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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Dec 15, 20201 min read
THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS
The next thinker to discuss the universe at large is Frenchman Bernard de Fontanelle; born in 1657 he lived to within a few weeks of his...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Dec 15, 20201 min read
LIFE IS EVERYWHERE
We mentioned William Herschel (1738-1822)who discovered Uranus and was the first to suggest that the Milky Way was the densest part of a...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Dec 15, 20201 min read
THINGS TO COME
The Irish Enlightenment scientist Robert Boyle (1627-91) is remembered for his work on gases and Boyle's Law is still important in...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Dec 15, 20201 min read
THE FIRST TRIP TO URANUS
We are getting nearer to modern times but we must not overlook such people as M. Vivenair who in 1784 published "A Journey Lately...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Sep 23, 20202 min read
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
In our tour of the history of SF, we must not pass over "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathon Swift (1667-1745). Swift, who became something...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Sep 13, 20201 min read
GIANTS IN THE EARTH
Moving ever closer to the modern age of SF we encounter Voltaire and his short work "Micromegas". It starts with the description of an...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Aug 15, 20201 min read
EXCERPT FROM "HIDEOUS NIGHT".
Here's an excerpt from the Ab Initio section of my latest novel: They were thrown unconscious to the floor as the sphere vanished with an...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Jun 22, 20201 min read
A MORE MODERN UNIVERSE
Galileo's great contemporary was Johannes Kepler, who made vast strides in revealing the true nature of the universe. He came up with the...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Jun 16, 20201 min read
THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE
As we have seen, Copernicanism remained a theory because there were strong scientific objections to it. What was needed was a new thinker...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Jun 12, 20201 min read
OBJECTIONS TO COPERNICUS
However, it must not be thought that Copernicus's views swept Europe: there were many learned men who put up strong objections to...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Jun 8, 20201 min read
HUMANITY LEARNS MORE ABOUT SPACE
As we have seen Copernicus correctly put Earth in orbit around the sun but his view was still medieval: he had nothing to say about the...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
May 28, 20201 min read
The Universe Expands
Speculative Fiction often deals with the concept of "Other Worlds." This, in turn, depends upon the understanding that Earth is a world...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
May 22, 20201 min read
Bishop Godwin's Trip To The Moon
Bishop Francis Godwin (1562 - 1633) wrote an early tale of Lunar exploration towards the end of his life. Godwin was the Bishop of...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
May 12, 20201 min read
Cyrano de Bergerac visits the Moon & Sun
Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-55) is today perhaps best known for his portrayal in fiction as the unfortunate owner of a protuberant nose....
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
May 7, 20201 min read
Speculative Fiction after the Classical World
Speculative fiction died out after the fall of the Roman Empire and it was not until the early Modern period that the first signs of...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Nov 18, 20191 min read
What is the first writing in SF?
Several writers have suggested that Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is the first true SF story. This is true insofar as one accepts the idea...
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Martyn Rhys Vaughan
Nov 4, 20191 min read
Why Science-Fiction?
We live in what some call a "Post Truth" era. Apparently if you believe in something passionately enough, that alone makes it true. But...
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