it exponentiallygrewtobethemost
importantscientific developmentof
themodernage– andalsoconfirmed
justhowadvancedStarTrek’s writers
anddesignershadbeenintheir
thinking:librarycomputers,subspace
communications,tricorders...
Whilenotas widelyknown,the
secondscientific advancementhad
bigimplicationstousTreknology
aficionados.InlateMarch1989,
UniversityofUtahelectrochemists
StanleyPonsandDr.Martin
Fleischmannannouncedthattheyhad
successfullygenerateda “sustained
nuclearfusionreaction”at room
temperature.Withfusionreactions
usuallytakingplaceat millionsof
degreesandhugepressures,their
declarationwasgreetedwithenormous
excitementbythescientific community.
Unfortunately,noonecould
reproducetheirresults,leadingto
theirfindingsbeingdismissedand
discredited.This is a shame,as fusion
reactors– alsoknownas impulse
drives– area mainstayofStarfleet’s
andnumerousraces’sub-warpspace
flight,allofwhichincorporatemany
ofFleischmannandPons’ideas.
07 TheU.S.S.
Voyager– a
wonderof
bio-neural
circuitry.
08 The
Enterprise-Din
Generations.STARSTAR TREKTREK
GENERATIONSGENERATIONS
(1994)(1994)
CombiningtheKirkandPicard
erasbroughta widerangeofnew
Treknologies,fromthehuge(the
Excelsior-classU.S.S.Enterprise
NCC1701-B)tothetiny(Data’s
emotionchip).Addtothattheraft
oftechderangedgeniusSoran
employedtomakehiswayback
totheNexus,andthespectacular
Enterprise-Dsaucerseparation,it
wasquitetheevent.
In therealworld, 1994 brought
twoadvances– onein computing,
theotherin howwecommunicate- thatwouldonceagainshowcase
Tre k’s penchantforpredictingtech-
nology,andbeincorporatedinto
futureseries’starshipdesign.
OnAugust16,1994,IBM
launchedits“Simon”modelofcell
phone(or,astheypreferredtocall
it,“PersonalCommunicator”– how
muchmoreTre kcanyouget?).
Combininga personaldigitalassis-
tant(PDA)witha mobiletelephone,
it couldalsosendemailsandfaxes.
Theterm“smartphone”
wouldn’tbecoineduntil1995,but
Simonis generallyregardedasthe
world’sfirst.Whiletricordersstill
hadthedesignedgeovertheIBM’s
clunkiness,whenyouconsider
what’swidelyavailabletousnow,
sparea thoughtforSimon.It was
thefirsttocombinecommunication
anddataretrieval,andcontinues
toinfluencetheworldsofStarTrek
andourowntoday.
Thesecondmilestonecould
yethaveanevengreaterimpact.In
hispaper“MolecularComputation
ofSolutionstoCombinatorial
Problems,”UniversityofSouthern
CaliforniamathematicianDr.
LeonardAdlemanoutlinedthe
world’sfirstsuccessfuluseofDNA
in a computationalsystem.This
launchedworldwideresearchinto
howDNAcouldbeusedtocreate
hugelypowerfulandsophisticated
dataprocessingsystems.If you’re
notquitesurewhattheTreknology
linkis,looknofurtherthanthe
U.S.S.Voyager’s “living”bio-neural
circuitry,whichreplacedisolinear
chipsin shipsoftheline.1994 brought two
advances – one in
computing, the other in
how we communicate
- that would once
again showcase
Trek’s penchant for
(^08) predicting technology.
07
SCIENTIFIC MILESTONES