Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Nightfall

What magnificent feats of engineering humans are capable of for the quest of understanding our universe . . .

Mt Palomar — 1949

Whereas in Isaac Asimov's Nightfall, on the planet Lagash, residing in a solar system of 6 suns that cause perpetual daylight, such engineering ushered in a period of madness among society when an eclipse every 2 thousand some years allowed night's darkness to expose the universe beyond their atmosphere.

Hubert Rogers — Astounding Science-Fiction — September 1941

The story is oft reprinted as well as adapted to a novel with Robert Silverberg, and is worth seeking out if you haven't read it

2 comments:

Nelviticus said...

Reminds me of the planet Krikkit from Life, The Universe and Everything.

They discovered space travel and penetrated the dust cloud that surrounded their solar system. On seeing that there was a whole universe out there, they decided that it had to go.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Yes, yes, wonderful stuff! Gosh I miss Douglas Adams 42 ways from noonday.