 |
|
|
 · · · · · · · · · · · · · | ||
Philip Latham
| ||
 Philip Latham was the pseudonym of one of the most distinguished American astronomers, Robert
S. Richardson, who under his own name wrote popular science books and articles including a number of
articles published in Astounding. From the flamboyant, apocalyptic astronomical fiction of Camille Flammarion in
the late 19th century to the works of Fred Hoyle and Gregory Benford, working astronomers and
astrophysicists have contributed stories of broad scope and cosmic speculation to the development of hard sf. Astronomical, is
after all, a synonym for the very large, in number or scale. Cosmology and astronomy are primary
repositories of images for the science fiction genre (as was nature for the Romantic poets). And of course it is the
astronomers who investigate the environments that are the literal settings of much sf. But it is also the teasing,
ambiguous border between the physical and the metaphysical that astronomical sf often confronts, that
underpins much hard sf and gives depth and emotional force to the cold and the distant.
This particular story is a good-humored portrayal of astronomers at work. It shows the connection
of rarefied scientific theory to the experimental and practical concerns of everyday human life and
portrays vividly the meaning of physical constants; all through a series of images that transform the theoretical
and abstract realm of cosmology and astrophysics into the visual. It climaxes with a vision of the end of
the world-sudden, cold, immense. It is the immediate ancestor of Godwin's "The Cold Equations" and Arthur
C. Clarke's "The Star," as an allegory of the cold, inhuman operation of the laws of the universe, and a
worthy companion piece to Isaac Asimov's apocalyptic "Nightfall." It is also an interesting contrast to John M. Ford's
"Chromatic Aberrations" and Bob Shaw's "Light of Other Days" in its use of light and color physics. There
are few more powerful images in sf of theoretical physics replacing superstition than the juxtaposition at the
climax of "The Xi Effect" -- and no more powerful evocations of cosmic doom. As Hal Clement said,
"the universe is antagonist enough."
| ||
|
The Ascent of Wonder copyright © 1994 by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. | ||
Cramer: On Science & Science Fiction || Hartwell: Hard Science Fiction
David G. Hartwell || Kathryn Cramer || About Tor Books || Ordering Info
Interactive Intoduction to THE ASCENT OF WONDER copyright © 1995-1997 by Kathryn Cramer.