A Heinlein Concordance

created by M. E. Cowan

Robert A Heinlein

Introduction no frames index

From the stories:   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XYZ
From the real world:   a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w xyz

A Heinlein Concordance ©2004 M.E.Cowan

 
Babylon
Ancient city on the Euphrates River in what is now Iraq, the center of an empire that reached its peak in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. The empire conquered Judea and transported many of the Israelites to Babylon, so that the name has come to mean a place of exile or of pagan decadence.
("If This Goes On—")

Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685–1750) German composer and musician of the Baroque era. Of his many compositions, the best known include the Brandenburg Concertos, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik ("A Little Night Music") The Well-Tempered Clavier, The St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B Minor.
(I Will Fear No Evil)

Sir Robert Baden-Powell
(1857–1941) Founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in England. He was made a baronet in 1922, and Baron of Gilwell in 1929.
(Farmer in the Sky)

Baja California
State in northwestern Mexico that occupies the northern part of the peninsula of the same name. It is bounded by the United States (north ), the Gulf of California (east), the Pacific Ocean (west), and the state of Baja California Sur (south). Most of its sparsely populated territory is mountainous, with a narrow coastal plain.
(Methuselah's Children, Stranger in a Strange Land)

Bakersfield, California
Seat of Kern county, in the San Joaquin Valley in south-central California, founded in 1869 by Thomas Baker. The Naval Ordnance Test Station and Edwards Air Force Flight Test Center are nearby.
("The Roads Must Roll")

"The Ballad of Yukon Jake"
Poem by Edward E. Paramore, Jr., published in Vanity Fair in 1921.
(Time Enough for Love)

baptism
The ritual by which a person is admitted to the Christian community. The candidate may be wholly or partly immersed in water, the water may be poured over the head, or a few drops may be sprinkled or placed on the head; nearly all denominations use the invocation, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Some denominations baptize infants born to their members; others wait until children reach "the age of reason" (variously defined) and can knowingly accept baptism on their own behalf.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)

Alben Barkley
(1877–1956) 35th vice president of the United States, during President Harry Truman's second term (1949–53). He served from 1937 to 1947 as Senate majority leader, and was one of the architects of the New Deal.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

"Barnacle Bill"
Traditional ballad consisting of numerous bawdy verses about an encounter between a sailor and a young woman of easy virtue (sometimes but not always a prostitute).
(Time Enough for Love)

Edward Emerson Barnard
(1857–1923) Astronomer who pioneered in celestial photography. His photographs of the Milky revealed much new detail. He discovered 16 comets and Jupiter's fifth satellite (1892). In 1916, he discovered the star (named Barnard's Star in his honor) that has the greatest known motion relative to the other stars. He published a catalog of dark nebulae in 1919. From 1895 until his death, he was professor of practical astronomy at the University of Chicago and astronomer at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
(Farmer in the Sky)

Bast
(Also Bastet, Ubasti) Egyptian goddess, originally a solar deity, who was depicted in the form of a lioness or lion-headed woman, and in later eras as a cat. As a "daughter of Ra", she was a major deity in the Egyptian pantheon. She was also one of the "Eyes of Ra", an avenging goddess who laid waste to Egypt's enemies.
(Friday)

Bastille Day
July 14, a national holiday in France. It commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789, which signalled the beginning of the French Revolution.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Batavia
A poetic name for the Netherlands, after the ancient Germanic tribe (the Batavi) that inhabited the district in which the modern city of Leiden is now located. Also the name given to the Indonesian city of Jakarta (originally Jacatra) by the Dutch when they colonized the region. The city was renamed Jakarta when Indonesia regained its independence.
(Double Star)

Bates County
County in west-central Missouri near the Kansas state line. The county seat is Butler, Robert Heinlein's birthplace.
("Requiem")

Battle of Britain
A series of raids against Great Britain by the German air force after the fall of France during World War II. Beginning with attacks on shipping, they expanded to ground-based Royal Air Force installations and then to London and other cities, particularly along the coast. Although greatly outnumbered, the Royal Air Force successfully defended Britain against the attacks through superior tactics and advanced air defenses, inspiring Winston Churchill's encomium, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Bechtel
Construction company founded by W.A. Bechtel in San Francisco in 1925. It evolved into the Bechtel–McCone Corporation, which built refineries and chemical plants, and then expanded into building ships and aircraft parts during World War II. After the war, the Bechtel Corporation built pipelines and power plants all over the world, including nuclear plants.
(The Cat Who Walks Through Walls)

Helen Beck
(1904–1979) Real name of U.S. actress dancer Sally Rand, who achieved fame for a risqué dance performed nude with large fans of ostrich plumes between her and the audience. (Helen Beck was a friend of Robert Heinlein.)
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Bedloe's Island
Original name of Liberty Island, the site of the Statue of Liberty. With nearby Ellis Island, it constitutes the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
(Tunnel in the Sky)

Beelzebub
In the form Baalzebub, the name given to the god of the Philistine city of Ekron (II Kings 1:1–18). In the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Beelzebul is named as the ruler of the demons.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)

Beijing
(Formerly transliterated as Peking, Pei-ching, or Peiping) City in the People's Republic of China, in northeastern China at the northern end of the North China Plain, approximately 100 miles (160 km) inland from the Gulf of Chihli of the Yellow Sea. Beijing has been China's capital almost continuously since 1272 CE, when the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan established his political base there. In 1420 it was given its current name (which means "Northern Capital") and was made the official capital city of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
(Tunnel in the Sky)

Beijing University
[Also transliterated as Peking University] Institution of higher learning that originated as the Capital College. Founded in 1898 by the emperor Kuang-hsü as part of his program to modernize and reform China's institutions, the school languished after the empress dowager Tz'u-hsi's coup d'état the same year. After the overthrow of the Ch'ing dynasty in 1911, the school was revived and renamed Peking University. The university has often been at the center of social upheavals, from the May Fourth Movement in 1919 to the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Belial
In the writings of the Jewish sects at Qumran, Belial, the "spirit of wickedness", appears as the adversary of the "spirit of truth". The Old Testament contains numerous references to "children of Belial" (or "sons" or "daughters"), with the connotation that these are people completely given over to wickedness.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)

Bell Labs
Research and development division of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) from 1925 until 1996, when it became an independent company, Lucent Technologies.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Beluthahatchie
According to Zora Neale Hurston's Dictionary of Harlem Slang, it is "the next station beyond Hell".
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Beowulf
Epic poem composed in Old English in the 8th century, the earliest surviving work of literature in European vernacular (not Latin). The first part tells the story of the Danish hero Beowulf's battle against the monster Grendel and Grendel's even more monstrous mother. The second part tells of Beowulf's accession to the kingship and peaceful reign, ending with Beowulf's mortal battle against a dragon and his funeral rites.
(Have Space Suit — Will Travel)

Berkeley
City on the northeast shore of San Francisco Bay, opposite Oakland. Originally part of the Rancho San Antonio that was granted to the Peralta family in 1820, it was settled as Ocean View in 1853. The University of California was founded there in 1868 through the merger of the College of California with the Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Arts College; the campus opened in 1873 and was named in honor of Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley.
(Time for the Stars)

Beta Aquarii
Sadal Suud [Arabic, "luckiest of the lucky"], a star in the Zodiacal constellation Aquarius. It is a yellow supergiant with a visual magnitude of 2.89, approximately 754 lightyears from Earth.
(Starman Jones)

Beta Ceti
Deneb Kaitos (The Tail of the Whale) or Diphda (Frog), the brightest star in the constellation Cetus (the Whale). It is a yellow-red giant start with a magnitude of 2.0. The constellation is visible between Pisces and Taurus in late autumn.
(Time for the Stars)

Beta Corvi
Kraz, the right claw in the southern constellation The Crow. It is a relatively dim (magnitude 3) reddish-yellow star. The constellation is south of Virgo.
(Starman Jones)

Beta Hydrae
A dim binary star in the southern constellation Hydra. The star is about 365 light years from Earth.
(Starman Jones)

Beta Hydri
A yellow-orange star visible in the southeastern corner of the constellation Hydrus. It is about 24.4 light-years from Earth.
(Time for the Stars)

Bethesda Medical Center
Officially Bethesda Naval Hospital, a government medical facility in Bethesda, Maryland. It is frequently the primary care facility for the President and other government officials.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)

Bethlehem Steel
Steel manufacturer created in 1904 by the merger of Bethlehem Steel Company of Pennsylvania, the Union Iron Works shipbuilding facilities in San Francisco, and a few smaller companies. The corporation thrived partly as a result of orders for guns, munitions, and naval vessels from European powers both before and during World War I.
(Citizen of the Galaxy)

Beulah
A reference to the Book of Isaiah 62:4. "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." (King James Version)
("If This Goes On—", The Number of the Beast, Time Enough for Love, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

The Bible
Sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. The Jewish Bible consists of the Torah (the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy); the Nevi'im (the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi); and the Ketuvim (the Song of Songs of Solomon; the Psalms and Proverbs; and the books of Job, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Chronicles). To Christianity, the collection of these books is known as the Old Testament; the Christian Bible also includes the New Testament, comprising the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of various apostles, and the Book of Revelation. Some Christian sects include writings that are not considered authentic by the majority of denominations.
(Double Star, Farnham's Freehold, Job: A Comedy of Justice, The Number of the Beast, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Bifrost
In Norse myth, the rainbow bridge that connected Earth to Asgard, home of the gods.
(Farmer in the Sky, The Number of the Beast, Starman Jones)

Big Rock Candy Mountain
A "hobo ballad" attributed to Harry McClintock.
(Farmer in the Sky)

Black Beauty
Classic children's novel by the British author, Anna Sewell. She wrote the fictional "autobiography" of a horse named Black Beauty to encourage more humane treatment of horses.
(Friday)

black hats
In old Western movies, the villains were immediately identifiable because they wore black hats, as the heroes were identified by white hats.
(The Number of the Beast)

black hole
A cosmic body so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape its gravitational field. Astronomers theorize that black holes are created when giant stars burn out and collapse in on themselves; but there may also be black holes of nonstellar origin.
(Friday)

 

Blind Tom
(Thomas Bethune, also known as Thomas Wiggins, 1849–1908) Born to slaves in Georgia, the infant Thomas was an autistic savant; from his early years he showed an uncanny ability to mimic sounds, and to play songs on the piano without any training. By the age of 6 he was creating musical compositions. His owner General James Bethune "hired him out" to a concert promoter, and Thomas became famous as a musical prodigy. Even after Emancipation, General Bethune retained control of Thomas (and the money he earned), until Thomas' mother won a legal battle for custody with the help of Bethune's daughter-in-law. Robert Heinlein may have learned about Blind Tom from Mark Twain's descriptions of him in speeches and writings, including diary entries.
(Starman Jones)

Blood's a Rover
1. Reference to a line from the poem "A Shropshire Lad" by A. E. Housman: "Clay lies still, but blood's a rover".
2. Short story by Chad Oliver, originally published in Astounding in May 1952.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Bluebeard
The murderous husband in a story, "La Barbe Bleue," in Charles Perrault's collection of fairy tales (1697). Similar stories are found throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. In some stories, Bluebeard is identified with the devil.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Tunnel in the Sky)

Simón Bolivar
(1783–1830) South American soldier and statesman who led revolutions against Spanish rule in South America; the territory he helped liberated became the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. He was president of both Colombia (1821–30) and Peru (1823–29).
(Beyond This Horizon, Space Cadet, The Star Beast, Starship Troopers)

Bolshoi Theater
Leading theater company for ballet and opera in Russia. The original group was organized in Moscow in the mid-1770s. The Bolshoi Theater was made a government institution in 1806. The Bolshoi Theater thrived through the Russian Revolution, both world wars, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and is world-famous as a touring company.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Joséphine Bonaparte
(1763–1814) Consort of Napoleon Bonaparte, styled Empress of the French during his reign. Because she was unable to give him a son, Napoleon arranged for their marriage to be annulled in 1810.
(Starman Jones)

Napoleon Bonaparte
(1769–1821; original name Napoleone Buonaparte) Corsican-born French military leader, who became First Consul of France (1799–1804) and proclaimed himself emperor of the French (1804–1814/15). He led the French army in a war of conquest that spread across Europe but ended with his defeat and exile. His name is a byword for dictatorial personality or imperial ambition.
(The Puppet Masters, Starman Jones)

Book of Common Prayer
The standard liturgy of the Anglican Church. First authorized for the Church of England in 1549 as The First Prayer Book of Edward VI, it was drastically revised in 1552 under pressure from more extreme Reformers; minor revisions were made in 1559, 1604, and 1662. The prayer book of 1662, with minor changes, has continued as the standard liturgy of most Anglican churches of the British Commonwealth.
(Farnham's Freehold)

Daniel Boone
(1734–1820) American frontiersman who helped blaze a trail through Cumberland Gap. He was a founder of the first European settlement in what is now Kentucky (originally a county of Virginia).
(The Door Into Summer, Farmer in the Sky)

Lizzie Borden
(1860–1927) Resident of Fall River, Massachusetts, the prime suspect when her father and stepmother were found gruesomely murdered. Although she was acquitted, the case had caught the popular imagination and she was widely believed to be the murderer.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Lucrezia Borgia
(1480–1519) Daughter of the Spanish cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI) by his Roman mistress Vannozza Catanei. She shared her family's reputation for licentiousness and criminality; but was most likely merely a pawn of her father's ambition. After she married Alfonso d'Este, son of duke Ercole I of Ferrara, she lived a relatively quiet life at the court of Ferrara and became admired as a patron of the arts and philanthropist.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Botany Bay
Inlet of the Tasman Sea (Pacific Ocean) on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, near Sydney. It was the site of Captain James Cook's first landing in Australia (1770); the name acknowledges the variety of plants found in the vicinity.
(Friday)

Bottom Alley
Name bestowed on a German trench fortification erected outside the village of Fricourt during World War I. The village was captured by British troops during the Battle of the Somme.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

James Bowie
(1796?–1836) Hero of the Texas Revolution (1835–36) against Mexico, who is legendary for his part in the Battle of the Alamo. He sided with the secessionists as a colonel in the Texas army even though he had assumed Mexican citizenship and was married to the daughter of the Mexican vice governor of Texas. His name is associated with the Bowie knife, a broad, single-edged knife on which the top of the back edge curve inward to the point; it was invented by either him or his brother Rezin.
(Starship Troopers, Tunnel in the Sky)

The Boy Scout Handbook
The official "instruction manual" of the Boy Scouts of America. It contains detailed information for a wide range of survival skills; early editions emphasized outdoor activities and first aid.
(Farnham's Freehold)
Brasilia
Capital city of Brazil, located in the Federal District on the country's central plateau, at the headwaters of the Tocantins, Paraná, and São Francisco rivers. It was specifically designed as the nation's capital, replacing Rio de Janeiro in 1960.
(Podkayne of Mars)

brassard
1. A piece of a suit of armor that protects the arm.
2. A cloth band worn around the upper arm, usually bearing an identifying symbol.
(Beyond This Horizon, Methuselah's Children)

Brisbane
Capital of Queensland, Australia, a port city situated on the Brisbane River on the southern slopes of the Taylor Range. Founded as a penal colony in 1824, it was declared a town in 1834 and the name was changed to honor Sir Thomas Brisbane, former governor of New South Wales.
(Friday, "The Man Who Sold the Moon")

British Isles
The group of islands off the northwestern coast of Europe. The group consists of two main islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands including the Shetlands, Hebrides, and Orkneys north of (and belonging to) Scotland; the Channel Islands claimed by England; the Isle of Man between England and Ireland; the Isle of Wight in the English Channel off the English county of Hampshire; and the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.
(Methuselah's Children, Starship Troopers)

Broadmoor Hotel
Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, near Cheyenne Lake at the foot of Pike's Peak. It was opened in 1891 as a gambling casino and was transformed into a "grand resort" in 1918. Today it is a five-star resort featuring a conference center, golf courses, spa, and tennis club.
("The Man Who Sold the Moon")

Brooklyn
One of the five boroughs of New York City, on southwestern Long Island. It is across the East River from Manhattan and is bordered by the Upper and Lower New York bays (west), the Atlantic Ocean (south), and the borough of Queens (north and east). The early Dutch settlers founded Breuckelen in 1645, spelling the name variously as Breucklyn, Breuckland, Brucklyn, Broucklyn, Brookland, and Brookline; the present spelling became fixed about the close of the 18th century. In 1816 the most populous section of Brooklyn was incorporated as a village and in 1834 as a city; the absorbed surrounding communities throughout the 19th century, and became a borough of New York City in 1898.
(The Puppet Masters)

Brown Palace
Historic luxury hotel in Denver, Colorado, built by business Henry Cordes Brown and opened in 1892.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)

Robert Browning
(1812–1889) English poet noted for his dramatic monologues and the psychological portraits in his poems. Among his best-known works are "My Last Duchess" (1842), "Rabbi Ben Ezra" (1864), and Ring and the Book (1868–69). He was married to fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
(Orphans of the Sky)

George Bryan "Beau" Brummel
(1778–1840) A favorite of George, Prince of Wales (the Prince Regent, later King George IV), and a leader of English high society at the beginning of the 19th century. His name became a metaphor for good looks and fashionable dress.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

William Jennings Bryan
(1860–1925) U.S. orator and politician who ran unsuccessfully three times for the U.S. presidency (1896, 1900, 1908). He campaigned for reforms such as popular election of senators, income tax, creation of a Department of Labor, Prohibition, and woman suffrage. He was Secretary of State in Woodrow Wilson's administration (1912–1915). A fundamentalist Christian, he was a witness for the prosecution in the Scopes trial.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Buda-Pesth, Hungary
(Also Budapest) Capital of Hungary; the name is derived from Budai (district) and Pest (county). These two parts of the city are divided by the river Danube. The site has been occupied since prehistoric times; the city has its roots in Roman times, but modern Budapest reflects the heritage of the 19th-century Austro-Hungarian empire.
("The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag")

Buddha
(c. 6th–4th century CE; original name Gautama; also called Siddhartha) Founder of Buddhism, the predominant religious and philosophical system of much of Asia. He taught that the suffering in life is caused by too much attachment to the things of this world; to release oneself from suffering and ultimately from the cycle of death and rebirth, one must free oneself from earthly desires. Buddha is not a name, but a title meaning "enlightened one".
("—We Also Walk Dogs")

Buenos Aires
Capital of Argentina, on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, 150 mi (240 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. It is a major seaport, as well as the national center of commerce, industry, politics, and culture. The first European settlement was founded on the site in 1536, but succumbed to hostile natives and inadequate resources. Another settlement, founded in 1580, survived and flourished.
(Friday, Starship Troopers, Time for the Stars)

bumboat
A boat that brings provisions for sale to larger ships.
(The Number of the Beast)

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
(1475–1564) Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. His works include the sculptures of La Pieta (Mary mourning over the dead Jesus) and David, and the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
(Time for the Stars)

Burlingame, California
City on the railroad line south of San Francisco, named for 19th-century American politician and diplomat Anson Burlingame (although he bought land at the site, he never lived there). The city was incorporated in 1908 and became a "bedroom community" for San Francisco.
(The Puppet Masters)

Edgar Rice Burroughs
(1875–1950) U.S. author who created Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, and other enduring heroes.
Barsoom
The name for the planet Mars in the adventure series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In the stories, Captain John Carter, of Virginia and the Confederate Army, is transported to a Mars inhabited by barbarians, monsters, and beautiful princesses.
John Carter
Hero of a series by Edward Rice Burroughs. A Captain in the Confederate Army, he is mysteriously transported to the planet Barsoom (Mars) where he has many adventures in an exotic civilization and marries a beautiful princess.
Dejah Thoris
A princess of Barsoom, whom John Carter marries.
Pellucidar
Prehistoric world inside the Earth, created by fantasy author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The adventures of David Innes and Abner Perry, who travel to the center of the earth in a "mechanical mole", are described in seven novels originally published as magazine serials: At the Earth's Core (serialized 1914), Pellucidar (1915), Tanar of Pellucidar (1929), Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929–30), Back to the Stone Age (1937), Land of Terror (published as a novel in 1944), and Savage Pellucidar (1942).
(Have Space Suit — Will Travel, The Number of the Beast)

Butler, Missouri
Seat of Bates County in central-western Missouri. It was Robert Heinlein's birthplace.
("Requiem", To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Buttercup
A character in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore. In the play, common sailor Ralph Rackstraw is in love with Josephine, the daughter of Captain Corcoran; but the captain refuses to consider her marrying so far beneath her station, and wants her to marry Sir Joseph Porter. Buttercup solves the romantic dilemma by revealing that, when she was a baby-farmer years ago, she inadvertently switched two of the babies in her care: "Ralph Rackstraw" is in reality the Corcoran scion, and "Captain Corcoran" is the lowly Ralph Rackstraw. Sir Joseph promptly eschews all claim to the now-lowly Josephine, but the newly elevated sailor has no qualms about marrying the maiden he loves.
(Between Planets)

Richard Evelyn Byrd
(1888–1957) U.S. aviation pioneer and explorer. He explored Antarctica using airplanes and other modern resources.
(Time for the Stars)

 

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The Heinlein Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."