Rockets and Ray Guns: The Sci-Fi Science of the Cold War

By:

Andrew May

Format:

Paperback / softback

Series:

Science and Fiction

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Description

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.

Author Biography:

Andrew May obtained a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Manchester in 1982 and is an experienced and versatile professional, with a career spanning academia, government and private industry. Since the start of 2011 he has been working as a freelance writer and defence consultant. He has a wide range of interests and has written both authoritatively and entertainingly on the physical sciences, military technology, British history, science fiction, New Age beliefs and the paranormal. He has recently published Pseudoscience and Science Fiction (2017) and The Telescopic Tourist's Guide to the Moon (2017) with Springer.

Release date Australia

June 5th, 2018

Author

Andrew May

Audience

Professional & Vocational

Edition

1st ed. 2018

Illustrations

36 Illustrations, color; 19 Illustrations, black and white; VI, 214 p. 55 illus., 36 illus. in color.

Pages

214

Series

Science and Fiction

ISBN-13

9783319898292

Product ID

27754040

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