Science
The science in the "Skylark" series, while not entirely accurate, is believable: Newton's laws are obeyed, planets circle suns; there is description of something like a black hole or neutron star; and matter-energy conversion propels the spacecraft. The observation that a spaceship has covered a distance apparently impossible in the time elapsed is met with the response "Einstein's theory is still a theory. That distance is an observed fact"; such effects as time dilation and mass increase are simply ignored. This claim had more potential validity in the 1920s, when the story was written, than it holds at present; much like now-known-incorrect depictions of Venus or Mars in other classic space opera, it must be allowed as "poetic license".
Read more about this topic: Skylark (series)
Famous quotes containing the word science:
“We receive the truths of science by compulsion. Nothing but ignorance is able to resist them.”
—Chauncey Wright (1830–1875)
“Curiosity engenders both science and scandal.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“There is a chasm between knowledge and ignorance which the arches of science can never span.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)