Meteorites
Innes,
Michael The Weight of the Evidence. 1943, Harper/Perennial.
A somewhat ordinary murder mystery, but the murder was committed
using a meteorite in a university setting.
back
to topic list
Moon,
The
Hartmann,
William "Handprints on the Moon" in Preiss, Byron, ed.
The Planets. 1985, Bantam. A touching story by an astronomer
about international cooperation as the Moon is colonized.
Landis,
Geoffrey "Walk in the Sun" in his Impact Parameter. 2001,
Golden Gryphon Press. An astronaut stranded on the Moon in a solar
powered suit must keep walking to keep up with the Sun.
McAuley,
Paul "How We Lost the Moon" in Crowther, Peter, ed. Moon Shots.
1999, Daw. A glitch in a fusion experiment on the Moon creates
a mini black hole that ultimately consumes our satellite.
Weinberg,
Gerald "The Moon is a Harsh Pig" in Brotherton, Mike,
ed. Diamonds in the Sky. 2009, at http://www.mikebrotherton.com/diamonds/?page_id=47
On another planet, two students make a bet about the cause for
the phases of the moon, which leads to a surprise.
back
to topic list
Neptune
(and its Satellites)
Carver,
Jeff Neptune Crossing. 1994, Tor. An intelligent life-form
on Neptune's moon Triton helps humans prevent a comet from crashing
into the Earth.
Eklund,
Gordon A Thunder on Neptune. 1989, Morrow. Exploring Neptune
and Triton and finding a life form.
back
to topic list
Neutrinos
Clayton,
Donald The Joshua Factor. 1986, Texas Monthly Press. A
novel by an astronomer involving intrigue and neutrinos from the
Sun.
back
to topic list
Neutron
Stars (Remnants of Exploded Stars)
Baxter,
Stephen Flux. 1994, HarperCollins. Portrays life on a neutron
star.
Benford, Gregory “Bow Shock” in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: 24th Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (2007, St. Martin’s). A radio astronomer studying fast-moving neutron stars finds one that is not what it seems.
Forward,
Robert Dragon's Egg. 1981, Ballantine. Also proposes
a life‑form that can live on the surface of a neutron star.
Sequel is called Starquake (1985, Ballantine).
Niven,
Larry "Neutron Star" in Neutron Star. 1986, Ballantine.
A space traveler gets too close to a neutron star and experiences
enormous tidal forces.
Niven,
Larry The Integral Trees. 1984, Ballantine. Takes place
in a thick ring of gas, stripped from a Jovian planet, in orbit
around a neutron star. Sequel is called Smoke Ring (1988,
Ballantine.)
Silverberg,
Robert "The Iron Star" in Preiss, Byron & Fraknoi,
Andrew, eds. The Universe. 1987, Bantam. Involves two supernova
explosions, a neutron star, and a black hole.
back
to topic list
Physics,
Particle
Baxter, Stephen “On the Orion Line” in Resplendent (2006, Gollancz). An alien species, with which humanity is at war, learns how to change the constants of nature in small regions of space and the author explores the consequences of changing, for example, the speed of light.
Preuss,
Paul Broken Symmetries. 1983, Pocket Books. A
novel of science, politics, and intrigue surrounding the building
of a giant particle accelerator in Hawaii. (A 1997 sequel is entitled
Secret Passages.)
Benford,
Gregory "Matter's End" in Matter's End. 1994,
Bantam. Physicists in India find that protons do decay as predicted
by some Grand Unified Theories, with dire consequences for reality.
back
to topic list
Pluto
Baxter,
Stephen "Gossamer" in Vacuum Diagrams. 1997, HarperCollins.
Stranded astronauts discover a life form that can thrive on Pluto
and Charon at perihelion.
Benford,
Gregory & Carter, Paul Iceborn. 1989, Tor. Proposes
a form of life that can survive on Pluto and in the Oort Cloud.
Niven,
Larry "Wait it Out" in Tales of Known Space.
1975, Ballantine. Protagonist is marooned on Pluto and discovers
a form of life that use superfluidity to survive.
Silverberg,
Robert "Sunrise on Pluto" in Preiss, Byron, ed. The
Planets. 1985, Bantam. A form of life that could exist on
Pluto.
back
to topic list
Quantum
Mechanics
Bear,
Greg "Schrodinger's Plague" in Tangents.
1989, Warner. A scientist repeats the Schrodinger's Cat
experiment in such a way that not just a cat but all of humanity
is at risk.
Coover,
Robert The Universal Baseball Association: J. Henry Waugh,
Proprietor. 1968, Random House. Works out some of the philosophical
consequences of Einstein's remark about "God playing dice"
with the universe.
Egan,
Greg Quarantine.1992, Harper Prism. A sophisticated detective
mystery that addresses serious ideas in the interpretation of
quantum mechanics.
Hoyle,
Fred October the First Is Too Late. 1966, Fawcett. Fascinating
working-out of the many‑worlds interpretation of quantum
mechanics.
Lem,
Stanislav The Investigation. 1959, Avon. A novel that considers
the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics: what if a
mystery is unsolvable in principle?
McCormach,
Russell Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist. 1982,
Harvard U. Press. A fictional physicist muses on the transformation
of classical physics in the early years of the twentieth century;
written by a historian of science.
Niven,
Larry "All the Myriad Ways" in All the Myriad Ways.
1971, Ballantine. Works out some of the implications of the many-worlds
interpretation for solving murder mysteries.
Niven,
Larry "For a Foggy Night" in N-Space. 1990, TOR.
Humorous story in which the fog in San Francisco turns out to
be a blurring effect of meeting world lines in many-worlds quantum
mechanics.
Pohl,
Fred The Coming of the Quantum Cats. 1986, Bantam. A novel
of parallel universes based on the many-worlds view.
Reynolds,
Alastair "Angel of Ashes" in Zima Blue and Other
Stories. 2006, Night Shade Press. A priest of a future religion
loses faith when a miracle involving a supernova turns out to
have a quantum mechanical explanation.
Schmidt,
Stanley Newton and the Quasi‑Apple. 1975, Popular
Library. In another star system, Earth visitors introduce
notions from 20th-century physics to an alien civilization just
as their Newton publishes his ideas.
back
to topic list
Quasars
Asimov,
Isaac The Gods Themselves. 1972, Fawcett. Ambitious
novel that "solves" the origin of the big bang and quasars.
Martin,
Mark & Benford, Gregory A Darker Geometry. 1996, Baen.
Complex novel, suggests quasars are points through which another
(closed) universe dumps excess energy into ours before its Big
Crunch.
back
to topic list
|
