visiphone n.
Also in form visaphone.
Communications
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1915
page image
Harry Stephen Keeler
bibliography
On the 201st day of the year 3214 A.D., the professor of history at the University of Terra seated himself in front of the Visaphone and prepared to deliver the daily lecture to his class, the members of which resided in different portions of the earth. The instrument before which he seated himself was very like a great window sash, on account of the fact that there were three or four hundred frosted glass squares visible. In a space at the center, not occupied by any of these glass squares, was a dark oblong area and a ledge holding a piece of chalk. And above this area was a huge brass cylinder toward which the professor directed his subsequent remarks.
In order to assure himself that it was time to press the button which would notify the members of the class in history to approach their local Visaphones, the professor withdrew from his vest pocket a small contrivance which he held to his ear. Upon moving a tiny switch attached to the instrument, a metallic voice, seeming to come from somewhere in space, repeated mechanically: ‘Fifteen o’clock and one minute—fifteen o'clock and one minute—fifteen o’clock and one min——’ Quickly, the professor replaced the instrument in his vest pocket and pressed a button at the side of the Visaphone.
As though in answer to the summons, the frosted glass squares began, one by one, to show the faces and shoulders of a peculiar type of young men; young men with great bulging foreheads, bald, toothless, and wearing immense horn spectacles. One square, however, still remained empty. On noticing this, a look of irritation passed over the professor’s countenance.
John Jones’s Dollar in Black Cat Aug. 45/1 -
1930
page image
Otis Adelbert Kline
bibliography
Finding my door unlocked I rushed from the room. Presently I blundered into the great deserted room from which the official Martian ether visiphone messages had formerly been sent to Magong. Opening a switch, I found that the power was still on, and signaled the station of my father. My heart gave a leap of joy when his face suddenly appeared in the disc before me.
Man from the Moon in Amazing Stories Oct. 655/1 -
1934
page image
Edward E. Smith
bibliography
Then, as she sat upon a bench, recovering her strength, he flipped on the lifeboat’s visiphone projector and shot its invisible beam up into the control room, where he saw space-armored figures furiously busy at the panels.
Triplanetary in Amazing Stories Jan. 13/2
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1935
Murray Leinster
bibliography
Calling the Rocket Chief! Report immediately on personal visiphone. Emergency!
Proxima Centauri in Astounding Stories Mar. 29/2
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1938
Gerry picked up a visiphone and called the space-port.
Satellite Five in Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct. 22/1
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1940
page image
He stopped, breathless and disheveled, before the administrative building, tore over to his private tube, and, in his office, clamped down fiercely on the Visaphone set to Terrestian Council’s wavelength.
Future's Fair in Astonishing Stories Oct. 54/2 -
1944
page image
Clifford D. Simak
bibliography
Nelson Harper…was lighting up his pipe when the visiphone signal buzzed and the light flashed on… Mackenzie’s face came in, a face streaked with dirt and perspiration, stark with fear.
Ogre in Astounding Science-Fiction Jan. 151/1
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1945
Murray Leinster
Moore turned away from the pay-visiphone, into which he had talked in a confidential murmur while the screen remained blank.
Pipeline to Pluto in Astounding Science Fiction Aug. 73/1
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1952
page image
Leigh Brackett
bibliography
Kerrel’s face appeared on the small screen. There was no need now for the ultra-wave and the ordinary visiphone unit had been cut in.
Starmen of Llyrdis in Startling Stories Mar. xiv. 60/1
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1963
Randall Garrett
Laurence M. Janifer
bibliography
He inclined his head in as courtly a bow as he could manage over a visiphone. ‘I am deeply honored,’ he said, ‘that Your Majesty has called on me. Is there any way in which I might be of service?’
Impossibles 112
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1971
Poul Anderson
bibliography
She had expected to savor her triumph. And the congratulations, from personnel at Armstrong Base, by visiphone from Dad and Mother and the whole family, from the President and her colleagues around the globe, certainly they warmed her to the marrow.
Byworlder in Fantastic Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories June vi. 42/1
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1984
Marion Zimmer Bradley
bibliography
Making an average visiphone call was a process made lengthier by the need for overcoming his revulsion and he made it as brief as he could.
World Wreckers 15
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1987
Thomas R. McDonough
bibliography
Ariadne listened to the English message on the viziphone: ‘Call Lunar Farside Operator. You have an interstellar message. Dial white-gray-purple, black-red-green.’
Architects of Hyperspace 15
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1996
Sunday morning, and a lined and elderly face stared out of the visiphone screen trying to look sincere and honest.
Werewolves in Sheep's Clothing in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Sept. 140
Research requirements
antedating 1934
Earliest cite
E. E. Smith 'Triplanetary'
Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1941 cite from Robert Heinlein's "Methuselah's Children".Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of Clifford Simak's "Ogre"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1944 original magazine appearance.
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1976 reprint of Leigh Brackett's 1952 "The Starmen of Llyrdis".
Mike Christie submitted a 1946 cite from Isaac Asimov's "Evidence".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of H.Beam Piper's "Last Enemy"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1950 first magazine appearance.
Mike Christie submitted a 1945 cite from Murray Leinster's "Pipeline to Pluto".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of Mark Phillips "The Impossibles"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1963 first edition.
Mike Christie submitted a 1938 cite from Arthur K. Barnes' "Satellite Five".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a 1978 reprint of Murray Leinster's "Proxima Centauri"; Alistair Durie verified this in the 1935 first publication.
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a 1972 reprint of E.E. Smith's "Triplanetary", and Alistair Durie verified this in the 1934 first magazine publication.
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of Poul Anderson's "The Byworlder". Mike Christie verified this in the 1971 original magazine publication.
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1996 cite from Michael Coney's "Werewolves in Sheep's Clothing".
Jeff Prucher submitted a cite from a 2000 reprint of Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson's "The Napoleon Crime", which Mike Christie verified in the 1983 first publication.
Variant forms:
Fred Galvin submitted a cite for "visaphone" from a 1958 reprint of Harry Stephen Keeler's 1915 "John Jones' Dollar". Alistair Durie verified this in a 1927 Amazing Stories reprint; Fred Galvin later verified it in the August 1915 original publication in "Black Cat Magazine".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1940 cite for "visaphone" from "The Future's Fair", by Vincent Reid
Fred Galvin submitted a 1955 cite for "visaphone" from "The Chaos Fighters", by Robert Moore Williams
Fred Galvin submitted a 1947 cite for "visaphone" from "Asteroid Justice" by V.E. Thiessen
Fred Galvin submitted a 1930 cite for "visophone" from Cyril G. Wates, "A Modern Prometheus"
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite for "viziphone" from a 2002 reprint of C.L. Moore's 1935 "The Cold Gray God".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1987 cite for "viziphone" from Thomas R. McDonough's "The Architects of Hyperspace"
Last modified 2022-02-24 19:53:23
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