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Author
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Topic: Jules Verne, science fiction author, pioneer
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icarkie
Member Posts: 618
From: BURTON ON TRENT /England
Registered: Nov 2002
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posted 02-08-2011 11:40 AM
   
Happy Birthday (183rd) to one of my favourite authors, Jules Verne. Writer of many classics... |
randy
Member Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-08-2011 12:58 PM
A true visionary. |
Prospero
Member Posts: 94
From: Manchester, UK
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 02-08-2011 05:59 PM
Just for a moment, when I saw his name in the title of this thread, I thought you were announcing that M. Verne had died. What a relief, it's just his birthday.
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Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 02-08-2011 06:04 PM
For the benefit of anyone unfamiliar with the works of M. Verne, he wrote of the first voyage to the Moon, which commenced with a launch from Florida and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and the cannon which launched the spacecraft was called the Columbiad. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 02-09-2011 02:28 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Blackarrow:
Oh, and the cannon which launched the spacecraft was called the Columbiad.
The other way round surely? |
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 02-09-2011 02:38 AM
Three moon voyagers on board Columbiad; one named Ardan. Columbia and Columbiad both recovered by U.S. Navy vessels. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 02-09-2011 07:33 PM
"Columbiad" was DEFINITELY the name of the cannon which launched the manned projectile. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-09-2011 07:47 PM
Verne didn't name the cannon Columbiad; rather that was what such cannons were called. To quote Wikipedia: The Columbiad was a large caliber, smoothbore, muzzle loading cannon able to fire heavy projectiles at both high and low trajectories. This feature enabled the columbiad to fire solid shot or shell to long ranges, making it an excellent seacoast defense weapon for its day. Invented by Colonel George Bomford, United States Army, in 1811, columbiads were used by the United States coastal artillery from the War of 1812 until the early years of the 20th Century. Verne wrote De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon) more than 50 years after the invention of the columbiad. |
Prospero
Member Posts: 94
From: Manchester, UK
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 02-10-2011 08:18 PM
The cannon was a Columbiad. The vehicle that the heroes actually travelled to the Moon and back in was simply referred to as "the projectile".
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Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 11-07-2015 03:18 PM
Some nine years after "From the Earth to the Moon" was published (by Scribner's) there appeared in the January 1874 issue of Scribner's Monthly magazine an article titled "The Great Air Line to the Moon." Not sure if that was a short story version (12 pages) written by the editors or a condensation penned by Jules Verne? If it was him, he referred to himself in the third person. A few months later a piece in the April 1874 issue of the magazine was indeed authored by, and attributed to, the great Jules Verne. It was the first three chapters of his latest adventure novel titled "The Mysterious Island."  
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randy
Member Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 11-07-2015 03:46 PM
Too bad he didn't live to see the impact he would have, not just on science, but life in general. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 11-08-2015 06:20 AM
Jules Verne was certainly ahead of his time. Back in 1963 McGill University were using a re-bored 50ft long gun from the battleship 'Washington' to launch missiles to a height of 65 miles. By using this technique to fire a Martlet rocket they reckoned that they could put a 50lb payload into orbit for less than $25.000. |
alanh_7
Member Posts: 1252
From: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 11-08-2015 10:49 AM
I often wondered if there was any consideration for continuing the work on putting projectiles into space with large caliber guns. I know Gerald Bull under project HARP did a great deal of work (of course he was later found shot to death after working with the Iraqi government on their so called 'supper gun").
Was there any further interest in continuing work on HARP to come up with a viable space launch cannon? |
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