Minds!

This is coolbert:

From the prior blog entry:

"during WW2, the best minds of the entire world were devoted to this question."

"This question" - - continual research and engineering development the intention of which was to improve the performance of the World War Two [WW2] war bird to the highest possible degree of operational status. Improvements to all aspects, engines, weaponry, electronics, aerodynamics, etc. Produce an aircraft that can fly higher, faster, further, carry more ordnance, equipped with the latest and most sophisticated avionics! Aerial superiority, supremacy, and dominance being the goal - - "aerial superiority, supremacy, and dominance" being at the time absolutely vital and critical to final victory!

Here are three such men, "best minds of the entire world", who devoted themselves during the war years to such "development".

Three men who also, in the years subsequent to the end of the war, also distinguished themselves as writers in the genre' of science fiction.

1. Issac Asimov.



"Isaac Asimov . . . was an American author and professor of biochemistry, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, he also stated that (he had ever met) only two people who . . . were more intelligent than himself [Marvin Minsky and Carl Sagan]."

"he [Asimov] spent three years during World War II working as a civilian at the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Naval Air Experimental Station."

2. Robert Heinlein.

"Robert Anson Heinlein . . . was an American science fiction writer. Often called 'the dean of science fiction writers', he was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of the genre. He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality."

"During World War II, he did aeronautical engineering for the U.S. Navy, also recruiting Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp to work at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania."

3. Sprague de Camp.

Sprague de Camp in the center, Heinlein on the left, Asimov on the right.

"Trained as an aeronautical engineer, De Camp received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1930 and Master of Science degree in Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1933."

"During World War II, de Camp worked at the Philadelphia Naval Yard with fellow authors Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve."

"Lyon Sprague de Camp . . . was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors."

Comments:

* Heinlein was a military man. Graduate of Annapolis, the Naval Academy, and a man who had worked closely with the original developments regarding radio communications and the applicability thereof for aircraft carrier operations. Was personally known to the highest authorities in the U.S. Navy. It should be noted his war-time was in capacity of a civilian.

* Asimov was one of the most brilliant human beings of all time? A prodigious writer - - possessing a mind of the most probing and inquisitive type. Prior to his untimely passing, the man set to journal all his thoughts regarding the future, science, inventions, etc. War-time service too as a civilian, at a very young age, his superior intelligence being recognized for what it was!

* Having persons of the caliber of Asimov, Heinlein and Sprague de Camp, ALL THREE working on the SAME PROBLEMS at the SAME TIME at the SAME FACILITY is a novelty NEVER again to be repeated. The most absolutely astronomic priority was placed on improving and developing the entire line of military war birds to the highest level of development in the shortest amount of time - - IT BEING RECOGNIZED THAT CONTROL OF THE AIR WAS CRITICAL TO VICTORY DURING THE PERIOD OF WW2!!

* AND, these three men, war-time colleagues and collaborators, post-war, REVOLUTIONIZED THE ENTIRE GENRE' OF SCIENCE FICTION. The standard, the acme, the archetype of outstanding science fiction writing is attributable to all three men, each in their own manner and style!!

"science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality"! Prior to WW2, science fiction was in the category of "pulp-fiction"? Persons such as Heinlein, de Camp, and Asimov not only raised the literary quality of the genre', but also well understood the "science and engineering plausibility" from a practical, experimental, and theoretical standpoint, each man having been at the "cutting edge" of such developments during WW2!

"best minds of the entire world"? You had better believe it!!

coolbert.