Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Silence Please

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Language
  
English

Publisher
  
Nova Publications

Originally published
  
1950

Series
  
Tales from the White Hart

Followed by
  
Big Game Hunt

Published in
  
Science-Fantasy

Publication date
  
Winter 1950

Author
  
Arthur C. Clarke

Genre
  
Science Fiction

Country
  
United Kingdom

Arthur C. Clarke books
  
The Pacifist, The Reluctant Orchid, The Man Who Ploughed

"Silence Please" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1950. This comic story describes the efforts of a brilliant college student to design a machine that would produce a field of absolute silence. The gadget is then used in a prank, with tragic results. The story was also published as "Silence Please!".

The story touches (albeit in a humorous way) on the popular science fiction theme of an inventor coming to grief at the hands of their invention that is best known from Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. The piece was later used as the introductory story for Clarke's collection Tales from the White Hart.

References

Silence Please Wikipedia