Nine Words You Think Came from Science but are Science Fiction

[davidinalameda]

http://nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com/2009/04/nine-words-you-think-came-from-science.html

1. Robotics. This is probably the most well-known of these, since Isaac Asimov is famous for (among many other things) his three laws of robotics. Even so, I include it because it is one of the only actual sciences to have been first named in a science fiction story (”Liar!”, 1941). Asimov also named the related occupation (roboticist) and the adjective robotic.

2. Genetic engineering. The other science that received its name from a science fiction story, in this case Jack Williamson’s novel Dragon’s Island, which was coincidentally published in the same year as “Liar!” The occupation of genetic engineer took a few more years to be named, this time by Poul Anderson.

3. Zero-gravity/zero-g. A defining feature of life in outer space (sans artificial gravity, of course). The first known use of “zero-gravity” is from Jack Binder (better known for his work as an artist) in 1938, and actually refers to the gravityless state of the center of the Earth’s core. Arthur C. Clarke gave us “zero-g” in his 1952 novel Islands in the Sky.

4. Deep space. One of the other defining features of outer space is its essential emptiness. In science fiction, this phrase most commonly refers to a region of empty space between stars or that is remote from the home world. E. E. “Doc” Smith seems to have coined this phrase in 1934. The more common use in the sciences refers to the region of space outside of the Earth’s atmosphere.

[CreekDog]

1. Narwhal

:D

[no name no slogan]

2. Dilithium

No such mineral. Lithium, however, is a mineral.

[Sequoia]

3. Warp drive.

[Catshrink]

4. Beam me up, Scotty.

Oh, right.

[pokerfan]

5. Phasor

A word many might think came from science fiction. Of course, the Star Trek version is spelled with an 'e' instead of an 'o.'



pha⋅sor  /ˈfeɪzər/
–noun Physics.
a vector that represents a sinusoidally varying quantity, as a current or voltage, by means of a line rotating about a point in a plane, the magnitude of the quantity being proportional to the length of the line and the phase of the quantity being equal to the angle between the line and a reference line.
Origin: 1940–45; phase + (vect)or
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.