''The Garin Death Ray'', also known as ''The Death Box'' and ''The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin'' (), is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel by the noted Russian author

Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (; – 23 February 1945) was a Russian writer whose works span across many genres, but mainly belonged to science fiction and historical fiction. Despite having opposed the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, he was abl ...

written in 1926–1927. The "

hyperboloid In geometry, a hyperboloid of revolution, sometimes called a circular hyperboloid, is the surface generated by rotating a hyperbola around one of its principal axes. A hyperboloid is the surface obtained from a hyperboloid of revolution by def ...

" in its title is not a geometrical surface (though it is utilized in the device design) but a "

death ray The death ray or death beam is a theoretical particle beam or electromagnetic weapon first theorized around the 1920s and 1930s. Around that time, notable inventors such as Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Tesla, Harry Grindell Matthews, Edwin R. Scott ...

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

-like device (thought up by the author many decades before lasers were invented) that the protagonist, engineer Garin, used to fight his enemies and try to become the

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

of the world. The idea of a "death ray" (popularized in ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'' by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

, among others) was commonplace in science fiction of the time, but 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's

Heat-Ray The Martians, also known as the Invaders, are the main antagonists from the H.G. Wells 1898 novel ''The War of the Worlds''. Their efforts to exterminate the populace of the Earth and claim the planet for themselves drive the plot and present c ...

, which uses a parabolic mirror) to concentrate light rays in a parallel beam. Larger "hyperboloids" can destroy military ships on the horizon, and those of less power can only injure people and cut electric cables on walls of rooms. Professor , 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 device.

Adaptations

Two film adaptations of the novel were released in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1965 ( ''The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin'') and 1973 (''

Failure of Engineer Garin ''Failure of Engineer Garin'' (, translit. Krakh inzhenera Garina) is a 1973 Soviet television film in four parts loosely based on a novel '' Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin'' by Alexei Tolstoy. Produced by Lenfilm by the order of Gostelera ...

'').

Aleksandr Abdulov Aleksandr Gavrilovich AbdulovАбдулов Г. Д.
Ферганский г� ...

started shooting his own version of ''Hyperboloid'', but it was unfinished due to Abdulov's illness and death.

Influence

* Charles H. Townes, the inventor of laser, said that his invention had been inspired by this novel. *

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

included parodic elements in his tragicomedy '' The Waltz Invention'' (1938). * The Soviet rock band Kino was originally known as ''Garin i giperboloidy'' (, ''Garin and the hyperboloids''). * The

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n punk band

Vennaskond Vennaskond (Estonian for ''Brotherhood'') is an Estonian punk rock band founded in 1984. The band has toured in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Romania, Sweden, Germany, France, India, Poland and the United States (including CBGB). To show respect to ...

has an album and a song "Insener Garini hüperboloid" (The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin in Estonian).Vennaskond – Insener Garini Hüperboloid
/ref>

References

External links

* , 1965 movie * , 1973 movie {{DEFAULTSORT:Garin Death Ray, The 1927 science fiction novels 1927 Russian novels Russian science fiction novels Novels by Alexei Tolstoy Soviet science fiction novels Weapons of mass destruction in fiction Russian novels adapted into television shows Russian novels adapted into films Science fiction novels adapted into films Methuen Publishing books