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I. THE GENESIS OF A DREAMDirected-Energy Weapons: Technology and ProgramsChapter OneIt is still a matter of wonder how the Martians were able to slay men so swiftly and so silently. Many think that in someway they were able to generate an intense heat in a chamber of practically absolute non-conductivity. This intense heat theyproject in a parallel beam against any object they choose, by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition,much as the parabolic mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light ... Whatever is combustible flashes into flame at itstouch, lead runs like water, it softens iron, cracks and melts glass, and when it falls upon water, incontinently that explodesinto steam. 1– H.G. Wells, The War of the WorldsBy the time H.G. Wells penned this fanciful description of a Martian “heat-ray” in 1898, human beings and theirsimian ancestors had been making tools -- including <strong>weapons</strong> -- for over two million years. 2 It was not until the eveof the twentieth century, though, that understanding of physics progressed to a point where <strong>directed</strong>-<strong>energy</strong> <strong>weapons</strong>could become a staple of popular fiction. In fact, use of the word “<strong>energy</strong>” in its modern sense barely predated Wells’birth in 1866.However, the appearance of The War of the Worlds coincided with a series of scientific discoveries that provided thefoundation for developing lasers and other <strong>directed</strong>-<strong>energy</strong> devices in the following decades. In 1895, WilhelmConrad Rontgen detected X-rays for the first time. In 1897 John Joseph Thompson demonstrated the existence ofelectrons and thus proved the divisibility of atoms. The following year Wilhelm Wien discovered the electron’s positively-chargedcousin, the proton. In 1899 Ernest Rutherford traced alpha and beta particles radiating from uranium,and a year later Antoine-Henri Becquerel showed that beta particles were in fact electrons. Every year seemed tobring important breakthroughs. 3The first decade of the new century provided the greatest breakthrough of all. In 1905 Albert Einstein published his“special theory of relativity,” and thus began a revolution in theoretical physics that was to overthrow the prevailingNewtonian paradigm. Einstein’s elegant equation, E=mc 2 , revealed a universe in which the most prosaic items werebursting with <strong>energy</strong>. This insight demolished much of the received wisdom about <strong>energy</strong> and matter, setting the stagefor innovations unimagined in earlier generations. Twelve years later, Einstein explained how atoms could be stimulatedto emit <strong>energy</strong> at specific wavelengths, a discovery that led directly to the development of lasers at mid-century. 4Scientists now believe that four elemental forces shape the universe: the “strong” force that binds the particles in an atom’snucleus despite their mutual repulsion; the “weak” force that causes those particles to decay; the gravitational force exertedby any object with mass; and the electromagnetic force. 5 Thus far, only electromagnetism has proved highly malleablein human hands. This study is about how the electromagnetic force can be used as a tool of war. More specifically, it isabout how certain forms of electromagnetic <strong>energy</strong> can be fashioned into powerful, precise beams capable of achieving arange of militarily useful effects, and what that capability may mean for the future of warfare.Electromagnetism has played a continuously increasing role in warfare since the advent of telegraphs in the earlynineteenth century. However, it is only since World War Two that the idea of using beams of pure <strong>energy</strong> to destroyor disable targets has become technically feasible. The most mature <strong>directed</strong>-<strong>energy</strong> weapon today is the high-<strong>energy</strong>3

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