psionics n.

psychic powers, energy, or ability; the field of psychic phenomena; cf. psi n., psionic adj.

SF Encyclopedia


Paranormal

  • 1951 J. Williamson Greatest Invention in Astounding Science Fiction July 79/1 page image Jack Williamson bibliography

    If they had known psionics, their children would never have relapsed into savagery.

  • 1952 J. Williamson Man Down in Astounding Science Fiction Mar. 112/1 Jack Williamson

    Stripped of all those mechanisms that many million minds had helped to make, he couldn’t hope to do much with his own small smattering of neutrionics and psionics.

  • 1953 T. Sturgeon More Than Human 206 Theodore Sturgeon bibliography

    Seems that gravitics is the key to everything. It would lead to the addition of one more item to the Unified Field—what we now call psychic energy, or ‘psionics’.

  • 1960 P. Anderson Martyr in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar. 6/2 page image Poul Anderson bibliography

    Our independent research has taught us just enough about psionics to show we can’t imagine its potentialities.

  • 1994 B. Bova Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells vi. 43 Ben Bova bibliography

    At the very least, it can lead to stories that are filled with jargon such as space warp, psionics, antigravs, droids and such.

  • 2008 R. A. Salvatore Pirate King (2009) xv. 185 page image R. A. Salvatore bibliography

    ‘A mind mage?’ he asked quietly, a Luskar slang for those rare and reputably powerful practitioners of the concentration art known as psionics. ‘A monk?’

Research requirements

antedating 1951
Earliest cite

J. Williamson 'The Greatest Invention'
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1952 cite from Jack Williamson's "Man Down".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1951 cite from Jack Williamson's "The Greatest Invention".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2008 cite from R. A. Salvatore.

Last modified 2021-02-27 17:33:25
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.