Vonnegut Kurt

Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. 1952. Player Piano. New York Delacorte Press. 

It is also possible for a pure material to have several different solid phases. Hn, a material that was once used for organ pipes, can change from a uniformly solid white tin to a powdery gray tin at low temperatures. This phase transition has been termed tin disease, or tin pest Ice can solidify into several distinct forms, including ice IX. Reportedly, Kurt Vonnegut, a chemist by training, was unaware of the actual existence of ice IX when he used the name in the plot for his novel Cat s Cradle ... 

Langmuir s discoveries helped shape the establishment of modern radio and television broadcasting, safeguarded the lives of soldiers in war, and provided the framework that allowed his research team to develop a key to possibly control the weather. Bernard Vonnegut s brother, the writer Kurt Vonnegut, made Langmuir a character, Dr. Felix Hoenikker, in his novel Cat s Cradle. Vonnegut claims that the absentminded scientist really did leave a tip for his wife after breakfast one time and abandoned his car in the middle of a traffic jam. 

In his 1963 novel Cat s Cradle, author Kurt Vonnegut conjures up a new form of water, "ice-nine," sought by generals wishing to turn mud solid to speed their troops to battle. The problem is solved by an isolated, scientific genius who makes a tiny quantity of the dangerous substance, innocently starting the count-down to the end of all life on Earth. Since "ice-nine" is more stable than water, any water it touches (puddles, lakes, reservoirs, oceans, rain) E>ecomes "ice-nine" and all liquid water vanishes from the planet. 

The American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was a young prisoner of war in Dresden at the time of the attack. He described his experience to an interviewer long after the war ... 

Rhodes, Richard, et al. 1977. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In George Plimpton, ed.. Writers at Work. Viking, 1984. 

The story was told very well in a book published in 1981, which is reminiscent of the science fiction novel Cat s Cradle, written in 1963 by Kurt Vonnegut. In Vonnegut s story, a scientist discovers a new form of water, called ice-9, which freezes at room temperature. Moreover, when ice-9 comes in contact with ordinary water, that water turns into ice-9 and solidifies too. Thus, the dramatic tension comes from the risk that all the world s water could turn into ice-9 and solidify. Imagine life without flowing water ... 

Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Player Piano (New York Delacorte Press, 1952), 6, 27, 61, 77, 91. Other historians have found similar insight in Vonnegut s story. See especially Bess Williamson, Small Scale Technology for the Developing World ... 

Kurt Vonnegut, Cat s Cradle, Delacorte Press, New York, 1963. 

Ninel See Kurt Vonnegut s novel. Cat s Cradle for ecperimental details. ... 

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