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

 
C squared
From Albert Einstein's equation describing the amount of energy potential in an object of a given mass; e = mc2, where e represents energy, m represents mass, and c represents the speed of light.
(Citizen of the Galaxy)

Caesar Augustus
(63 BCE – 14 CE; original name Gaius Octavianus) Great-nephew and adopted heir of Gaius Julius Caesar. Upon his adoption, he changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He was the ultimate victor in the power struggles following Julius Caesar's assassination, becoming Rome's first emperor while carefully maintaining the forms of republican government. He accepted the title Augustus several years into his long reign.
(Citizen of the Galaxy, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Gaius Julius Caesar
(100?–44 BCE) Roman general and statesman who greatly expanded the territory controlled by Rome and was the victor in the civil war of 46–44 BCE. His political and social reforms created such alarm among the Senatorial class that a group of them assassinated him. The name Caesar has become a byword for "conquering ruler".
(Friday)

Count Alessandro di Cagliostro
(1743–1795; original name Giuseppe Balsamo) Adventurer who enjoyed a thriving career as an alchemist and fortune teller in Paris before the French Revolution.
(Glory Road)

"Caissons"
"The Caissons Go Rolling Along", an anthem of the United States Army.
("The Roads Must Roll", Starship Troopers)

California
Constituent state of the United States of America on the Pacific coast. It is bounded by Oregon (north), Nevada and Arizona (east), the Mexican state of Baja ("Lower") California (south). The United States claimed the territory from Mexico in 1846; it became the 31st state in 1850. A land of extreme physical contrasts, from deserts to mountains to seacoasts, it is the most populous state in the Union.
("Blowups Happen", The Door Into Summer, Farmer in the Sky, Friday, I Will Fear No Evil, "The Man Who Sold the Moon", The Number of the Beast, The Puppet Masters, "The Roads Must Roll", Starship Troopers, Time Enough for Love, Time for the Stars, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Canaan
The ancient land variously identified as modern-day Palestine and Syria, the territory west of the Jordan River, or the coastal region from Acre northward. The Israelites conquered and occupied it beginning in the late 2nd millennium BCE. The Bible identifies Canaan as the "Promised Land" given to the Israelites by Yahweh.
("If This Goes On—", Tunnel in the Sky)

Canterbury
>A province in east-central South Island, New Zealand. The region includes Christchurch, New Zealand's third largest city. The Canterbury Plains surround Christchurch.
(Friday)

Canton
Anglicization of Guangzhou, the capital of Kwangtung province in southeastern China. It is one of China's principal commercial and trading centers, and was the first Chinese port to be visited regularly by European traders.
(Friday)

Cape Canaveral
Barrier island and city in Brevard county, east central Florida. It is the launching site for the U.S. space program. Following the death of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, it was renamed Cape Kennedy, but the U.S. government restored the original name in 1973. [Spanish, "place of cane (or reeds)"]
(Time Enough for Love)

Capella
Alpha Aurigae, sixth brightest star in the night sky and the brightest in the constellation Auriga (the Charioteer). It is a binary star with with a red companion, about 45 light years from Earth. [Latin, "she-goat"]
(Time for the Stars)

Captain Blood
Adventure novel by Rafael Sabatini (1875–1950), the basis for a 1935 film starring Errol Flynn. The book was originally published in 1922 by Houghton Mifflin company (Boston). [Library of Congress call number PZ3.S113Ca]
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

caravansary
In the Middle East, a shelter for caravans and other travelers, usually just outside the walls of a town or village. It normally consists of a two-story building surrounding a fountain courtyard and surrounded by a thick, well-guarded wall. The ground floor provides storerooms and stables, and the upper floor is divided into sleeping rooms.
(Between Planets)

Carlsbad Caverns
A labyrinth of underground chambers in southeastern New Mexico. The total size is unknown; the explored part of the main cavern is approximately 30 miles (48 km) long. The deepest level is 1,024 feet (312 m) below the ground.
(The Door Into Summer)

Andrew Carnegie
(1835–1919) Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who greatly expanded the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He established a number of charitable and educational foundations, and endowed many public libraries throughout the United States.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress,
(The Red Planet)

Giovanni Giacomo Casanova
(1725–1798; alias Jean-Jacques, Chevalier de Seingalt) Ecclesiastic, writer, soldier, spy, and diplomat, chiefly remembered for making his name synonymous with "libertine". His most famous work is his autobiography, Mémoires de J. Casanova de Seingalt, an evocative description of 18th-century society in the capitals of Europe.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)

Castor and Pollux
(Often called the Dioscuri, from the Greek Dioskouri, "sons of Zeus") In Greek and Roman mythology, twin deities who aided shipwrecked sailors and to whom sacrifices were made for favorable winds. They were usually described as the children of Leda (also the mother of Helen of Troy) and Zeus. In some stories, Castor was the son of Leda's husband Tyndareus and thus a mortal, while Pollux was the son of Zeus, though they were born at the same time.
(The Number of the Beast, The Rolling Stones, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Celle Qui Fut La Belle Heaulmière
(Variously called in English, "She Who Was the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife", "She Who Once Was the Beautiful Heaulmiere", or "The Old Courtesan") Bronze statue created by French sculpture Auguste Rodin, sometime between 1880 and 1885. It depicts an old woman, nude but for a cloth draped around her loins, seated, bent with age and looking downward. In the ravages of age is the memory of the woman's youthful beauty.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)

centaur
In Greek myth, a race of creatures that were part horse and part man and that dwelt in the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia. They were described as lawless and inhospitable slaves of animal passions. They were often associated with Dionysus or Eros, in allusion to their drunken and amorous escapades. [Greek kentauros]
(Starman Jones)

Cerberus
In Greek myth, the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to the Underworld.
(The Star Beast)

Ceres
1. Largest known asteroid in the solar system, and the first to be discovered (by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801). Its diameter is about 700 km (440 miles) and it orbits the Sun in 4.6 Earth years. It is named after the Roman goddess.
2. In Roman myth, the goddess of agriculture.
(The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Red Planet, Podkayne of Mars, The Red Planet, Time for the Stars)

Cerro Crestón
Site of a lighthouse in Mazatlán, Mexico, the highest point in the city. [Spanish cerro, "hill"]
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)

Cerro de la Nevería
Hill near downtown Mazatlán, Mexico. The hill is honeycombed with limestone caves that were once used to store ice imported from San Francisco during the mid-1800s. The ice was used in iceboxes in the days before electric refrigerators. [Spanish, "icebox hill"]
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)

Cerro Vigia
One of the highest observation points in Mazatlán, Mexico. [Spanish, "lookout hill"]
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)

Republic of Chad
Landlocked African nation bordered by Libya (north); the Sudan (east); the Central African Republic (south); and Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger (west). Its capital is N'Djamena. Most of its northern territory is within the Sahara Desert.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Annie Chambers
(1843–1935; real name Leannah Loveall Chambers Kearns) Kansas City's most notorious madam, who from 1872 until 1923 operated a brothel on the southwest corner of Third and Wyandotte Streets.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Change Alley
Trading center in Singapore. Traditionally a warren of merchants and coffee shops, it was demolished in 1984 and transformed into a modern commercial center. It was probably named after Change Alley [Exchange Alley] in London, a street associated with the London Stock Exchange.
(Glory Road)

Channel Islands
Archipelago in the English Channel off the southern coast of England directly below Weymouth. Physically closer to France than England, they are dependencies of the British crown though not strictly part of the United Kingdom. The four largest islands are Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark. Both English and French (including a Norman-French patois) are spoken there.
(Friday)

Charax
City in southern Mesopotamia on the lower Tigris River, which became important for trade with India during the Seleucid empire (4th through 2nd centuries BCE). It was named Antiochia until the name was changed around 125 BCE by the satrap Hyspaosines, who made it his capital.
(The Red Planet)

Charles' Wain
Another name for the Big Dipper, a group of stars within the constellation Ursa Major. [Probably from Old English carles wægn, "churl's wain" (peasant's wagon)]
(Space Cadet)

Charleston, South Carolina
Seat of Charleston County between the Ashley and Cooper rivers, founded in 1670 (as Charles Towne, for Charles II of England).
(The Day After Tomorrow)

Charon
In Greek myth, the son of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). It was his duty to ferry souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron into the underworld.
("The Man Who Sold the Moon", To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Chase
International banking corporation headquartered in New York City. Chase National Bank (named in honor of U.S. Treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase) was founded in 1877; it merged with the Bank of the Manhattan Company in 1955 to form Chase Manhattan. In 1996, Chase Manhattan merged with Chemical Banking Corporation to form the nation's largest bank, retaining the name Chase Manhattan. It merged with the investment firm J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000. The merged corporation is called J.P. Morgan Chase; Chase is the retail financial services franchise within the merged corporation.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Checker Cab Manufacturing Company
Automobile manufacturer formed in 1922 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It produced taxicabs until 1982; today, as the Checker Motors Corporation, it provides parts for General Motors vehicles.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)

chemiluminescence
Emission of electromagnetic (ultraviolet, visible, or infrared) radiation during the course of chemical reactions. Such radiation is most commonly generated by oxidation. Chemiluminescence that occurs in living organisms is called bioluminescence.
("Let There Be Light")

cherub
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, an angel with human, animal, or birdlike characteristics who serves as God's throne bearer, continually chanting praise to God. The cherubim are among the higher ranks of angels. [Probably from Akkadian karibu or kuribu; from karabu, "to pray" or "to bless"]
("If This Goes On—", The Rolling Stones)

Chesterfield Club
Nightclub situated at 320 East Ninth Street in the heart of the tenderloin district of Kansas City, Missouri. It enjoyed its heyday during the 1920s and 1930s. According to Nathan Pearson's retrospective Goin' to Kansas City (University of Illinois Press, 1987, Library of Congress call number ML3508.8.K37P4), it featured a "businessman's lunch" served by waitresses who wore nothing but shoes and see-through aprons and who shaved their pubic hair in the shapes of the various playing-card suits. The club was closed down in 1939 as a "common nuisance".
(I Will Fear No Evil)

Chicago, Illinois
Seat of Cook County in northeastern Illinois on Lake Michigan, incorporated in 1837. It is a major transportation center for agriculture, livestock, and industry, as well as a financial and manufacturing center. Though notorious for political corruption, it is also popular for its diverse cultural attractions, from jazz to ethnic cuisines.
(Between Planets, Friday, "The Man Who Sold the Moon", Starman Jones)

Chicago Tribune
Newspaper founded in 1847. In 1855, it was purchased by Canadian-born Joseph Medill (1823–1899), who used it to propound his abolitionist views and to support Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign. Politically liberal through most of the 19th century, it became increasing conservative and isolationist after 1914 under the control of Robert R. McCormick (1880–1955).
(Time Enough for Love)

Chickamauga Park, Georgia
Site of Camp Thomas, the Army base near Chattanooga, Tennessee, where many troops were mustered and trained before deployment in the Spanish-American War (1898).
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Chillicothe
Seat of Livingston County in northern Missouri, situated near the Grand River northeast of Kansas City. Settled about 1830, it was laid out in 1837 and named for Chillicothe, Ohio (Ohio's original capital). [Given Robert Heinlein's connections to Missouri, the name is more likely inspired by the Missouri city than the Ohio.]
(Methuselah's Children)

King Christian
Any one of a number of kings of Denmark, from Christian I in the 15th century through Christian X, who died in 1947.
(The Rolling Stones)

Christmas Disease

A rare form of hemophilia, also called hemophilia B. It was identified in 1952 in a boy named Stephen Christmas, and therefore named after him. Only 15–20% of people with hemophilia have this form.

(Friday)

Christopher
Possibly apocryphal saint of the Roman Catholic Church, the patron saint of travelers and particularly of automobile travel. Legends depict him carrying a small child across a stream, who upon reaching the other side revealed himself to be the Christ Child. [Greek christos, "Christ"; pherein, "to bear"]
(Citizen of the Galaxy)

chuck wagon
The wagon in a convoy that carried food and cooking supplies; the term was most common in the western United States.
(The Cat Who Walks Through Walls)

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
(1874–1965) British statesman, orator, and author. After a brief military career, he devoted himself to politics and literature, sitting in Parliament, serving in the Admiralty, and serving two terms as prime minister (1940–45 and 1951–1955). During World War II he became a national hero for his leadership in opposing the Axis forces and maintaining national morale during wartime. His literary works include a biography of his ancestor John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough; accounts of various military campaigns in which he fought or was involved as a war correspondent; a biography of his father, Lord Randolph Churchill; an autobiographical history of World War II; and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers)

Cincinnati, Ohio
Seat of Hamilton County in the southwestern corner of Ohio, on the Ohio river across from Kentucky.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Sir Arthur C. Clarke
(1917– ) Science-fiction writer credited with first proposing the idea of communications satellites. He collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey. A two-time Hugo Award winner, he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1986. He is a past Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society. Sir Arthur was knighted in 2000. Clarke's Third Law is widely quoted: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
(The Number of the Beast)

Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz
(1780–1831) Prussian general who is widely regarded as an authority on war strategies and tactics. His writings, especially On War, advocate total war, in which all the enemy's territory, propery, and citizens are targets.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)

Samuel Langhorne Clemens
(1835–1910) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer who published under the name Mark Twain. Trained as a Mississippi riverboat pilot, his pseudonym is the riverman's term for two fathoms, a depth barely safe for navigation. His novels, travelogues, and other writings as well as his lectures were based on his early life in Hannibal, Missouri; his riverboat career; his travels in the American West, Holy Land, and Europe; and his trenchant view of life and society. His most famous novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Among his nonfiction works are The Innocents Abroad, Life on the Mississippi, and a biography of Joan of Arc.
(Friday, The Number of the Beast, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Clay County, Missouri
County in north-central Missouri on the border with Kansas. It was created in 1822 and named for U.S. statesman Henry Clay. The county seat is Liberty.
(The Number of the Beast)

Cleveland, Ohio
Seat of Cuyahoga County in northeastern Ohio. It is situated on Lake Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Civilian Conservation Corps
The Cosmic Construction Corps was probably modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps founded by Franklin Roosevelt to provide jobs during the Great Depression. Work performed by CCC members included planting trees, building flood barriers, fighting forest fires, and maintaining roads and trails. Members lived in work camps under quasi-military discipline. The New Deal program provided work for a total of 3 million men.
(Methuselah's Children, "Misfit")

clipper ship
Sailing ship developed in the 19th century in the United States. The long, slim shape and three large sails made the ship famous for its grace and speed. Clipper ships became important for their relatively rapid voyages from the Atlantic coast to China (for the tea trade) and to the California gold fields.
("Blowups Happen")

Clytemnestra
In Greek legend, the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, and wife of Agamemnon. During the 10 years that Agamemnon was leading the Greek forces in the Trojan War, Clytemnestra took a lover, Aegisthus, with whom she plotted her husband's murder upon his return. (The playwright Aeschylus attributed the murder not just to her adultery but also to her desire for revenge because Agamemnon sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia, to obtain favorable winds for sailing to Troy; and to the curse upon Agamemnon's family for earlier offenses against the gods.) She was killed by her son and daughter, Orestes and Elektra, in revenge for their father's murder.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Coca-Cola
The soft drink was created in 1886 by Atlanta pharmacist John S. Pemberton (1831–88) as a tonic "for what ails you". Originally sold in syrup form to soda fountains, it became phenomenally popular after Asa Griggs Candler bought the business in 1891 and transformed it into a national distributor of both syrup and bottled drinks. The licensing agreements developed by the Coca-Cola Company became the standard for the soft-drink industry.
(Between Planets, Citizen of the Galaxy, Friday,Job: A Comedy of Justice)

coelostat
Motor-driven device that positions a flat mirror to continuously reflect the Sun into a fixed telescope. It is used when it is not feasible to move the telescope itself to keep the Sun in focus.
(Farmer in the Sky, The Rolling Stones)

Colombo
Administrative capital of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), situated on the west coast of the island, on the Indian Ocean just south of the Kelani River. Fa-hsien, a Chinese traveler of the 5th century AD, referred to the port as Kao-lan-pu. The Sinhalese called the port Kolamba (an old Sinhalese word meaning "port" or "ferry"). The modern port was developed under European domination, and Colombo became the island's capital when it was ceded to the British in 1815.
(Time Enough for Love)

Colorado Springs, Colorado
Seat of El Paso County in central Colorado, situated on a mesa at the foot of Pikes Peak. Founded in 1871 as Fountain Colony, it was renamed for the nearby mineral springs. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the U.S. Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Fort Carson are nearby.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Samuel Colt
(1814–1862) U.S. firearms manufacturer who popularized the revolver. His six-shot, single-action .45-calibre Peacemaker model, introduced in 1873, became the most famous sidearm of the West.
(Beyond This Horizon)

Christopher Columbus
(1451–1506; original Italian spelling Cristoforo Colombo; Spanish, Cristobal Colón) Italian navigator credited with discovering the American continent (in 1492), sailing under the sponsorship of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain with three ships: the flagship Santa Maria, the Niña, and the Pinta. He made a total of four voyages across the Atlantic, and was named Admiral of the Ocean Seas by his patrons.
("The Man Who Sold the Moon", Time for the Stars)

"Come, Come Ye Saints!"
Hymn written by William Clayton in 1846, during the Mormon migration to Utah. It is considered an anthem of the Church of Latter Day Saints.
("If This Goes On—")

Commodore Hotel
Manhattan hotel built next to Grand Central Station in Manhattan. Originally owned by a subsidiary of Penn Central Railroad, it is now the Grand Hyatt.
("'It's Great to Be Back!'")

The Complete Herbalist
Book by Oliver Phelps Brown, published by the author in 1865. [Library of Congress call number RV5.B88]
(Farnham's Freehold)

Thomas Cook
(1808–1892) Founder of Thomas Cook and Son, a worldwide agency that popularized the conducted tour. Cook personally conducted European tours from 1856 through the early 1860s; after that time he was sales agent for the tours. His son became his partner in 1864 and inherited the business.
(Have Space Suit — Will Travel)

Copais Palus
An albedo feature (light-reflecting area) in the far northern hemisphere of Mars. It is named for a marshy lake north of Mt. Helicon in Boeotia, Greece.
(The Red Planet)

The Country Gentleman
Magazine "dedicated to the country and sporting life", founded in 1859. In 1866 it merged with another magazine, The Cultivator, and was called The Cultivator and Country Gentleman until 1898, when the name reverted to just The Country Gentleman.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)

Aubrey Cousens
Canadian military hero of World War II. A sergeant in The Queen's Own Rifles, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in capturing the village of Mooshoff, Rhineland, in February 1945.
(Starship Troopers)

Coventry
Inland city in Warwickshire, England, probably founded in Saxon times. It is famous as the home of Earl Leofric of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva, who according to legend rode naked on horseback to win relief from taxes for its people. The term "sent to Coventry" as a metaphor for exile, shunning, or disgrace dates from 1765. Various explanations have been offered for its origin, among them the use of staunchly Puritan Coventry as a site of "internal exile" or imprisonment for Royalists during the English Civil War.
("Coventry," Methuselah's Children)

Aleister Crowley
(1875–1947) British writer who founded the occult order known as the Silver Star. He reveled in his reputation as "the great beast" and "the wickedest man alive".
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)

crow's nest
A partly enclosed platform high on a ship's mast, used for lookout duty.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)

Crusades
The series of European military expeditions from 1095 to 1270 against Muslim territory, which were particularly aimed at taking control of Jerusalem. The stated reason was to gain control of the shrine of the Holy Sepulcher and other places sacred to Christianity; but the crusaders frequently contented themselves with carving fiefdoms out of the captured territories, often massacring all inhabitants including fellow Christians in the process. [Middle French croizade or Spanish cruzada, from Latin crux, "cross"]
("If This Goes On—", Job: A Comedy of Justice, Methuselah's Children)

Marie Curie
(1867–1934) Polish-born French physicist who is credited with the discovery of radium. She received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 (with Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie) for her research into radioactivity, and the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. She died from leukemia caused by long-term exposure to radiation.
(Between Planets)

Sir Arthur William Currie
(1875–1933) Lieutenant General, the first commander of Canada's overseas forces in World War I. He was knighted in 1918.
(Starship Troopers)

Curtiss-Wright
Aircraft manufacturer, formed by the merger of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, founded by aeronautical pioneer Glenn Curtiss, and Wright Aeronautical, incorporated by the Wright Brothers in 1919.

Cygnus
The Swan, a constellation in the northern hemisphere near Hercules; it is sometimes called the Northern Cross. Alpha Cygnus (Deneb) is one of the 20 brightest stars.
(Starman Jones)

Cynia Lacus
One of the "dark spots" on Mars that Giovanni Schiaparelli and, later, Percival Lowell associated with the Martian "canals". Lowell referenced this and other dark spots in his book Mars (1895, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Library of Congress call number QB641.L9).

 

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