Ralph 124C 41+
Serialized in Modern Electrics
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| Author | Hugo Gernsback |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
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Publication date
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1911 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Preceded by | none |
| Followed by | none |
Ralph 124C 41+, by Hugo Gernsback, is an early science fiction novel, written as a twelve-part serial in Modern Electrics magazine beginning in April 1911. It was compiled into novel/book form in 1925. While one of the most influential science fiction stories of all time, modern critics tend to pan the novel and few people read it today. The title itself is a play on words, ( 1 2 4 C 4 1 + ) meaning "One to foresee for one another".
The eponymous protagonist saves the life of the heroine by directing energy remotely at an approaching avalanche. As the novel goes on, he describes the technological wonders of the modern world, frequently using the phrase "As you know..." The hero finally rescues the heroine by travelling into space on his own "space flyer" to rescue her from the villain's clutches.
Some successful predictions from this novel include television (and channel surfing), remote-control power transmission, the video phone, transcontinental air service, solar energy in practical use, sound movies, synthetic milk and foods, artificial cloth, voiceprinting, tape recorders, and spaceflight. It also contains "...the first accurate description of radar, complete with diagram...", according to Arthur C. Clarke in his "non-genre" novel Glide Path (1963).
Inevitably, some of the science predictions made in the story turned out to be wrong.
For example, in 1911 it was commonly assumed that, just as a sound wave needed a medium to travel in, so did a light wave. Ether was postulated as the unknown substance that light traveled in. In the story an ether vacuum occurred when too much energy was radiated at once. Radiation caused more ether to be drawn to an area of energy expenditure and the lack of ether resulting from this overusage caused a temporary blackout because light could not travel where there was no ether. Heat and cold could also not be transferred during such a blackout. It is now known that such ether does not exist and is not needed for light to travel. Such effects are impossible.
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