- Ian Stewart, “In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations that Changed the World”, 2012 was the topic of an earlier blog post.
- Here I present: Poul Anderson (1926-2001), “Tau Zero”, 1970 which was a SciFi story of interstellar rocketry.
- The concept of relativity theory is the plot basis. The novel’s title is derived from the value of the time contraction factor Tau, which vis the velocity of the ship and the speed of light is equal to zero.
BELOW is the Ideal Gas Equation of physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1868). Interstellar gas is of Big Bang origin and it’s the fuel for the hydrogen-fusion rocket.
- The “table of contents” of the book is shown BELOW. The book has twenty-three (23), untitled chapters. The first sentence of each chapter is shown.
- In 1960, physicist Robert Bussard conceived of the Bussard ramjet: an interstellar spacedrive powered by hydrogen fusion using hydrogen collected with a magnetic field from the interstellar gas.
- Here I presented: Poul Anderson, “Tau Zero”, 1970 which was a SciFi story of interstellar rocketry.
- A Bussard ramjet is used to travel across the Milky Way Galaxy on interstellar gas hydrogen fusion.
- ABOVE is the present-day Period Table showing various stellar origins of the elements.
After the Big Bang the elements of the universe would only be:
- hydrogen 1 H.
- helium 2 He.
- Lithium 3 Li.
SUMMARY.
Poul Anderson’s “Tau Zero“, 1970 follows the crew of the starship Leonora Christine.
The protagonist is the ship’s constable Charles Reymont; and his romantic interest is the ship’s first officer Ingrid Lindgren.
Lars Telander is the ship’s captain; and Boris Fedoroff is the ship’s engineer. Elof Nilsson is the ship’s astronomer; and Norbert Williams is the ship’s chemist.
The starship Leonora Christine is a colonization vessel crewed by 25 men and 25 women aiming to reach the nearby star Beta Virginis.
Arthur C. Clarke, “2001: A Space Odyssey”, 1968 was the topic of an earlier blog post.
