Former U.S. airline, founded in 1928 as Pitcairn Aviation, Inc., then sold
the following year and renamed Eastern Air Transport. It served the
northeastern and southeastern United States. In 1938, it was sold to World War
I ace Eddie Rickenbacker. After financial reverses in the 1980s, a takeover by
Texas Air in 1986, a series of union strikes, and bankruptcy in 1990, the
company went out of business in 1991.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Eboracum
Roman military headquarters established in 71 CE and occupied until about
400; the site of the modern city of York, England.
(Have Space Suit — Will Travel)
Eden
In the Biblical Book of Genesis, the garden inhabited by the first man and
woman, Adam and Eve, until their expulsion for disobeying God. [Probably
Akkadian edinu, borrowed from Sumerian eden, "plain"]
(Friday, "If This Goes On—", Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Egypt
Country located in northeastern Africa, extending along the Nile River
from the Mediterranean to Sudan. It is home to one of the world's most ancient
civilizations, and today plays a central role in the culture and politics of
the Arab world.
Albert Einstein
(1879–1955) Austrian physicist (naturalized American citizen) who
developed the special and general theories of relativity, the equivalence of
mass and energy, and the photon theory of light.
(Between Planets, The Red Planet, Starman Jones)
Dwight David Eisenhower
(1890–1969) U.S. general who was supreme commander of the Allied forces in
western Europe during World War II. He served two terms (1953–61) as the 34th
president of the United States.
(Double Star)
Electric Park
Amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri, that opened in 1907. Named for
the lights that outlined and decorated the park's buildings, it contained
rides, a band pavilion, a swimming and boating area, and the usual park
concessions. It was destroyed by a fire in 1925.
(Time Enough for Love, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Electrical Experimenter
Science magazine published by Hugo Gernsback. Founded in 1908 as Modern
Electrics, it was renamed Electrical Experimenter in 1917. In
addition to scientific articles, it published science-fiction stories. The
magazine eventually merged with Popular Mechanics.
("Requiem")
electroluminescence
Production of light by the flow of electrons, as within certain crystals.
This direct conversion of electric energy into light does not generate heat,
as incandescent light does.
("Let There Be Light")
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
Fraternal organization founded in 1868 and dedicated to philanthropy. In
addition to aiding members in distress, the Elks raise money for children with
disabilities, college scholarships, youth projects and recreational programs
for patients in veterans hospitals. They also organize other support programs
for military personnel (including veterans) and military and civilian
hospitals.
(Podkayne of Mars)
Thomas Stearns Eliot
(1888–1965) American-born English poet, playwright, literary critic, and
editor. In addition to serious works such as him poem The Waste Land
(1922) and his play about Thomas Becket, Murder in the Cathedral
(1935), Eliot wrote the collection of light verse, Old Possum's Book of
Practical Cats (1939). In 1948, he was awarded the Nobel prize for
literature and the British Order of Merit.
(Farnham's Freehold)
Ellis Island
Island in Upper New York Bay southwest of Manhattan, New York City. The
island was named for Manhattan merchant Samuel Ellis, who owned it in the
1770s. From 1892 to 1924, it was the principal immigration entry point for the
United States, and is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
("Logic of Empire," "The Green Hills of Earth")
Elmendorf Air Force Base
U.S. military base built near Anchorage, Alaska, during World War II.
(Glory Road)
Elsie Dinsmore
Heroine of a children's series by U.S. author Martha Finley (1828–1909),
which promoted the virtues of Victorian propriety and fundamentalist
Christianity through the fairly tame adventures of Elsie from girlhood through
old age.
(The Number of the Beast)
Elysian Fields
Also called Elysium, or Elysian Plain. In Greek myth, the paradise to
which the favored dead were sent, a place of perfect happiness. Early writers
such as Homer described it as the home of heroes upon whom the gods bestowed
immortality; it gradually became the destination of all those who had lived a
righteous life.
("Gulf", The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange
Land, Time Enough for Love, Time for the Stars)
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia first published as a three-volume set in
18th-century Edinburgh, Scotland. Subsequent editions featured a
rapidly expanding list of topics and contributions by eminent scholars and
experts in all fields. Today, it is continually updated with annual editions
in both printed and electronic versions.
(Farnham's Freehold)
The Engineer's Manual
Handbook by Dr. Ralph Gorton Hudson (assisted by Joseph Lipka, Howard B.
Luther and Dean Peabody, jr.), published in 1917 by John Wiley & Sons.
[Library of Congress call number TA151.H8]
(The Rolling Stones)
"Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You
Think"
Song written in 1948 by Carl Sigman and Herb Magidson, and recorded by
many performers including Bing Crosby, Doris Day, and Tommy Dorsey.
(The Number of the Beast)
Epsilon Ceti
Fifth-brightest star in the constellation Cetus (the Whale). The
constellation is visible in the northern hemisphere during the autumn and the
southern hemisphere during the spring.
(Starman Jones)
Epsilon Gemini
Mebsuta, the fifth-brightest star in the constellation Gemini (the Twins).
It is in the hem of Castor's tunic below the right knee. It is a double star,
white 3.4 magnitude and blue 9.5 magnitude. [Arabic al mabsuta, "the
outstretched paw"; early Arabs included the star in the constellation The Lion
(not the same as Leo).]
(Starman Jones)
Leif Ericsson
(Also spelled Eriksson, Ericson, or Erikson) 11th-century Norse explorer
widely believed to have been the first European to reach the shores of North
America. The 13th- and 14th-century Icelandic accounts and later
evidence show that he was a member of an early Norse Viking voyage to North
America; but it is uncertain whether he led the initial expedition.
(Time for the Stars)
Erymanthus
Mountain on the southern border of the ancient Greek region of Achaia,
south of the Gulf of Corinth on the Peloponnese. Hercules captured a wild boar
here as one of his Twelve Labors.
(The Red Planet)
M. C. Escher
(1898–1972) Dutch artist famous for his realistic but topologically
impossible drawings.
(The Number of the Beast)
Ovid W. Eshbach
Author of Handbook of Engineering Fundamentals, published in 1936
by J. Wiley & Sons (New York) and Chapman & Hall Ltd. (London) A 2nd
edition was published by Wiley in 1952, a 3rd edition in 1975, and a 4th
edition in 1989. [Library of Congress call number TA151.E8]
(Farnham's Freehold)
Estates-General
(French États-généraux) In France before the revolution of 1789,
the assembly of the three "estates" or social classes: the nobility (first
estate), the clergy (second), the majority of the people (third). The first
such national assembly met in 1302. The Estates General met only when summoned
by the monarch, and their decisions were advisory only, not binding. They were
generally ineffective both because the large number of attendees made the
meetings unwieldy and because the conflicting interests of the three estates
meant they seldom reached a consensus.
(Between Planets)
Evangeline
Narrative poem by U.S. poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882),
published in 1847. It tells the story of an Acadian (French Canadian) woman
who is separated from her lover when the British expel the Acadians from Nova
Scotia. Her wanderings in exile take her eventually to Louisiana, where she is
reunited with her lover only as he is dying.
(Double Star)
evening star
The planet Venus when visible in Earth's sky after dusk.
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."