Posts tagged with ‘1930s’

Photos from the first science fiction convention in 1937

Well, not a sci-fi convention as you know it now, with wall to wall geeks dressed as their favorite fictional characters, but a convention of some of the brightest sci-fi writers of the early 20th century. Pictured above, L to R is Walter Gillings, Arthur C. Clarke and Ted Carnell.

“In January 1937, the Leeds chapter of the Science Fiction League brought something new into the world: the first ever SF convention. (A counter claim is made for an earlier visit of New York fans to meet Philadelphia fans at the home of one of their number, but this is hard to take seriously - see THE FIRST EVER CONVENTION) At a time when travelling any distance was much more difficult than it is today, several of those attending travelled hundreds of miles to be there. Held in Leeds’ Theosophical Hall, at 14 Queen Square, the main order of business was setting up the Science Fiction Association, the UK’s first national SF organisation.”

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Boxer Jack Dempsey vs. a robot… who would win?

In 1934, Jack Dempsey claimed he could beat any robot boxer…which in 1934, wouldn’t have been difficult.

In the April, 1934, issue of Modern Mechanix and Inventions the “mechanical robot” goes toe-to-toe with boxing legend Jack Dempsey. In the article Dempsey relays a conversation he had with a friend about what it would be like to fight a robot. According to Dempsey — who says he could tear one to pieces “bolt by bolt and scatter its brain wheels and cogs all over the canvas” — the main deficiency of a boxing robot would be its lack of brains:

“The reason is simple: Engineers can build a robot that will possess everything except brains. And without brains no man can ever attain championship class in the boxing game. It is true enough that we have had some rare intellectual specimens in the higher frames of boxing glory, but I can truthfully say that no man ever attained genuine boxing recognition without real headwork. The best punch in the world is not worth a whoop if the boxer doesn’t know what to do with it.”

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This was a device from the 1930s that was supposed to concentrate body heat to cook potatoes

From the February, 1930 issue of Modern Mechanix, this torture device supposedly concentrated your body heat to use for cooking potatoes. 

SCIENTISTS have learned that our bodies are living machines of the combustion type in which the burning of fuel (food) is accompanied by the consumption of oxygen, liberation of heat energy and production of carbon dioxide as is the case in all combustion engines. Scientists find that the heat from a single person, if properly focussed, would be sufficient to cook potatoes.

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