Which was the first story to feature space elevators?
In many very popular sci-fi anime stories, there are "space elevators", or, in other words, a giant tower which allows to transport people and/or objects from the surface of Earth to space. Some of these stories where they appear are Gundam (Gundam Reconguista in G (2014) , Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007) , Turn a Gundam (1999)), Eureka Seven (2005) and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (1998) and the earliest I know it's Super Dimensional Century Orguss (1983). Now, I know this idea comes from science, since a giant tower which could reach space from the surface of Earth was theorized by scientists (though apparently a material which could have the properties to build it doesnt exist) but I wonder which was the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story.
Which was the first story to feature space elevators?
history-of space-elevator
add a comment |
In many very popular sci-fi anime stories, there are "space elevators", or, in other words, a giant tower which allows to transport people and/or objects from the surface of Earth to space. Some of these stories where they appear are Gundam (Gundam Reconguista in G (2014) , Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007) , Turn a Gundam (1999)), Eureka Seven (2005) and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (1998) and the earliest I know it's Super Dimensional Century Orguss (1983). Now, I know this idea comes from science, since a giant tower which could reach space from the surface of Earth was theorized by scientists (though apparently a material which could have the properties to build it doesnt exist) but I wonder which was the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story.
Which was the first story to feature space elevators?
history-of space-elevator
Do we need a [space-elevator] tag? Do we have space elevator experts out there? :)
– Jenayah
11 hours ago
3
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_Between_the_Worlds
– Paulie_D
10 hours ago
@Paulie_D that's worth of an answer. BTW, if Arthur C Clarke included it in a story, I bet there are dozens of stories which included one since he's an inspiration for a lot of writers
– Pablo
10 hours ago
1
By the way, Clarke once said, "The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing."
– MackTuesday
6 hours ago
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was released in 1972 ...
– Azor Ahai
37 mins ago
add a comment |
In many very popular sci-fi anime stories, there are "space elevators", or, in other words, a giant tower which allows to transport people and/or objects from the surface of Earth to space. Some of these stories where they appear are Gundam (Gundam Reconguista in G (2014) , Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007) , Turn a Gundam (1999)), Eureka Seven (2005) and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (1998) and the earliest I know it's Super Dimensional Century Orguss (1983). Now, I know this idea comes from science, since a giant tower which could reach space from the surface of Earth was theorized by scientists (though apparently a material which could have the properties to build it doesnt exist) but I wonder which was the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story.
Which was the first story to feature space elevators?
history-of space-elevator
In many very popular sci-fi anime stories, there are "space elevators", or, in other words, a giant tower which allows to transport people and/or objects from the surface of Earth to space. Some of these stories where they appear are Gundam (Gundam Reconguista in G (2014) , Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007) , Turn a Gundam (1999)), Eureka Seven (2005) and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (1998) and the earliest I know it's Super Dimensional Century Orguss (1983). Now, I know this idea comes from science, since a giant tower which could reach space from the surface of Earth was theorized by scientists (though apparently a material which could have the properties to build it doesnt exist) but I wonder which was the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story.
Which was the first story to feature space elevators?
history-of space-elevator
history-of space-elevator
asked 11 hours ago
PabloPablo
1,0941229
1,0941229
Do we need a [space-elevator] tag? Do we have space elevator experts out there? :)
– Jenayah
11 hours ago
3
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_Between_the_Worlds
– Paulie_D
10 hours ago
@Paulie_D that's worth of an answer. BTW, if Arthur C Clarke included it in a story, I bet there are dozens of stories which included one since he's an inspiration for a lot of writers
– Pablo
10 hours ago
1
By the way, Clarke once said, "The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing."
– MackTuesday
6 hours ago
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was released in 1972 ...
– Azor Ahai
37 mins ago
add a comment |
Do we need a [space-elevator] tag? Do we have space elevator experts out there? :)
– Jenayah
11 hours ago
3
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_Between_the_Worlds
– Paulie_D
10 hours ago
@Paulie_D that's worth of an answer. BTW, if Arthur C Clarke included it in a story, I bet there are dozens of stories which included one since he's an inspiration for a lot of writers
– Pablo
10 hours ago
1
By the way, Clarke once said, "The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing."
– MackTuesday
6 hours ago
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was released in 1972 ...
– Azor Ahai
37 mins ago
Do we need a [space-elevator] tag? Do we have space elevator experts out there? :)
– Jenayah
11 hours ago
Do we need a [space-elevator] tag? Do we have space elevator experts out there? :)
– Jenayah
11 hours ago
3
3
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_Between_the_Worlds
– Paulie_D
10 hours ago
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_Between_the_Worlds
– Paulie_D
10 hours ago
@Paulie_D that's worth of an answer. BTW, if Arthur C Clarke included it in a story, I bet there are dozens of stories which included one since he's an inspiration for a lot of writers
– Pablo
10 hours ago
@Paulie_D that's worth of an answer. BTW, if Arthur C Clarke included it in a story, I bet there are dozens of stories which included one since he's an inspiration for a lot of writers
– Pablo
10 hours ago
1
1
By the way, Clarke once said, "The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing."
– MackTuesday
6 hours ago
By the way, Clarke once said, "The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing."
– MackTuesday
6 hours ago
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was released in 1972 ...
– Azor Ahai
37 mins ago
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was released in 1972 ...
– Azor Ahai
37 mins ago
add a comment |
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
The Fountains of Paradise (1979)
Jerome Pearson, President of STAR, Inc., conceived the idea of the space elevator in 1969 at the NASA Ames Research Center, and perfected the concept in the early 1970s, when he was at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio. He published his ideas in an international journal that first brought the idea to the attention of the entire world of spaceflight researchers. Sir Arthur Clarke, living in Sri Lanka, consulted with Pearson in the late 1970s in writing his novel, "The Fountains of Paradise," which brought Pearson’s idea of the space elevator to an even larger audience. Sir Arthur included in the book an appendix that credited Pearson.
- Space Elevator History - Star Tech Inc
So it seems like this was the first one.
add a comment |
Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise and Charles Sheffield's The Web Between the Worlds (both published in 1979) are generally considered to be the works that introduced space elevators to the science fiction community at large.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (1972) has an elevator that goes into space, but presented as an absurdity with no scientific explanation.
Both Wikipedia and TVTropes have extensive lists of fictional space elevators, though they're not chronological.
add a comment |
In the Jan 12, 2019 issue of New Scientist magazine, an article by Kelly Oakes (on plans for real-word space elevators) mentions 2 sources for the history of the idea:
(probably non-fiction only) Konstantin Tsiolkovsky1 in 1895 "imagined a 'celestial castle' orbiting the earth at 36000 km (geosynchronous), attached to the Eiffel Tower in Paris by a long spindle." This was ~70 years before the first geosynchronous satellites were launched.
http://pages.erau.edu/~andrewsa/history.html briefly summarizes the "celestial castle" idea. Tsiolkovsky did apparently write science fiction as well, but I haven't been able to find a reference to a story involving the idea.
1: yes, the same guy the rocket equation is named for
Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise "popularized an elevator proper".
Clarke's story is definitely the most widely cited early fictional version in discussions I've seen of space elevators. But perhaps Clarke didn't invent the entire concept from nothing. (That's not the question, and Clarke may still have had to figure out plenty of practical details.)
The article says that we now know that a real elevator needs to stretch beyond geosynchronous / geostationary orbit altitude to bring the centre of mass up beyond that point. (Otherwise the cable falls under its own weight.) Apparently Clarke pictured the top being at around geosync altitude, too.
A large counterweight just beyond that altitude should work, but the article suggests having the cable extend to something like 100 000 km to counter the weight of loads traveling up/down the cable. That would give you a nice escape trajectory for leaving Earth orbit.
Further material:
Jerome Pearson wrote (in 1997) a paper on the history of the ideas / invention of Space Elevators. He doesn't consider Tsiolkovsky's thought experiment / concept to be detailed or practical enough to call it "inventing" the space elevator.
He credits the invention of the space elevator as an actual engineering problem to Yuri Artsutanov (1960) and independently to himself (1975), as Artsutanov didn't publish a paper so it wasn't known in the west.
The question does not ask for the origin of the idea. It explicitly asks for {the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story. " Tsiolkovsky also wrote science fiction.Maybe he used his space elevator idea in one of his stories?
– user14111
4 hours ago
@user14111: I'm aware this doesn't directly answer the question. I thought it was interesting enough to post anyway. If you want to dig deeper and post your own answer, or improve this one, feel free.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I googled but didn't find a mention of Tsiolkovsky having written fiction about his "celestial castle" thought experiment. I expanded the answer some, but unfortunately still mostly non-fiction sources.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Vathek (1786)
One of the earliest sci-fi stories has this plot element. In the novel Vathek by William Beckford, the titular character builds something like a space elevator to do astronomy:
To better study astronomy, he builds an observation tower with 11,000 steps.
1
That's a very interesting find since it's almost the same idea, but I believe to be considered a space elevator it would have to be over 100 or 80 kms height to be considered space. That would be like 8 and something kms.
– Pablo
7 hours ago
4
Towers are compression structures and thus not space elevators. If we allow towers, you can go back to the tower of Babel and the Bible.
– ventsyv
6 hours ago
2
@ventsyv Even further than that - like much of the Bible, many parts of the story of Babel are borrowed from earlier myths. The Babylonian city of Etemenanki long predates the biblical accounts and may be the original inspiration for the story of Babel.
– Darrel Hoffman
6 hours ago
2
I see no indication in the summary that the tower was used for anything but observation - OK, human sacrifice too, but neither of those make it a space elevator.
– Harry Johnston
6 hours ago
1
You're all wrong. No one knew how high space was when that book was written. The whole 80 or 100km thing is a matter of definition, not a natural boundary. The point was not the physical height of the tower, but that it was tall enough to get him a view from space. I.e. it was as close to the idea of a "space elevator" as was imaginable given the technology of the time.
– Darth Egregious
3 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The Fountains of Paradise (1979)
Jerome Pearson, President of STAR, Inc., conceived the idea of the space elevator in 1969 at the NASA Ames Research Center, and perfected the concept in the early 1970s, when he was at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio. He published his ideas in an international journal that first brought the idea to the attention of the entire world of spaceflight researchers. Sir Arthur Clarke, living in Sri Lanka, consulted with Pearson in the late 1970s in writing his novel, "The Fountains of Paradise," which brought Pearson’s idea of the space elevator to an even larger audience. Sir Arthur included in the book an appendix that credited Pearson.
- Space Elevator History - Star Tech Inc
So it seems like this was the first one.
add a comment |
The Fountains of Paradise (1979)
Jerome Pearson, President of STAR, Inc., conceived the idea of the space elevator in 1969 at the NASA Ames Research Center, and perfected the concept in the early 1970s, when he was at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio. He published his ideas in an international journal that first brought the idea to the attention of the entire world of spaceflight researchers. Sir Arthur Clarke, living in Sri Lanka, consulted with Pearson in the late 1970s in writing his novel, "The Fountains of Paradise," which brought Pearson’s idea of the space elevator to an even larger audience. Sir Arthur included in the book an appendix that credited Pearson.
- Space Elevator History - Star Tech Inc
So it seems like this was the first one.
add a comment |
The Fountains of Paradise (1979)
Jerome Pearson, President of STAR, Inc., conceived the idea of the space elevator in 1969 at the NASA Ames Research Center, and perfected the concept in the early 1970s, when he was at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio. He published his ideas in an international journal that first brought the idea to the attention of the entire world of spaceflight researchers. Sir Arthur Clarke, living in Sri Lanka, consulted with Pearson in the late 1970s in writing his novel, "The Fountains of Paradise," which brought Pearson’s idea of the space elevator to an even larger audience. Sir Arthur included in the book an appendix that credited Pearson.
- Space Elevator History - Star Tech Inc
So it seems like this was the first one.
The Fountains of Paradise (1979)
Jerome Pearson, President of STAR, Inc., conceived the idea of the space elevator in 1969 at the NASA Ames Research Center, and perfected the concept in the early 1970s, when he was at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio. He published his ideas in an international journal that first brought the idea to the attention of the entire world of spaceflight researchers. Sir Arthur Clarke, living in Sri Lanka, consulted with Pearson in the late 1970s in writing his novel, "The Fountains of Paradise," which brought Pearson’s idea of the space elevator to an even larger audience. Sir Arthur included in the book an appendix that credited Pearson.
- Space Elevator History - Star Tech Inc
So it seems like this was the first one.
answered 10 hours ago
NifflerNiffler
3,860548
3,860548
add a comment |
add a comment |
Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise and Charles Sheffield's The Web Between the Worlds (both published in 1979) are generally considered to be the works that introduced space elevators to the science fiction community at large.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (1972) has an elevator that goes into space, but presented as an absurdity with no scientific explanation.
Both Wikipedia and TVTropes have extensive lists of fictional space elevators, though they're not chronological.
add a comment |
Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise and Charles Sheffield's The Web Between the Worlds (both published in 1979) are generally considered to be the works that introduced space elevators to the science fiction community at large.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (1972) has an elevator that goes into space, but presented as an absurdity with no scientific explanation.
Both Wikipedia and TVTropes have extensive lists of fictional space elevators, though they're not chronological.
add a comment |
Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise and Charles Sheffield's The Web Between the Worlds (both published in 1979) are generally considered to be the works that introduced space elevators to the science fiction community at large.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (1972) has an elevator that goes into space, but presented as an absurdity with no scientific explanation.
Both Wikipedia and TVTropes have extensive lists of fictional space elevators, though they're not chronological.
Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise and Charles Sheffield's The Web Between the Worlds (both published in 1979) are generally considered to be the works that introduced space elevators to the science fiction community at large.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (1972) has an elevator that goes into space, but presented as an absurdity with no scientific explanation.
Both Wikipedia and TVTropes have extensive lists of fictional space elevators, though they're not chronological.
edited 8 hours ago
answered 10 hours ago
MicahMicah
18.8k479108
18.8k479108
add a comment |
add a comment |
In the Jan 12, 2019 issue of New Scientist magazine, an article by Kelly Oakes (on plans for real-word space elevators) mentions 2 sources for the history of the idea:
(probably non-fiction only) Konstantin Tsiolkovsky1 in 1895 "imagined a 'celestial castle' orbiting the earth at 36000 km (geosynchronous), attached to the Eiffel Tower in Paris by a long spindle." This was ~70 years before the first geosynchronous satellites were launched.
http://pages.erau.edu/~andrewsa/history.html briefly summarizes the "celestial castle" idea. Tsiolkovsky did apparently write science fiction as well, but I haven't been able to find a reference to a story involving the idea.
1: yes, the same guy the rocket equation is named for
Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise "popularized an elevator proper".
Clarke's story is definitely the most widely cited early fictional version in discussions I've seen of space elevators. But perhaps Clarke didn't invent the entire concept from nothing. (That's not the question, and Clarke may still have had to figure out plenty of practical details.)
The article says that we now know that a real elevator needs to stretch beyond geosynchronous / geostationary orbit altitude to bring the centre of mass up beyond that point. (Otherwise the cable falls under its own weight.) Apparently Clarke pictured the top being at around geosync altitude, too.
A large counterweight just beyond that altitude should work, but the article suggests having the cable extend to something like 100 000 km to counter the weight of loads traveling up/down the cable. That would give you a nice escape trajectory for leaving Earth orbit.
Further material:
Jerome Pearson wrote (in 1997) a paper on the history of the ideas / invention of Space Elevators. He doesn't consider Tsiolkovsky's thought experiment / concept to be detailed or practical enough to call it "inventing" the space elevator.
He credits the invention of the space elevator as an actual engineering problem to Yuri Artsutanov (1960) and independently to himself (1975), as Artsutanov didn't publish a paper so it wasn't known in the west.
The question does not ask for the origin of the idea. It explicitly asks for {the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story. " Tsiolkovsky also wrote science fiction.Maybe he used his space elevator idea in one of his stories?
– user14111
4 hours ago
@user14111: I'm aware this doesn't directly answer the question. I thought it was interesting enough to post anyway. If you want to dig deeper and post your own answer, or improve this one, feel free.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I googled but didn't find a mention of Tsiolkovsky having written fiction about his "celestial castle" thought experiment. I expanded the answer some, but unfortunately still mostly non-fiction sources.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
In the Jan 12, 2019 issue of New Scientist magazine, an article by Kelly Oakes (on plans for real-word space elevators) mentions 2 sources for the history of the idea:
(probably non-fiction only) Konstantin Tsiolkovsky1 in 1895 "imagined a 'celestial castle' orbiting the earth at 36000 km (geosynchronous), attached to the Eiffel Tower in Paris by a long spindle." This was ~70 years before the first geosynchronous satellites were launched.
http://pages.erau.edu/~andrewsa/history.html briefly summarizes the "celestial castle" idea. Tsiolkovsky did apparently write science fiction as well, but I haven't been able to find a reference to a story involving the idea.
1: yes, the same guy the rocket equation is named for
Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise "popularized an elevator proper".
Clarke's story is definitely the most widely cited early fictional version in discussions I've seen of space elevators. But perhaps Clarke didn't invent the entire concept from nothing. (That's not the question, and Clarke may still have had to figure out plenty of practical details.)
The article says that we now know that a real elevator needs to stretch beyond geosynchronous / geostationary orbit altitude to bring the centre of mass up beyond that point. (Otherwise the cable falls under its own weight.) Apparently Clarke pictured the top being at around geosync altitude, too.
A large counterweight just beyond that altitude should work, but the article suggests having the cable extend to something like 100 000 km to counter the weight of loads traveling up/down the cable. That would give you a nice escape trajectory for leaving Earth orbit.
Further material:
Jerome Pearson wrote (in 1997) a paper on the history of the ideas / invention of Space Elevators. He doesn't consider Tsiolkovsky's thought experiment / concept to be detailed or practical enough to call it "inventing" the space elevator.
He credits the invention of the space elevator as an actual engineering problem to Yuri Artsutanov (1960) and independently to himself (1975), as Artsutanov didn't publish a paper so it wasn't known in the west.
The question does not ask for the origin of the idea. It explicitly asks for {the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story. " Tsiolkovsky also wrote science fiction.Maybe he used his space elevator idea in one of his stories?
– user14111
4 hours ago
@user14111: I'm aware this doesn't directly answer the question. I thought it was interesting enough to post anyway. If you want to dig deeper and post your own answer, or improve this one, feel free.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I googled but didn't find a mention of Tsiolkovsky having written fiction about his "celestial castle" thought experiment. I expanded the answer some, but unfortunately still mostly non-fiction sources.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
In the Jan 12, 2019 issue of New Scientist magazine, an article by Kelly Oakes (on plans for real-word space elevators) mentions 2 sources for the history of the idea:
(probably non-fiction only) Konstantin Tsiolkovsky1 in 1895 "imagined a 'celestial castle' orbiting the earth at 36000 km (geosynchronous), attached to the Eiffel Tower in Paris by a long spindle." This was ~70 years before the first geosynchronous satellites were launched.
http://pages.erau.edu/~andrewsa/history.html briefly summarizes the "celestial castle" idea. Tsiolkovsky did apparently write science fiction as well, but I haven't been able to find a reference to a story involving the idea.
1: yes, the same guy the rocket equation is named for
Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise "popularized an elevator proper".
Clarke's story is definitely the most widely cited early fictional version in discussions I've seen of space elevators. But perhaps Clarke didn't invent the entire concept from nothing. (That's not the question, and Clarke may still have had to figure out plenty of practical details.)
The article says that we now know that a real elevator needs to stretch beyond geosynchronous / geostationary orbit altitude to bring the centre of mass up beyond that point. (Otherwise the cable falls under its own weight.) Apparently Clarke pictured the top being at around geosync altitude, too.
A large counterweight just beyond that altitude should work, but the article suggests having the cable extend to something like 100 000 km to counter the weight of loads traveling up/down the cable. That would give you a nice escape trajectory for leaving Earth orbit.
Further material:
Jerome Pearson wrote (in 1997) a paper on the history of the ideas / invention of Space Elevators. He doesn't consider Tsiolkovsky's thought experiment / concept to be detailed or practical enough to call it "inventing" the space elevator.
He credits the invention of the space elevator as an actual engineering problem to Yuri Artsutanov (1960) and independently to himself (1975), as Artsutanov didn't publish a paper so it wasn't known in the west.
In the Jan 12, 2019 issue of New Scientist magazine, an article by Kelly Oakes (on plans for real-word space elevators) mentions 2 sources for the history of the idea:
(probably non-fiction only) Konstantin Tsiolkovsky1 in 1895 "imagined a 'celestial castle' orbiting the earth at 36000 km (geosynchronous), attached to the Eiffel Tower in Paris by a long spindle." This was ~70 years before the first geosynchronous satellites were launched.
http://pages.erau.edu/~andrewsa/history.html briefly summarizes the "celestial castle" idea. Tsiolkovsky did apparently write science fiction as well, but I haven't been able to find a reference to a story involving the idea.
1: yes, the same guy the rocket equation is named for
Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise "popularized an elevator proper".
Clarke's story is definitely the most widely cited early fictional version in discussions I've seen of space elevators. But perhaps Clarke didn't invent the entire concept from nothing. (That's not the question, and Clarke may still have had to figure out plenty of practical details.)
The article says that we now know that a real elevator needs to stretch beyond geosynchronous / geostationary orbit altitude to bring the centre of mass up beyond that point. (Otherwise the cable falls under its own weight.) Apparently Clarke pictured the top being at around geosync altitude, too.
A large counterweight just beyond that altitude should work, but the article suggests having the cable extend to something like 100 000 km to counter the weight of loads traveling up/down the cable. That would give you a nice escape trajectory for leaving Earth orbit.
Further material:
Jerome Pearson wrote (in 1997) a paper on the history of the ideas / invention of Space Elevators. He doesn't consider Tsiolkovsky's thought experiment / concept to be detailed or practical enough to call it "inventing" the space elevator.
He credits the invention of the space elevator as an actual engineering problem to Yuri Artsutanov (1960) and independently to himself (1975), as Artsutanov didn't publish a paper so it wasn't known in the west.
edited 2 hours ago
answered 5 hours ago
Peter CordesPeter Cordes
26428
26428
The question does not ask for the origin of the idea. It explicitly asks for {the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story. " Tsiolkovsky also wrote science fiction.Maybe he used his space elevator idea in one of his stories?
– user14111
4 hours ago
@user14111: I'm aware this doesn't directly answer the question. I thought it was interesting enough to post anyway. If you want to dig deeper and post your own answer, or improve this one, feel free.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I googled but didn't find a mention of Tsiolkovsky having written fiction about his "celestial castle" thought experiment. I expanded the answer some, but unfortunately still mostly non-fiction sources.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
The question does not ask for the origin of the idea. It explicitly asks for {the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story. " Tsiolkovsky also wrote science fiction.Maybe he used his space elevator idea in one of his stories?
– user14111
4 hours ago
@user14111: I'm aware this doesn't directly answer the question. I thought it was interesting enough to post anyway. If you want to dig deeper and post your own answer, or improve this one, feel free.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I googled but didn't find a mention of Tsiolkovsky having written fiction about his "celestial castle" thought experiment. I expanded the answer some, but unfortunately still mostly non-fiction sources.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
The question does not ask for the origin of the idea. It explicitly asks for {the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story. " Tsiolkovsky also wrote science fiction.Maybe he used his space elevator idea in one of his stories?
– user14111
4 hours ago
The question does not ask for the origin of the idea. It explicitly asks for {the first sci-fi story to give credit to this concept by incorporating it into a fictional story. " Tsiolkovsky also wrote science fiction.Maybe he used his space elevator idea in one of his stories?
– user14111
4 hours ago
@user14111: I'm aware this doesn't directly answer the question. I thought it was interesting enough to post anyway. If you want to dig deeper and post your own answer, or improve this one, feel free.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I'm aware this doesn't directly answer the question. I thought it was interesting enough to post anyway. If you want to dig deeper and post your own answer, or improve this one, feel free.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I googled but didn't find a mention of Tsiolkovsky having written fiction about his "celestial castle" thought experiment. I expanded the answer some, but unfortunately still mostly non-fiction sources.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
@user14111: I googled but didn't find a mention of Tsiolkovsky having written fiction about his "celestial castle" thought experiment. I expanded the answer some, but unfortunately still mostly non-fiction sources.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Vathek (1786)
One of the earliest sci-fi stories has this plot element. In the novel Vathek by William Beckford, the titular character builds something like a space elevator to do astronomy:
To better study astronomy, he builds an observation tower with 11,000 steps.
1
That's a very interesting find since it's almost the same idea, but I believe to be considered a space elevator it would have to be over 100 or 80 kms height to be considered space. That would be like 8 and something kms.
– Pablo
7 hours ago
4
Towers are compression structures and thus not space elevators. If we allow towers, you can go back to the tower of Babel and the Bible.
– ventsyv
6 hours ago
2
@ventsyv Even further than that - like much of the Bible, many parts of the story of Babel are borrowed from earlier myths. The Babylonian city of Etemenanki long predates the biblical accounts and may be the original inspiration for the story of Babel.
– Darrel Hoffman
6 hours ago
2
I see no indication in the summary that the tower was used for anything but observation - OK, human sacrifice too, but neither of those make it a space elevator.
– Harry Johnston
6 hours ago
1
You're all wrong. No one knew how high space was when that book was written. The whole 80 or 100km thing is a matter of definition, not a natural boundary. The point was not the physical height of the tower, but that it was tall enough to get him a view from space. I.e. it was as close to the idea of a "space elevator" as was imaginable given the technology of the time.
– Darth Egregious
3 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
Vathek (1786)
One of the earliest sci-fi stories has this plot element. In the novel Vathek by William Beckford, the titular character builds something like a space elevator to do astronomy:
To better study astronomy, he builds an observation tower with 11,000 steps.
1
That's a very interesting find since it's almost the same idea, but I believe to be considered a space elevator it would have to be over 100 or 80 kms height to be considered space. That would be like 8 and something kms.
– Pablo
7 hours ago
4
Towers are compression structures and thus not space elevators. If we allow towers, you can go back to the tower of Babel and the Bible.
– ventsyv
6 hours ago
2
@ventsyv Even further than that - like much of the Bible, many parts of the story of Babel are borrowed from earlier myths. The Babylonian city of Etemenanki long predates the biblical accounts and may be the original inspiration for the story of Babel.
– Darrel Hoffman
6 hours ago
2
I see no indication in the summary that the tower was used for anything but observation - OK, human sacrifice too, but neither of those make it a space elevator.
– Harry Johnston
6 hours ago
1
You're all wrong. No one knew how high space was when that book was written. The whole 80 or 100km thing is a matter of definition, not a natural boundary. The point was not the physical height of the tower, but that it was tall enough to get him a view from space. I.e. it was as close to the idea of a "space elevator" as was imaginable given the technology of the time.
– Darth Egregious
3 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
Vathek (1786)
One of the earliest sci-fi stories has this plot element. In the novel Vathek by William Beckford, the titular character builds something like a space elevator to do astronomy:
To better study astronomy, he builds an observation tower with 11,000 steps.
Vathek (1786)
One of the earliest sci-fi stories has this plot element. In the novel Vathek by William Beckford, the titular character builds something like a space elevator to do astronomy:
To better study astronomy, he builds an observation tower with 11,000 steps.
answered 7 hours ago
Darth EgregiousDarth Egregious
404716
404716
1
That's a very interesting find since it's almost the same idea, but I believe to be considered a space elevator it would have to be over 100 or 80 kms height to be considered space. That would be like 8 and something kms.
– Pablo
7 hours ago
4
Towers are compression structures and thus not space elevators. If we allow towers, you can go back to the tower of Babel and the Bible.
– ventsyv
6 hours ago
2
@ventsyv Even further than that - like much of the Bible, many parts of the story of Babel are borrowed from earlier myths. The Babylonian city of Etemenanki long predates the biblical accounts and may be the original inspiration for the story of Babel.
– Darrel Hoffman
6 hours ago
2
I see no indication in the summary that the tower was used for anything but observation - OK, human sacrifice too, but neither of those make it a space elevator.
– Harry Johnston
6 hours ago
1
You're all wrong. No one knew how high space was when that book was written. The whole 80 or 100km thing is a matter of definition, not a natural boundary. The point was not the physical height of the tower, but that it was tall enough to get him a view from space. I.e. it was as close to the idea of a "space elevator" as was imaginable given the technology of the time.
– Darth Egregious
3 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
1
That's a very interesting find since it's almost the same idea, but I believe to be considered a space elevator it would have to be over 100 or 80 kms height to be considered space. That would be like 8 and something kms.
– Pablo
7 hours ago
4
Towers are compression structures and thus not space elevators. If we allow towers, you can go back to the tower of Babel and the Bible.
– ventsyv
6 hours ago
2
@ventsyv Even further than that - like much of the Bible, many parts of the story of Babel are borrowed from earlier myths. The Babylonian city of Etemenanki long predates the biblical accounts and may be the original inspiration for the story of Babel.
– Darrel Hoffman
6 hours ago
2
I see no indication in the summary that the tower was used for anything but observation - OK, human sacrifice too, but neither of those make it a space elevator.
– Harry Johnston
6 hours ago
1
You're all wrong. No one knew how high space was when that book was written. The whole 80 or 100km thing is a matter of definition, not a natural boundary. The point was not the physical height of the tower, but that it was tall enough to get him a view from space. I.e. it was as close to the idea of a "space elevator" as was imaginable given the technology of the time.
– Darth Egregious
3 hours ago
1
1
That's a very interesting find since it's almost the same idea, but I believe to be considered a space elevator it would have to be over 100 or 80 kms height to be considered space. That would be like 8 and something kms.
– Pablo
7 hours ago
That's a very interesting find since it's almost the same idea, but I believe to be considered a space elevator it would have to be over 100 or 80 kms height to be considered space. That would be like 8 and something kms.
– Pablo
7 hours ago
4
4
Towers are compression structures and thus not space elevators. If we allow towers, you can go back to the tower of Babel and the Bible.
– ventsyv
6 hours ago
Towers are compression structures and thus not space elevators. If we allow towers, you can go back to the tower of Babel and the Bible.
– ventsyv
6 hours ago
2
2
@ventsyv Even further than that - like much of the Bible, many parts of the story of Babel are borrowed from earlier myths. The Babylonian city of Etemenanki long predates the biblical accounts and may be the original inspiration for the story of Babel.
– Darrel Hoffman
6 hours ago
@ventsyv Even further than that - like much of the Bible, many parts of the story of Babel are borrowed from earlier myths. The Babylonian city of Etemenanki long predates the biblical accounts and may be the original inspiration for the story of Babel.
– Darrel Hoffman
6 hours ago
2
2
I see no indication in the summary that the tower was used for anything but observation - OK, human sacrifice too, but neither of those make it a space elevator.
– Harry Johnston
6 hours ago
I see no indication in the summary that the tower was used for anything but observation - OK, human sacrifice too, but neither of those make it a space elevator.
– Harry Johnston
6 hours ago
1
1
You're all wrong. No one knew how high space was when that book was written. The whole 80 or 100km thing is a matter of definition, not a natural boundary. The point was not the physical height of the tower, but that it was tall enough to get him a view from space. I.e. it was as close to the idea of a "space elevator" as was imaginable given the technology of the time.
– Darth Egregious
3 hours ago
You're all wrong. No one knew how high space was when that book was written. The whole 80 or 100km thing is a matter of definition, not a natural boundary. The point was not the physical height of the tower, but that it was tall enough to get him a view from space. I.e. it was as close to the idea of a "space elevator" as was imaginable given the technology of the time.
– Darth Egregious
3 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
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Do we need a [space-elevator] tag? Do we have space elevator experts out there? :)
– Jenayah
11 hours ago
3
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_Between_the_Worlds
– Paulie_D
10 hours ago
@Paulie_D that's worth of an answer. BTW, if Arthur C Clarke included it in a story, I bet there are dozens of stories which included one since he's an inspiration for a lot of writers
– Pablo
10 hours ago
1
By the way, Clarke once said, "The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing."
– MackTuesday
6 hours ago
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was released in 1972 ...
– Azor Ahai
37 mins ago