telescanner n.
a scanner, esp. one used for remote visual examination
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1938
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Nat Schachner
bibliography
His wandering eyes glued feverishly to the eyepiece of the small but powerful telescanner. ‘Found a sunspot before the due date?’ demanded Jerry. But the little man was already at the physicist’s side, gripping his shoulder with a terrible grip. ‘What do you see?’ Vic shoved him off with a twitch of athletic shoulders, continued to stare. Then, suddenly, he swung away, blinking, blinded. His sweaty face was puzzled. ‘It may be only a meteor,’ he admitted.
Sun-World of Soldus in Astounding Science-Fiction Oct. 109/2 -
1940
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Julian F. Parr
bibliography
ALTERNATIVE PLOT: This is easily found by reading some kind of Western story. When you are successful in choosing one suited to your purpose, twist it slightly and introduce some well-known stf-terms, such as: ‘bronco’ which change to ‘space-scout’, ‘six-gun’ [which change to] ‘Banning’, ‘lariat’ which change to ‘tractor’, ‘miles’ [which change to] ‘light-years’, ‘binoculars’ [which change to] ‘tele-scanners’ and so on.
Hints on How to Write Science-Fiction in Fantast (#8) May 9 -
1948
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William Tenn
bibliography
He swept the beam across the sickly sea and up the coast-line of the continent until he saw a dark spot in the orange ground. Then, nudging the telebeam into the cave, he saw at last the few shimmering crystals that meant precious Q. He tried other apertures here and there, convincing himself that, while there was little enough in any one cave, the planet as a whole possessed more than they required. The sight of all the unobtainable Q on the telescanner screen made Donelli sweat with exasperation.
Ionian Cycle in Thrilling Wonder Stories Aug. iii. 113/2 -
1954
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Herbert J. Campbell
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She is, you decide in a detached sort of fashion, beautiful. You wonder again what the hell she’s doing in a stupor on an empty ship that’s just drifting along without drive and without apparent direction. When you first saw the ship from your own telescanner, you thought maybe it had been pirated—such things still happen occasionally. But then, as you brought in the magnifier and studied every exposed inch of the hull and found no holes, no dents, you began to change your mind. Pirates usually shoot first—and straight.
Alien in Spaceway Apr. 5 -
1962
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Daniel F. Galouye
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Halfway across the plain, Randolph Saul, director of the Cultural Enlistment expedition, snapped off his telescanner, letting the bulky instrument drop back to his chest.
Silence of Wings in Fantastic Stories of Imagination Feb. 46/1 -
1965
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Jack Williamson
Frederik Pohl
bibliography
A silvered dome pushed out of the pit, out of the ragged shadow, into the white blaze of the near sun. The barrels of a dozen optical and radio telescopes, pyrometers, telescanners and cameras thrust out at the great orb, under the blazoned slogan that the dome displayed to the universe in letters of cast bronze: THE MIGHTIEST REWARDS THE MOST FAITHFUL. And inside the insulated, refrigerated observatory, three astronomers watched a thousand boards and gauges and dials. They were waiting. For they had been warned.
Starchild in Worlds of If Jan. i. 7/1 -
1982
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Louise Lawrence
bibliography
In the utter blackness, out beyond the orbit of Callisto, Joe noticed two tiny pinpoints of light and adjusted the telescanner. Clear and sharp on the video screen, the starliners came into focus—the Star Flight and the Pegasus—heading out into the galaxy with their cargo of emigrants. Tiny life ferries clung like limpets to their sides.
Calling B for Butterfly i. 2 -
2012
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Mercurio D. Rivera
bibliography
We step onto a balcony overlooking the station’s ground floor, which extends a quarter mile across and teems with activity. Thousands of monitors glow green and red inside an endless catacomb of cubbyholes. In an open area in the center of the floor a massive telescanner points up at the glass-domed ceiling. Bots scurry about and scores of workers in red jumpsuits tinker with an array of metal pipes that stretch hundreds of feet from floor to ceiling. The nearest workers stop what they’re doing to observe us.
Missionaries in Asimov’s Science Fiction June 55
Research requirements
antedating 1938
Earliest cite
Nat Schachner, ‘The Sun-World of Soldus’, in Astounding
Research History
Suggested, and most cites submitted, by Bee Ostrowsky.
Last modified 2022-09-27 14:30:46
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.