energy screen n.

a barrier made of or against energy; a force field n.

SF Encyclopedia


  • 1932 S. G. Hale Worlds Adrift in Amazing Stories May 175/2 page image Stephen G. Hale bibliography

    A vast electrical energy screen…was to be thrown about each group of atomic machines…. This screen was to confine the atomic action without in any way reducing the recoil

  • 1939 A. E. van Vogt Discord in Scarlet in Astounding Science-Fiction Dec. 19/1 page image A. E. van Vogt bibliography

    One moment he was thinking complacently of the metal sections in the hold of the ship, where he would secrete his guuls; the next moment he was caught in the full sparkling fury of an energy screen.

  • 1940 H. Kuttner Million Years to Conquer in Startling Stories Nov. 89/1 Henry Kuttner

    The atomic screen must meet just halfway around the Earth. If you turn on your power too soon, your energy screen will smash mine back and destroy this Tower completely.

  • 1943 A.E. van Vogt Concealment in Astounding Science-Fiction Sept. 88/1 page image A. E. van Vogt bibliography

    Alarms must have blared in the ship, too, for it slowed noticeably and, still braking, disappeared. Now it was coming back, creeping along, obviously trying to locate the small object that had affected its energy screens.

  • 1948 A. E. van Vogt Monster in Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 60/2 page image A. E. van Vogt bibliography

    He walked curiously to the nearest doorway, studied the other guard who waited there for him, and then, gingerly, stepped through. The first guard followed him, then came the mobile energy screen, and finally, trailing one another, the councillors.

  • 1960 K. Laumer Combat Unit in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Nov. 62/1 Keith Laumer

    But I cannot lie idle under attack. I no longer have my great ion-guns, my disruptors, my energy screens; but I have my fighting instinct.

  • 1964 J. H. Schmitz Undercurrents in Analog Science Fact–Science Fiction May 29/2 James H. Schmitz

    The green-jelly creature definitely did hurt people through the energy screens around its enclosure…if the people happened to be telepaths. In them it found mental channels through which it could send savage surges of psi force.

  • 1990 R. Calder Lilim in Interzone Mar.–Apr. 10/2 page image Richard Calder bibliography

    They lived within the shadows of the watchtowers and the energy-screen.

  • 2013 B. Bova New Earth 190 page image Ben Bova bibliography

    ‘The big shield?’ Jordan asked. Aditi nodded. ‘The planetary shield. The energy screen that protects the whole planet.’

Research requirements

antedating 1932
Earliest cite

Stephen G. Hale, in Amazing Stories
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1943 cite from A.E. van Vogt's "Concealment"
Malcolm Farmer located cites in a 1970 reprint of van Vogt's 1951 "The Voyage of the Space Beagle". This work is a fix-up n. of several edited earlier stories, and Mike Christie verified it a cite in one of the original stories, "Discord in Scarlet" (Astounding, December 1939)
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1952 reprint of Henry Kuttner's "A Million Years to Conquer": Mike Christie verified it in its original publication (Startling Stories, November, 1940)
Ralf Brown suggested, from an etext, Henry Kuttner's "The Creature Beyond Infinity": the actual title was apparently "The Creature From Beyond Infinity", and Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1952 reprint of this story under the variant title "A Million Years to Conquer": Mike Christie verified it in its original publication (Startling Stories, November, 1940)
From an etext, Ralf Brown suggested James H. Schmitz's "Undercurrents", and Fred Galvin submitted a cite from its 1964 first publication
From his etext collection, Ralf Brown suggested Keith Laumer's, "Hybrid": Fred Galvin discovered that the relevant cite was actually in Laumer's 1960 story "Combat Unit".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1953 citation from Alfred Coppel's "Turning Point"
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1932 cite from Amazing Stories.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2013 cite from Ben Bova.

Last modified 2021-10-07 11:58:59
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.