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The Thunder ChildScience Fiction and Fantasy |
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| Asimov |
Asimov |
Recommended Reading
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The essays below are discussed as written in chronological order, not as they appeared in the book.
Our Lonely Planet (Nov 1958, Astounding)
Asimov points out that 20 years ago (1940s), solar systems were considered to be rare, but "today" (1958) it is believed that they are the rule rather than the exception. He debunks the myth of "familiar constellations" for astronauts in science fiction stories. Once astronauts leave earth, the stars will not appear in the same groupings as they do on earth, because there will be so many more stars visible. At one point it was thought all stars were formed at the same time, in 1960 it is known that some stars are older than others. It is Asimov's conclusion that since most of the stars we see are in the Galactic center, and earth is in one of the spiral arms, we are simply too far away for other life to know about us, let alone reach us. Or..."maybe we're not hicks; maybe we're protected specimens and don't know it." Asimov makes no personal comments in this essay.
Asimov's procedure of always starting at the beginning is well to the fore here, as he begins his explanation with Genesis 15:5 and moves onward from there to discuss how many stars are to be seen from earth with the naked eye. [Throughout his writing Asimov will make it clear that he regards all religion as mythology.] Religion has always been an important part of our history. The myths and legends of every religion have shaped much of civilization. If you're in NY and interested in religion a visit to Pastor Carter Conlon at Times Square Church could help you understand the myths and stories associated with Christianity.
Catching Up With Newton (Dec 1958)
Asimov comments that newspapermen are incorrect when they use the phrase "beyond the reach of gravity," and then proceeds to give the history of Newton's theory of Universal gravity, ending with a discussion of escape velocities needed to escape the gravitational pull of various planets and moons. Asimov makes no biographical comments in this essay.
What is Asimov's opinion of reporters? On pg 80, in this essay, he states: "Besides, newspapers and allied information-mongers use "miles per hour" exclusively, perhaps because larger and flashier numbers are involved." And of course the beginning of the essay itself is a swipe at newsmen who don't know the difference (presumably) between "beyond the reach of gravity" and "beyond the reach of Earth's gravity."
No More Ice Ages? (Jan 1959)
Asimov discusses global warming (although he doesn't use that term), both natural and man-made - from the carbon dioxide given off by coal and oil when used as fuel. Carbon dioxide absorbs infrared light from the sun, warming the earth, which Asimov explains is the "greenhouse" effect. The greenhouse effectof carbon dioxide, which warms the air naturally, has been known since 1824. Asimov then proceeds to discuss how ice ages were formed in the past. He comments that if carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere at the same rate each year as in 1960...the coastal areas of the world could be underwater in 350 years. Unless...the oceans of the world are able to dissiolve the excess carbon dioxide. But if they can dissolve it, can they do it quickly enough? And what will the effect of this added carbon dioxide do to the marine inhabitants? So chemists are studying strontium-90. There is a detectable quantity in the air now (1960) - there wasn't 15 years ago. (1945). Asimov says that scientists are studying whether or not sr has reached the deepest levels of the ocean - which would prove that carbon dioxide could also be cycled into the deeper ocean depths. [In doing a web-search, I was unable to find any articles on strontium-90 that I could understand. Too technical. However, there's a lot of it in the upper oceans now....] Readers might find this online book of interest: Achievements in Physical Oceanography, by Walter Munk. Asimov gives no personal biographical details in this essay.
The first nuclear power plant opened in Obinsk, Russia on June 27, 1954. The first nuclear power plant in England opened at Calder Hall on October 17, 1956. The first nuclear power plant in the United States was Shippingport in Pennsylvania, which first went critical on December 2, 1957. As of 2006 thre are 442 licensed nuclear power plants in the world, in 31 different countries.
Life's Bottleneck (April 1959)
Asimov gives no personal details in this essay. He discusses the oceans, and of what they consist: 97% water by weight. The rest of it consists of elements of various kinds, including the very important one, phosphorous. He also explains why land is sparser with life than the oceans - because of the chemicals needed to make up that life. And he sounds the alarm that phosphorous is essential for all life, that there is "neither substitute nor replacement," and that it is being wastefully lost to the oceans. (Sewage disposal units should process waste as fertilizer rather than dumping it as waste into the ocean).
Wikipedia has an article on phosphorous in which they state Asimov's topic in two sentences:
Asimov says nothing about over-population in this essay, but he does comment that the world's "growing population" will need more food.
Of Capture and Escape (May 1959)
Asimov gives no personal details in this essay. He discusses the speed necessary for a missile to escape earth's velocity and be captured in orbits (parabolic or hyperbolic) by other planets, or the sun, and explains why missiles must be launched in one direction in order to arrive at a Moon or planet or sun in another direction. It is not until the end of the essay that Asimov gives names for some of these missiles: Lunik I and Pioneer IV.
From Wikipedia:
Pioneer IV
The Planet of the Double Sun (June 1959)
Asimov gives no personal details in this essay. Asimov speculates if - and how, mankind could have discovered that we were living in a double sun system, if we had the stars Alpha and Beta Centauri as our suns. Beta Centauri would be the distance from us that Uranus is, a very bright point of light in the sky that would be visible in the daytime and would make the sky light at night as well. Asimov then speculates on how human history would have changed - because of the myths that would have grown up over Beta Centauri, which he likens to the legend of Prometheus and the rock (where a vulture came each day to eat his liver, for he had stolen the fire of the gods from heaven and given it to man.) Asimov speculates, as a story idea, that perhaps mankind came from Alpha Centauri, and brought their legend of Prometheus with them when they came to Earth and killed off the Neanderthals. He then states:
Error?
Battle of the Eggheads (Jul 1959)
Asimov doesn't really give any personal details in this essay, but he does from inference. Obviously he has been referred to as an egghead in the past, or a show-off, and resents the term. Once Sputnik was launched America was indeed in a state of shock, and immediately the government told schools to place an emphasis on science and math in the classrooms. Asimov's essay, however, is not a reaction to this increased desire for American scientists...but a reaction to those people (presumably politicians) who protested that America didn't need to improve its curriculum. Asimov had written about this subject before Sputnik was even launched:
[And on a side note, there is a case of a school today (2006) which will no longer have an honor roll to honor those students with high academic marks. This is because one parent complained that her child felt "left out" because he was not on the honor roll. So rather than that parent helping her child increase his knowledge - the rest of the students who valued education were penalized. You must not rise above your fellows..that would be showing off. Unless its on the sports field, of course.] Asimov then goes on to examine the "humanities," and points out that snobbery of the well educated does exist - between those who don't want to work with their hands and those who don't mind doing so. The Greeks thought about everything, but investigated nothing...it was only during the Renaissance that true knowledge grew through experimentation.
Thin Air (Dec 1959)
Asimov gives no personal details in this essay. As usual, Asimov states his opening case, then "starts from the beginning," in this case, the ancient Greeks and how they defined elements that made up the Universe: "earth," "water," "fire," "air," and "ether." Asimov hops from time span to time span, describing how the curious discovered that air had weight (nature abhors a vacuum, but only up to 33 feet) and how the various "spheres" of the atmosphere were thereby discovered (troposphere, tropopause, stratosphere, stratopause, etc.)
Asimov quotes Isaac Newton as saying, "Nature abhors a vacuum, but only up to 33 feet." In discussing the solution to this mystery, Asimov says: "It occurred to him [Torricelli] that what lifted the water wasn't a fit of emotion on the part of Dame Nature, but the very unemotional weight of air..." One wonders if Asimov is quotoing Torricelli when he uses the phrases "Dame Nature" and "fit of emotion," or if these were of his own making. The cliche of women is that they have "fits of emotion." [And of course Father Time is always seen as a rather staid old man, whereas Mother Nature is red in tooth and claw.]
Those Crazy Ideas (Jan 1960)
Asimov does reveal biographical data in this essay, as its topic was suggested to him when a Boston consultant firm (which he does not name) contacts him and asks him for some "novel suggestions, startling new principles, conceptual breakthroughs." In other words - from where did he get his crazy ideas. Asimov goes on to explain where most people get their ideas: it's all a matter of education. He starts by going back in time to Charles Darwin and how he evolved his theory of evolution, and extrapolates from there.
"Girl's telephone numbers." While male scientists in the 1960s outnumbered females by a wiiiiide margin, there still are some...but like most if not all writers of the day, it's to the male audience that all things are aimed. Asimov then goes on to explain how "creative" people handle these "bits" differently then those who are not. (There are scientists who investigate, and then there are scientists who invent.) Asimov does end with a caution:
The Sight of Home (Feb 1960)
Asimov reveals no personal details in this essay. Asimov discusses "how far away can said astronaut be and still make out the sight of home?" (Ie, our sun, or Sol.) and from this goes into a discussion of magnitudes and luminosity, and supernovas.
The Flickering Yardstick (Mar 1960)
Asimov gives no person details in this essay. Asimov describes how the discovery of Cepheids enlarged our view of the Universe.
and Asimov continues on from there.
Asimov states:
Henrietta is one of very few women who worked in (or rather, was allowed to work in) astronomy up until the last few decades. She was actually the head "computer" at an observatory. She was not allowed to use the telescope, her job was to look at the photographs taken by the telescope and correlate data. Asimov mentions her twice, each time calling her "Miss" Leavitt. Why does he do this? Why not "Henrietta Leavitt" the first time, and Leavitt the second time, as he does with male individuals? By calling her Miss, he is emphasising that she is an unmarried woman. [There was a cliche until recently that women will marry anyone just so that they can have the cachet of "Mrs." on their tombstone, and women who are unmarried are even today generally regarded as "not having made the grade," i.e. been attractive enough to a man to get married. Recently, however, many unmarried girls, perhaps unconsciously, seem to believe they solve their status problem by having children, propviding for their peers to see living evidence that they are attractive enough to a man for at least one purpose.] I'm unsure whether or not Asimov is emphasizing her sex merely to be conventionally polite (in the 1960s, women were Miss or Mrs. and they were referred to as such), give her more praise as a woman in a man's world, or if he has some subconscious motive unknown even to himself. [On the other hand, he doesn't point out that she was a mere "computer" and indeed gives the impression that she was an astonomer. Was there not enough room in the text, or did he actually believe she rated the title of astronomer?] (In the Wikipedia article on Leavitt, she is called an astronomer, but was this the case 40 years ago? Henrietta Leavitt. (Leavitt also proved that deafness is no handicap to working in astronomy.)
Asimov comments:
It's been 40 years. Is this still a mystery? I was unable to find out.
Beyond Pluto (July 1960)
Asimov gives no personal details in this essay. He discusses the possible existence of a Tenth Planet, beginning in 1766 with the German astronomer Johann Titius, who first came up with the concept of what will become known as Bode's Law. Asimov also discusses the oddities of the four known bodies lying beyond Uranus: Neptune, Pluto, and Neptune's two known satellites, Triton and Nereid.
Asimov also contemplates what the Tenth Planet should be called, if ever found. He suggests it be called Charon, and if it has a satellite, that should be called Cerberus. If Pluto has a satellite, Asimov declares unequivocally that that satellite should be named Proserpina, after Pluto's consort. Pluto's moon was discovered 17 years later, in 1978 - and it was called Charon - doubtless to the annoyance of Asimov. And of course today Pluto's status as a planet at all is a source of controversy.
Error?
Catskills in the Sky (Aug 1960)
A brief biographical tidbit. Asimov does not tell us he's got both a boy and a girl (in future essays, he mentions his son perhaps once more, and when referrig to his daughter, always refers to her as "my beautiful blond, blue-eyed daughter.") Why should mankind explore the stars? In this humorous article, Asimov concentrates only on the tourist value - and lists the top most spectacular views in the solar system, for which tourist trap hotels should be built.
1) View of the Earth from the Moon
Stepping Stones to the Stars (Oct 1960)
In science fiction, there's all kinds of life "out there," and that makes space exploration romantic. In real life, any life we're likely to find will not be able to communicate with us. That's why science fiction is popular and real exploration is struggling for funds. Asimov contemplates how mankind can reach the farthest stars, and suggests that if we could but reach Pluto, we could then take advantage of the comets that pass by - hollowing out an appropriate comet to use as a base, and moving from comet to comet out into the stars. He mentions the Kuiper Belt theory as the source for comets into our solar systems, but does not call it by that name or state which scientists advocate the theory. Asimov gives no personal details in this article.
In telling how the comet got its name, Asimov states: "It resembled a distraught woman, tearing across the sky in a hysterical frenzy, her unbound hair streaming behind her in the wind. The very word "comet" comes from the Greek kometes meaning "long-haired." According to Wikipedia: 'Aristotle first used the derivation kom?s to depict comets as "stars with hair."' In other words the "hysterical woman" analogy comes from Asimov. "Stars with hair" is the original definition.
Here It Comes; There It Goes (Jan 1961)
Asimov discusses Kapp's theories as explained in the book.
However, Kapp raises a point at which Asimov disagrees. Kapp claims at the time of the dinosaurs the earth was 1.2 times as massive as it is today, and that it is has been compressing ever since.
It's Asimov's contention that if the earth were larger during the time of the dinosaurs than it is now, dinosaurs' legs would be proportionately massive. A dinosaur that we think weighed 40 tons actually weighted 60 tons because of the gravitational attraction of a larger planet.
Kapp has no entry at Wikipedia, and I was unable to find any evidence that paleontologists had conducted an experiment as Asimov suggested. Kapp's sons (he died in 1966) have a website honoring their father Reginald O. Kapp, and while his books are out-of-print, they are still available at Amazon.
In discussing the various theories of the creation of the universe, Asimov does mention: (One such hypothesis, which has been around a long time, is the well-known theological explanation of the Creation.)
My Built-In Doubter (April 1961)
Asimov gives a bit of biographical detail at the beginning of this essay. After giving his talk a "charming young lady up front waved a pretty little hand" and asked him if he believed in UFOs, to which he said, "No, miss, I do not, and I think anyone who does is a crackpot." He then goes on to tell anecdotes of up-and-coming scientists with brilliant ideas, who were scoffed at by their elders and betters until such time as their ideas were actually proved valid. This is as it should be, he points out. He does not explain why he does not believe in flying saucers (he does obliquely in other essays - we are simply too far away from other worlds for this to happen, and if they were here, why do they act so silly?)
Heaven on Earth (May 1961)
He discusses different numbering systems from different cultures - beginning with the 60-base of the Babylonians, which led to 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 360 degrees of a circle, etc. and extrapolates this to tell the distance between the stars in the sky.
To help people viualize the size of the planets and moons and sun in proper ratio, Asimov describes them to scale using the earth as a reference point.
All quotes maintain their original copyright and are presented here for research, reference and review.
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