A while back I considered the seven wonders of the ancient world, looking for Macguffins. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, completed in 247 BC, has the legend of its reflecting mirror which could burn ships 30 miles away on the horizon.
Parabolas in civil defense were popular then, as Archimedes reportedly used one or several mirrors (and his ship-grabbing claw) across the Mediterranean to destroy Roman ships at Syracuse in 212 BC, where he died, at 75. Or maybe it was a lens. Mythbusters failed twice to replicate the experiment but some MIT students succeeded with a flat mirror array.
It wouldn't be hard to weave both mirrors into the same tale. I gave it a try here. The Macguffin seems perfect for the space race, in which a lens on a Soviet satellite in low earth orbit could adjust the focal point to just few hundred miles away on Earth. Who cares why it works while modern technology fails... that's part of the mystery!
Parabolas in civil defense were popular then, as Archimedes reportedly used one or several mirrors (and his ship-grabbing claw) across the Mediterranean to destroy Roman ships at Syracuse in 212 BC, where he died, at 75. Or maybe it was a lens. Mythbusters failed twice to replicate the experiment but some MIT students succeeded with a flat mirror array.
It wouldn't be hard to weave both mirrors into the same tale. I gave it a try here. The Macguffin seems perfect for the space race, in which a lens on a Soviet satellite in low earth orbit could adjust the focal point to just few hundred miles away on Earth. Who cares why it works while modern technology fails... that's part of the mystery!
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