teleportation n.
instantaneous transportation from one place to another, esp. by means of a machine which breaks matter down into its constituent particles or converts it to energy, information, etc., and transmits it in this form to another location where it is reconstituted
In the 1930s examples, showing the use as a form of psychic or spiritualistic power.
SF Encyclopedia
FTL
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1931
Charles Fort
Sometimes, in what I call ‘teleportations’, there seems to be ‘agency’ and sometimes not.
Lo! i. iv. 42 -
1932
Charles Fort
bibliography
Mostly in this book I shall specialize upon indications that there exists a transportory force that I shall call Teleportation.
Wild Talents ii. 27
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1932
Charles Fort
bibliography
Marauding animals have often unaccountably appeared in, or near, human communities.…I have collected notes upon these occurrences, as teleportations. [Ibid. x. 100] It seems to me that my expressions upon Teleportations are somewhat satisfactory in most of the cases—that is, that there is a force, distributive of forms of life and other phenomena that could switch an animal, say from a jungle in Madagascar to a back yard somewhere in Nebraska.
Wild Talents x. 98
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1943
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Theodore Sturgeon
James H. Beard
bibliography
‘Are you telling me you felt things in those pictures?’ Farrel nodded soberly. ‘Donzey, I was in those pictures.’ Donzey thought, What have I got here? Transmigration? Teleportation? Clairvoyance? Why, there’s ten billion in it!
The Bones in Unknown Worlds Aug. 110/1
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1944
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Henry Kuttner
C. L. Moore
bibliography
Teleportation? Quat showed me last night. He can’t do it himself, but I’m X Free super so I can. The power isn’t disciplined yet.
When the Bough Breaks in Astounding Science Fiction Nov. 89/1
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1951
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John Wyndham
bibliography
Suppose the Russians had a transmitter, and could project things or people here by teleportation.
Pawley’s Peepholes in Science-Fantasy Winter 8 -
1969
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Perry A. Chapdelaine
bibliography
Natural teleportation did not consume time, while hyper-drive did.
Spork & the Beast in Worlds of If May 98/1 -
1984
David Brin
bibliography
Had the ziev effect played another trick on them all and given them teleportation rather than an interstellar drive?
Practice Effect .i.22
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1993
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Harlan Ellison
bibliography
I didn’t really know how I jaunted. I just…did it. One moment I was snug in the privacy of my own head, and the next I was over there in someone else’s landscape. It was instantaneous, like teleportation.
Mefisto in Onyx in Omni Oct. 134/3
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2001 Cult Times Feb. 59/5
Martin Brundle, son of the late Seth, is born under the watchful eye of Anton Bartok, an unscrupulous scientific tycoon, determined to discover the secret of the teleportation pods invented by Martin’s father.
Research requirements
antedating 1931
Earliest cite
C. Fort 'Lo!'
Research History
The OED has cites back to 1931 for uses of "teleportation" that come from spiritualism. We are looking here for cites that refer to the power of teleportation in a science fiction setting.Bill Seabrook submitted a cite from a 1970 reprint of Theodore Sturgeon and James Beard's 1943 story "The Bones". We would like to check the magazine appearance in 1943 in Unknown. Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a reprint of Lewis Padgett's "When The Bough Breaks"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1944 first magazine appearance.
We noted that Martin Gardner's "In the Name of Science" (1952) credited Charles Fort with coining the word teleportation (in this particular sense), and requested cites from early copies of Fort's books, and Bob Rickard of the Fortean Times submitted cites from Fort's "Lo!" (1931) and "Wild Talents" (1932)
Earliest cite in the OED: 1951 in the sf sense.
Last modified 2022-10-04 15:47:33
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