Outsider Thinking--Space Friction, 1944

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

"Ist der Weltraum absolut leer, oder nicht?" ("Is outer space absolutely empty, or not?")

Carl Kutter challenged Isaac Newton on the 1st law of motion.  Or at least that is what it looks like to me, the story presented in a slim but attractively designed pamphlet, published in Basel in 1944. Die Weltraumreibung presents the issue of "space friction", and I frankly could not make my way through that much of it--not even to the point of understanding whay Halley's Comet is illustrated on the front cover. But the design is interesting, and the issue was certainly very highly unexpected.

This site is interesting:  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceFriction