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Entered 2024.02.27 18:18 Modified 2024.02.27 18:18 Ground A29
■ Meeting between literature and science
Reading 15 newspapers and magazines every day
Meticulously recording the latest scientific informationOver 2,000 idea notes alone
Precise description of space, ocean, and earthPoet Go Doo-hyeon
A view of the Schoenberger crater on the moon, taken last week by the Odysseus, the first private lunar lander. / Provided by Intuitive Machines French writer Jules Verne (1828-1905), known as the ‘father of science fiction (SF).’ He described in great detail how to get from Earth to the Moon about 160 years ago. His prediction was surprisingly accurate. There are quite a few surprises, including the standard flight time to the moon, the weight of the spacecraft, the time and place of rocket launch, and the return of the retropulsion rocket and spacecraft to sea.
his space exploration novel <지구에서 달까지>(1865) and <달나라 탐험>(1869) was published 100 years before the Apollo 11 moon landing (1969). In the novel, the location where a huge cannon heading for the moon was fired is Florida, southern United States. In order to make the most of the Earth’s rotation speed, one of the lowest latitude areas in the United States was chosen. This is the area where the Kennedy Space Center is now located.
Reverse thrust rocket, return to sea is also similar
Author Jules Verne taking notes on science fiction ideas. It took four days for the cannon to reach the moon, like Apollo 11. There are three people on board the spacecraft, and they return to Earth through reverse propulsion, and the idea of a method called splashdown (landing the spacecraft at sea) to reduce the shock of landing is also the same. It is even more surprising that the point where the ship landed in the Pacific Ocean was only 4km away from the location in the novel. It even resembles the idea of using animals to investigate the effects of space travel on living organisms.
How did he develop such an amazing imagination? He embodied a special sense from the time he was growing up. Born in Nantes, the largest trading port in western France, he admired the Atlantic Ocean and the lands beyond from a young age. Whenever I have time <로빈슨 크루소> I found and read the same marine adventure novel. She didn’t even listen to what the boarding school teacher had to say. The female teacher said that her husband, who disappeared at sea 30 years ago, is doing well on a desert island like Robinson Crusoe and that she will return someday. As an adult, she expanded her horizons by going on frequent adventure trips. Even during his busy writing activities, he traveled widely, including to England (1859), Scandinavia (1861), and the United States (1867). He also sailed the North Sea and the Mediterranean on a yacht. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, he volunteered for the war and distinguished himself so well that he was even awarded the prestigious Legion of Honor medal. In this process, he incorporated the geographical information and scientific knowledge he gained into his works.
More important than this was the extraordinary effort, including thorough data preparation, information analysis, repeated verification, and endless revision. He woke up at 5 a.m. every day, wrote until 11 a.m., had an early lunch, and then went to the library. There he went through 15 newspapers from cover to cover. He then went to natural science magazines and soaked up the latest information and knowledge coming from home and abroad.
In an interview, he said, “I have never studied science, much less done an experiment. However, I can clearly tell you that I am a huge reader.” As he said, he satisfied his curiosity and desire to explore new things through books. When he read a book, he always took a pencil and carefully wrote down the interesting details. He meticulously took notes on the science and technology that could predict the future and the content of the novel inspired by it. He majored in law at the recommendation of his father, and was able to develop an imagination that transcends all fields of science through extensive data research and diligent note-taking habits that went beyond the limits of non-experts. Illustration of the ‘Cannon Spaceship’ from Jules Verne’s novel. His voracious reading of newspapers and magazines and taking ‘SF Note’ notes were habits that continued almost every day. When he wrote, he changed the contents of the ‘SF Note’ back and forth, comparing it with scientific theories and considering feasibility. For example, when drawing the trajectory of a cannon from the Earth to the Moon, he made elaborate use of the latest ballistics theory. Thanks to his 2,000 notes, his descriptions were detailed and vivid. This was the case in all of the 80 or so full-length novels. This is why he is called a master who exquisitely combined scientific creativity and literary imagination ahead of his time.
His other works <기구를 타고 5주일>(1863), <지구 속 여행>(1864), <해저 2만 리>(1869), <80일간의 세계 일주>(1873) also features scenes of exploration inside the Earth and the deep sea, which seemed completely unlikely at the time. 1874 <신비한 섬>Hydrogen fuel appears as the next-generation energy source for the Earth, which is in danger of resource depletion. 1863 painting set 100 years later <20세기의 파리>depicts young humanities students struggling to find employment, as well as televisions, air conditioners, glass skyscrapers, elevators, the Internet, and even the international financial system.
“Lift up your eyes and look at the sky”
As Alvin Toffler said, “The future is not about predicting, but about imagining,” excellent science fiction is a tree that combines the roots of science with the imagination of literature. Bern’s convergent imagination has provided much inspiration to modern scientists. Dr. Wernher von Braun of the Apollo project dreamed of space travel while reading his . Soviet aeronautical scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky also became the ‘father of rocketry’ through his books.
The next generation of scientists is also getting ideas from his cosmic imagination. There is a dream of the future in space. Children grow their dreams by looking at the stars. Genius physicist Stephen Hawking said, “Don’t just look at your feet, lift your eyes and look at the stars.” Elon Musk, who grew the space exploration company SpaceX, also said, “Lift up your eyes and look at the sky.”
Poet Ko Doo-hyun The space economy is emerging as the core of future industries. The market size is expected to reach $770 billion (approximately 1,026 trillion won) in 2027. It is said that just 1 gram of the ‘magic mineral’ (helium 3) buried on the moon can replace the energy of 40 tons of coal. The space development trend is also changing from government-centered ‘Old Space’ to private-centered ‘New Space’. America’s ‘Odysseus’, which arrived on the moon last week, is also the first lunar lander launched by a private company. 160 years ago, Bern’s ‘Cannon to the Moon’ was also a private spacecraft launched at a cost of 30 million francs.
