[Ads-l] Antedating Clarke terms

[Jeff Prucher]

Great finds, Bill! The OED SF project has a 1976 cite from Keith Laumer, stating that he'd been using the term "Clarke orbit" for "some time" in his own works. Trouble is, he was insanely prolific, and no-one was ever able to locate a use of the term by him until now. 






On Monday, June 22, 2020, 04:03:35 PM PDT, Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote: 





antedating Clarke Belt
OED SF Project has 1984; OED has 1984

1981 _73 Magazine_ Nov 15/1

"This belt is known as the Clarke belt, after famed science fiction author Arthur C. Clark suggested the idea of orbiting relay stations back in the forties."

https://archive.org/details/73-magazine-1981-11/page/n14/mode/1up?q=%22clarke+belt%22



Antedating Clarke orbit
OED SF Project has 1974; OED has 1983

1969 Keith Laumer "And Now They Wake" _Galaxy_ Mar 20/1

"The meteorologist on duty in the United States Weather Satellite in Clarke orbit twenty-two thousand miles above the Atlantic had watched the anomalous formation for half an hour on the big twelve-power screen before calling it to the attention of his supervisor."

https://archive.org/details/Galaxy_v28n02_1969-03/page/n19/mode/1up?q=%22clarke+orbit%22


Clarke ring
OED SF Project has 1984 (without citation); OED has 1994

Luis Alvarez _Adventures of a Physicist_ New York: Basic Books, 1987 p. 110

"Communications engineers now refer to the location of the several hundred geostationary satellites as the "Clarke Ring." "

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org