Contemporary inventions from science fiction stories

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"How many things were denied one day, only to become facts the next day!"

Novelist "Jules Verne", in his story from Earth to Moon

The modern technologies that we use on a daily basis come from the ideas of innovators and innovators who spend their time in research laboratories, with the aim of one mission, which is to find solutions to the problems facing us and to create new products. However, some contemporary ideas and inventions first appeared in science fiction stories, as many films and novels predicted them accurately and paved the way for the many technologies we enjoy using today.

The American engineer and physicist, Robert Goddard, who invented the world's first liquid-fuel missile, was inspired by the science fiction novel “The War of the Worlds” written by the great novelist, “Herbert G. Wells ”in 1898. The tablet computer actually made its debut in Stanley Kubrick's film,“ 2001: A Space Odyssey ”in 1969.

Over the years science fiction has had a clear impact on our lives. Many innovations, technologies, and even our lifestyle that we take for granted today were just ideas in the realm of science fiction someday.

Here are some of these innovations that have transformed the realm of science fiction into reality.

Submarine

The American inventor, Simon Lake, was fascinated by the idea of ​​travel and exploration under the sea, since he read Jules Verne’s famous science fiction novel entitled “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” in 1870. Nautilus ».

In 1897, Simon Lake built the Argonaut1 submarine, a 36-foot-long vehicle powered by a 30-horsepower petrol engine that had a set of wheels that allowed it to balance when sailing on the surface. It also had a binoculars, a diver's room, and a floating hose to provide air for the engine and crew.

Lake initially used the submarine to rescue shipwrecks in the Chesapeake Bay, but in 1898 he used it to sail from Norfolk, Virginia, to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The trip, which has since been considered the first for a submarine in the open waters of the ocean.

The trip was widely praised, and novelist Jules Verne sent a congratulatory message to engineer Simon Lake, congratulating him on realizing the dream of making a submarine.

The helicopter

The hero of the novel "Robor the Conqueror", written by Jules Verne in 1886, invents the world's first flying machine heavier than air, called the Albatross, a flying machine that resembles a helicopter.

At the turn of the 20th century, a young Russian 12-year-old boy, Igor Sikorsky, reads Verne's novel and tries to build his first helicopter with a rubber band.

Sikorsky became one of the most important pioneers in the field of aviation, as he designed the first commercial airliner and called it "Ilya Muromets", in 1914. After he immigrated to the United States in 1919, and in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War, Sikorsky started his own airline.

Sikorsky experimented with many helicopter designs in his life, before eventually succeeding in 1939 with the VS-300, the first modern helicopter and the first to be mass-produced.

Sikorsky always quotes Jules Verne: "Whatever a man can imagine, another man can make."

tablet computer

In Stanley Kubrick's science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, the astronauts carried laptop tablets containing all the information they could need.

In the popular Star Trek movie and TV series, the ship's crew was carrying devices called "PADD", which symbolizes a portable device for accessing information. Both models represented the first concepts of the tablets we have today.

Interestingly, the tablets used by the astronauts in the movie "A Space Odyssey" were the basis for a lawsuit filed by Samsung against Apple in its legal battle over the creative rights of the tablet computers.

Apple claimed that its iPad tablet was the first model for a portable tablet computer, while Samsung responded to the call that the idea had been present in science fiction films for a long time, citing the Stanley Kubrick movie, and thus they were allowed to develop the idea.

Liquid propellant rockets

Robert Goddard, the American scientist who built the first liquid-fuel rocket and successfully launched it on March 16, 1926, became fascinated by spaceflight after reading the classic novel, "War of the Worlds," written by novelist Herbert. G. Wales reports on the Martians' invasion of planet Earth. In the novel, Martians launch capsules across Earth using giant cannons.

After studying physics, Goddard focused instead on improving the design of missiles, which were powered by gunpowder at the time and used as fireworks or artillery. Goddard's theory and experiments showed that liquid-fueled missiles could be more efficient. He has also successfully applied three-axis control and guidance systems to missiles, all of which allow for effective missile control in flight.

Goddard's genius was underappreciated in his day. Because the press on that day did not believe that the missile could operate in a vacuum. After the New York Times mocked his ideas in 1920, Goddard famously uttered his words: “Every vision of the future is a joke until those who realize it come first; Once realized, it becomes commonplace. ”

Self-driving cars

After participating in the 1964 World's Fair, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov sent an article to the New York Times imagining what inventions will be shown at the World's Fair in 50 years.

"A lot of effort will go into designing vehicles that have robotic brains, which are vehicles that can be preconfigured, and that will continue to drive without the need for interference from the slow reactions of the human driver," he states in his article.

A movie like "I, Robot" starring "Will Smith", also introduced the idea of ​​driverless cars, as it depicts a world without car accidents, where no one is forced to waste their time driving during the trip.

Until recently, seeing this technology seemed like science fiction in its own right, but with the entry of the biggest giants in this field, such as Google and Tesla, and already testing this type of self-driving car, it became a reality.

There are many, many innovations and inventions that science fiction first gave us, and innovators were inspired by design and idea later. So, next time you see new technologies in the "Black Mirror" series, for example, do not be surprised or condemn these technologies, as we may actually see them in the near future.

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