Alcubierre has said that his theory was directly inspired by the phrase “warp drive” being used in Star Trek. It’s an idea that bears an uncanny resemblance to a theory by Miguel Alcubierre proposed in 1994 and, while we lack the technology to put the theory into practice (not to mention the so-far-theoretical negative energy necessary for it to work), but is still probably our best shot at visiting other star systems with journey times of months and years rather than decades and centuries. The engine “warps” space around the ship, compressing it ahead of the vehicle and expanding it behind, so that while the ship itself doesn’t break the unbreakable light-speed barrier, it can traverse distances far more quickly than light speed would allow. In the Star Trek universe, Warp Drive is the favoured method of faster-than-light propulsion by basically every interstellar civilisation you’re likely to meet. ![]() One factoid a number of people have flagged in the dictionary is the revelation that the phrase “ Warp Drive” didn’t actually originate with Star Trek, but was first used in a story called ‘The Flight of the Starling’ in Amazing Stories in 1948. It’s a fascinating time-suck of a website which brings some real revelations about the history of everyday science fiction phrases such as ray gun, transmat, flying saucer, and droid (not Star Wars as it happens). The site includes 1,800 entries going back to the dawn of the 20 th century, the dictionary contains not only definitions but also earliest known uses, biographical information about the writers, and over 1,600 scans of the original pages where these words first appeared. ![]() Last week saw the launch of an enormous resource for science fiction fans, the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower.
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