{{Short description|1926–1927 novel by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy}} {{more citations needed|date=May 2020}} {{infobox book|<!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = The Garin Death Ray | title_orig = Гиперболоид инженера Гарина | translator = Bernard Guilbert Guerney (1st edition) <br/>George Hanna (revised ed.) | image = File:Гиперболоид инженера Гарина, 1 издание, Госиздат 1927.png | image_size = 200px | caption = Book cover of the first Russian edition, 1927 | author = Aleksey Tolstoy | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = Soviet Union | language = Russian | series = | genre = Science-fiction novel | publisher = Methuen (1st edition) <br /> Foreign Language (revised edition) | release_date = 1927 | english_release_date = 1936 (1st edition) and 1955 (revised edition) | media_type = | pages = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}
'''''The Garin Death Ray''''', also known as '''''The Death Box''''' and '''''The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin''''' ({{langx|ru|Гиперболоид инженера Гарина}}), is a science-fiction novel written in 1926–1927 by the Russian author Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1882–1945).
The "hyperboloid" of the title is not a geometrical surface (though that is utilized in the device design) but a "death ray"-laser-like device (thought up by the author many decades before lasers were invented) that the protagonist, engineer Garin, uses to fight his enemies while trying to become the dictator of the world. The idea of a "death ray" (popularized in ''The War of the Worlds'' by H. G. Wells, among others) was commonplace in science fiction of the time, but Aleksey Tolstoy's version is unique for its level of technical details. "Hyperboloids" of different power-capability differ in their effect. The device uses two hyperbolic mirrors (in contrast to Wells's Heat-Ray, which uses a parabolic mirror) to concentrate light rays in a parallel beam. Larger "hyperboloids" can destroy military ships on the horizon, while those of less power can only injure people and cut electric cables on walls of rooms.
Professor {{ill|Georgy Slyusarev|ru|Слюсарев, Георгий Георгиевич}}, an expert in optics, in his 1944 book "О возможном и невозможном в оптике" ("About Possible and Impossible in Optics") presented arguments about the infeasibility of Garin's fictional device.
==Adaptations==
Two film adaptations of the novel were released in the Soviet Union in 1965 (''The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin'') and 1973 (''Failure of Engineer Garin'').
Aleksandr Abdulov started shooting his own version of ''Hyperboloid'', but it was unfinished due to Abdulov's illness and death.<ref>[https://dzen.ru/a/YSXVijf4wDa5_FwV Как Абдулов снимал «Гиперболоид инженера Гарина»: судьба незавершённого фильма]</ref>
== Influence ==
* Charles H. Townes, the inventor of laser, said that his invention had been inspired by this novel.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jacobsen|first1=Annie|authorlink=Annie Jacobsen|title=The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency|date=2015|publisher=Hachette|location=UK|isbn= 9780316371650|pages=207, 347|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnkVBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT347|accessdate=10 November 2015|ref=Jacobsen}}</ref> *Vladimir Nabokov included parodic elements in his tragicomedy ''The Waltz Invention'' (1938).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Frank |first1=Siggy |url= |title=Nabokov's Theatrical Imagination |last2=Frank |first2=Sigrun |date= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-01545-6 |pages=113 |language=en}}</ref> * The Soviet rock band Kino was originally known as ''Garin i giperboloidy'' ({{langx|ru|Гарин и Гиперболоиды}}, ''Garin and the hyperboloids'').<ref>Алексей Викторович Рыбин. ''"Кино" с самого начала и до самого конца''</ref> * The Estonian punk band Vennaskond has an album and a song "Insener Garini hüperboloid" (The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin in Estonian).<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/release/8888347-Vennaskond-Insener-Garini-H%C3%BCperboloid Vennaskond – Insener Garini Hüperboloid]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb title|qid=Q4138716|id=tt0314105}}, 1965 movie * {{IMDb title|qid=Q4239907|id=tt0069601|title=Failure of Engineer Garin}}, 1973 movie
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Garin Death Ray, The}} Category:1927 science fiction novels Category:1927 Russian novels Category:Russian science fiction novels Category:Novels by Alexei Tolstoy Category:Soviet science fiction novels Category:Weapons of mass destruction in fiction Category:Russian novels adapted into television shows Category:Russian novels adapted into films Category:Science fiction novels adapted into films Category:Methuen Publishing books