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 Book cover of the first Russian edition, 1927 | |
| Author | Aleksey Tolstoy |
|---|---|
| Original title | Гиперболоид инженера Гарина |
| Translator | Bernard Guilbert Guerney (1st edition) George Hanna (revised ed.) |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Science-fiction novel |
| Publisher | Methuen (1st edition) Foreign Language (revised edition) |
Publication date | 1927 |
| Publication place | Soviet Union |
Published in English | 1936 (1st edition) and1955 (revised edition) |
The Garin Death Ray, also known asThe Death Box andThe Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin (Russian:Гиперболоид инженера Гарина), is ascience-fiction novel written in 1926–1927 by the Russian authorAleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1882-1945).
The "hyperboloid" of the title is not a geometrical surface (though that is utilized in the device design) but a "death ray"-laser-like device (thought up by the author many decades before lasers were invented) that the protagonist, engineer Garin, uses to fight his enemies while trying to become thedictator of the world. The idea of a "death ray" (popularized inThe War of the Worlds byH. G. Wells, among others) was commonplace in science fiction of the time, but Aleksey Tolstoy's version is unique for its level of technical details. "Hyperboloids" of different power-capability differ in their effect. The device uses two hyperbolic mirrors (in contrast to Wells'sHeat-Ray, which uses a parabolic mirror) to concentrate light rays in a parallel beam. Larger "hyperboloids" can destroy military ships on the horizon, while those of less power can only injure people and cut electric cables on walls of rooms.
ProfessorGeorgy Slyusarev [ru], an expert in optics, in his 1944 book "О возможном и невозможном в оптике" ("About Possible and Impossible in Optics") presented arguments about the infeasibility of Garin's fictional device.
Two film adaptations of the novel were released in theSoviet Union in 1965 (The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin) and 1973 (Failure of Engineer Garin).
Aleksandr Abdulov started shooting his own version ofHyperboloid, but it was unfinished due to Abdulov's illness and death.[1]
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