Element 79 (anthology): Difference between revisions

'''''Element 79''''' is a collection of [[science fiction]] short stories authored by English astronomer and writer [[Fred Hoyle]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/aug/23/highereducation.peopleinscience|title=Big enough to bury Darwin|last=Major|first=Lee Elliot|date=23 August 2001|publisher=guardian.co.uk|accessdate=24 December 2011}}</ref> and published in 1969. Included in the collection is the eponymous short story, ''Element 79''. The collection takes its name from the atomic number of the seventy-ninth element, [[gold]].

Pym, a retired university professor of physics, feels dissatisfied with the mediocrity of his lifelong scientific accomplishments, and so accepts a deal with the devil that allows him to contribute a new significant finding to the scientific world.

The deterioration of an unnamed city (obviously Los Angeles) is described as due to a devilsdevil's plot, and the experience of an innocent girl at an interplanetary devils convention in the city is related.

An elderly, competent mountain climber, during a descent, reminisces about the mountainneeringmountaineering ax he now uses, and how he had once risked his life to retrieve it.

This story traces an imagined progression of future NASA -funded explorations, first to the moonMoon and then to marsMars. On marsMars, human explorers interact indirectly with martiansMartians who live beneath the surface of the planet, but are never seen directly. The martianMartian lifeforms are not based on biochemistry, as are humans, but do have a vast calculation ability. The martiansMartians use this ability to gradually and systematically dominate human civilization.

A two -car collision leads to the death of one male driver, while the other male driver wanders off in a daze. Five individuals who knew one or the other of the two drivers visit the morgue to identity the dead driver. However, before the body is uncovered, the identity of the deceased is in an undetermined state due to a principle in quantum physics. The actual determination, as to who is dead and who is alive, is made, however, on the basis of how the five attendees viewed their relationshiprelationships to the two drivers.

An eccentric genius teaches combinations of animals, for example a cat, a dog and a bear, to enjoy the companionship of together watching TV programs such as sports, Westerns, suspense plays, and films of violence.

MeteorsMeteoroids in interplanetary space undergo a sequence of interactions that results in a particular meteormeteoroid composed of a large quantity of element 79 (gold) landing violently in Scotland. The fragments of the meteormeteorite are collected by the government and subsequently released only in limited amounts in order to maintain gold’s value. This process enriches England, allowing it to develop automated technology so that many people, although not out of a job, do not actually have to work.

The Greek gods Hermes and Aphrodite sit in judgment over four different bizarre individuals, each representing a different aspect of humanity., to determine which one should be given domination over humanity.

Far in the future of human society, a rebellious young man resists the imposed status quo where all adolescent boys and girls are subjected to brain surgery to promote harmony, individuals are conditioned to be disinteresteduninterested in sex, and where human populations exist as small isolated communities separated by wilderness areas.