Science of the Cold War, explores the intersection of invention and fantasy — in this case, within the realm of science fiction — as it existed during one of the most productive time periods for both endeavors: the Cold War. … with an impressive amount of detail, including primary source illustrations from science and SF origins alike. … a work that will delight science, history, and SF buffs alike.” (Tom Reale, AIPT!, adventuresinpoortaste.com, July, 2018)
“This is an entertaining and enlightening read for anyone with an interest in science, technology and space exploration. The author’s extensive knowledge and multi-disciplinary approach to his subject matter is a refreshing change from the dry histories of the Cold War that concentrate upon the military, economic and political factors but often ignore the role of human imagination. The book is illustrated with pulp magazine and pop culture imagery.” (David Clarke, Fortean Times, Issue 372, 2018)
“This book will appeal to a broad audience of specialist historians of ideas, social science, and politics as well as to students in a wide range of fields. It also serves as a model for revisiting many other partnerships in the history of social science, where mutual collaboration has been put in the shade by falsely aggrandizing searches for individual ‘greatness.’” (E. Stina Lyon, Serendipities, Vol. 3 (1), 2018)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
He has recently published Pseudoscience and Science Fiction (2017) and The Telescopic Tourist's Guide to the Moon (2017) with Springer.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Rockets and Ray Guns: The Sci-Fi Science of the Cold War
Authors: Andrew May
Series Title: Science and Fiction
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89830-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-89829-2Published: 05 June 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-89830-8Published: 26 May 2018
Series ISSN: 2197-1188
Series E-ISSN: 2197-1196
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VI, 214
Number of Illustrations: 19 b/w illustrations, 36 illustrations in colour
Topics: Popular Science in Physics, Popular Science in Technology, Security Science and Technology, Societal Aspects of Physics, Outreach and Education