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Ringworld

Cover of first edition (paperback)
Author Larry Niven
Country United States
Language English
Series Ringworld, Known Space
Genre(s) Science fiction novel
Publisher Ballantine Books
Publication date 1970
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-345-02046-4
Followed by The Ringworld Engineers, 1980

Ringworld is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938 Los Angeles California) is a US Science fiction author. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Known Space is the fictional setting of several Science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view The Ballantine Publishing Group, better known as Ballantine Books, is a major American book Publisher founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine. A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. The Ringworld Engineers is a 1980 Science fiction Novel by Larry Niven. The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best Science fiction or Fantasy works and achievements of the previous year The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA for the best Science fiction / Fantasy fiction The year 1970 in literature involved some significant events and new books Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938 Los Angeles California) is a US Science fiction author. Known Space is the fictional setting of several Science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. The work is considered one of the classics of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels, and it ties into numerous other books set in Known Space.

Contents

Plot summary

In the year 2855, four adventurers (two humans and two aliens) explore a mysterious "ringworld": an enormous, artificial, ring-shaped structure that surrounds a star. Extraterrestrial life is Life originating outside of the Earth. A star is a massive luminous ball of plasma. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the Energy on Earth The story is set in an extremely technologically advanced universe, where instant teleportation and near-indestructible spacecraft hulls are commonplace. The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy Teleportation is the movement of objects from one place to another more or less instantaneously either by Paranormal means or through technological artifice A hull is the body of a Ship or Boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the Buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking

Nessus is a Pierson's Puppeteer, a species with the most advanced technology in Known Space. Nessus is a male (of the second type his species has three sexes character in Larry Niven 's Known Space universe of the species Pierson's Puppeteer In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Being descended from herbivorous herd animals, their morality is more-or-less based on cowardice: the ruling class is known as they-who-lead-from-behind, and the supreme leader is called the Hindmost. Herbivory is a form of Predation in which an Organism, known as a herbivore, consumes principally Autotrophs ref name=Campbell>Campbell Puppeteers who display any signs of bravery are considered insane by their peers, and in fact are insane; bravery is accompanied by other symptoms of mental illness, such as manic-depressive cycles.

Essentially xenophobic, only a very small minority of Puppeteers interact with "potentially dangerous" alien species, usually only in cases where they need to hire mercenaries to handle risky situations which they themselves cannot. Sane Puppeteers never leave their homeworld, being distrustful of faster-than-light space travel, so only insane puppeteers are ever employed to arrange such matters.

Nessus, being a "mad" Puppeteer, is given the task of assembling a team to explore the Ringworld, to see if it poses a threat to his species.

Cover sample of "Ringworld" Book 1 in the Series.
Cover sample of "Ringworld" Book 1 in the Series.

The main protagonist is Louis Wu, a genius celebrating his 200th birthday. The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. Louis Gridley Wu is the main protagonist in the Ringworld series of books written by Larry Niven. Despite his age, he is in perfect physical condition due to a combination of superior genetic makeup, advanced medical technology and boosterspice, a drug that extends human life. Known Space is the fictional setting of several Science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. Life extension refers to an increase in maximum or average lifespan, especially in humans by slowing down or reversing the processes of aging. He prolongs his birthday by teleporting ahead of the terminator from party to party across Earth, but as periodically happens, he is bored and eager for new challenges, so Nessus has little difficulty recruiting him. The terminator is a fictive line that delimits the illuminated day side and dark Night side of a planetary body (also known as the "grey line" or EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001

Speaker-to-Animals is a Kzin, a ferocious felinoid predator species which has, in the recent past, fought a series of wars with humanity, losing every time because of a tendency to attack before being quite ready. Speaker-to-Animals (or later Chmeee) is a Fictional character in the Ringworld series of books written by Larry Niven. The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a Fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of Cat-like aliens in Larry Niven 's Known Space series This is a list of cat-like aliens (or felinoids) — aliens that resemble Cats The Aslan The Caitians The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a Fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of Cat-like aliens in Larry Niven 's Known Space series He is recruited as the mission's security chief.

Finally, Teela Brown is a young human female whose role in the mission is not immediately clear. Teela Brown is a fictional character created by Larry Niven in the Ringworld novels But Puppeteers do not do anything without a very good reason, and her significance is revealed as the plot unfolds. She is the result of a secret Puppeteer experiment in selective breeding for luck, which generally helps her and her descendants, but not necessarily her companions.

When their ship is hit by the powerful, automated meteor defense system and then strikes one of the near-invisible shadow-square wires, the adventurers crash land on the Ringworld. They set out to find a way to get back into space. They cross vast distances, witness strangely evolved ecosystems originating from many different planets, including Earth, and interact with some of the Ringworld's varied primitive civilizations. An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( A Civilization is a society in which large numbers of people share a variety of common elements They attempt to discover what caused the Ringworld's inhabitants to lose their technology, and puzzle over who created the Ringworld and why.

Concepts

In addition to the two aliens, Niven includes a number of concepts from his other Known Space stories:

Ringworld engineering

Ringworld parameters
Radius 9. Remote Authentication Dial In User Service ( RADIUS) is a networking protocol that provides centralized access authorization and accounting management for people or computers 5×107 miles (~1. Scientific notation, also sometimes known as standard form or as exponential notation, is a way of writing numbers that accommodates values too large or small to be A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States 5×108 km) (~1 AU) (~152 Gm (GigaMeter))
Circumference 6×109 miles (~9. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand The astronomical unit ( AU or au or au or sometimes ua) is a unit of Length based on the distance from the Earth to the The circumference is the distance around a closed Curve. Circumference is a kind of Perimeter. Scientific notation, also sometimes known as standard form or as exponential notation, is a way of writing numbers that accommodates values too large or small to be 7×108 km) (~9. 7 Tm (TeraMeters))
Width 997,000 miles (1,600,000 km)
Height of rim walls 1,000 miles (1,600 km)
Mass 2×1027 kg (1. Length is the long Dimension of any object The length of a thing is the distance between its ends its linear extent as measured from end to end Height is the measurement of vertical Distance, but has two meanings in common use Mass is a fundamental concept in Physics, roughly corresponding to the Intuitive idea of how much Matter there is in an object 8×1024 short tons) (1,250,000 kg/m², e. The short ton ( S/T) is a unit of mass equal to 2000 lb (around 907 g. 250 m thick, 5,000 kg/m³)
Surface area 6×1014 sq mi (1. Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. 6×1015 km²); 3 million times the surface area of Earth. Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001
Surface gravity 0. Gravitation is a natural Phenomenon by which objects with Mass attract one another 992 gee (~9. g-force (also G-force, g-load) is a measurement of an object's Acceleration expressed in g s 69 m/s²)
Spin velocity 770 miles/second (~1,200,000 m/s)
Sun's spectral class G3 verging on G2; "barely smaller and cooler than Sol". In Physics, velocity is defined as the rate of change of Position. In Astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of Stars based initially on photospheric temperature and its associated Spectral characteristics The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System.
Day length 30 hours
Rotational time 7. A day (symbol d is a unit of Time equivalent to 24 Hours and the duration of a single Rotation of planet Earth with respect to the The hour (symbol h) is a unit of Time. It is not an SI unit but is accepted for use with the SI A rotation is a movement of an object in a circular motion A two- Dimensional object rotates around a center (or point) of rotation 5 Ringworld days (225 hours, 9. 375 Earth days)
On Ringworld, time longer than a day is measured in falans, with 1 falan being 10 turns or 75 Ringworld days (93. 75 Earth days), so 4 falans is slightly longer than 1 Earth year. A year (from Old English gēr) is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the Orbit of the Earth around the Sun

The "Ringworld" is an artificial ring about one million miles wide and approximately the diameter of Earth's orbit (which makes it about 600 million miles in circumference), encircling a Sol-type star. The circumference is the distance around a closed Curve. Circumference is a kind of Perimeter. It rotates, providing an artificial gravity that is 99. Artificial gravity is a simulation of gravity in Outer space or Free-fall. 2% as strong as Earth's gravity through the action of centrifugal force. Ringworld has a habitable flat inner surface equivalent in area to approximately three million Earth-sized planets. Walls 1000 miles tall along the edges retain the atmosphere. The Ringworld could be regarded as a thin, rotating slice of a Dyson sphere, with which it shares a number of characteristics. A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper is a hypothetical Megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. Niven himself thinks of the Ringworld as "an intermediate step between Dyson spheres and planets. "

Source of material

The Ringworld is described as having a mass approximately equal to the sum of all the planets in our solar system. The adventurers surmised that its construction consumed literally all the planets in that system, down to the last asteroid and/or moon, as the Ringworld star has no other bodies in orbit. In Ringworld's Children it is additionally explained that it took the reaction mass of roughly 20 Jupiter masses to spin up the ring; thus the combined mass of the planets of the original system was that much larger than our solar system's. Working mass is a mass against which a system operates in order to produce Acceleration.

Scrith

Scrith, usually written italicized as scrith, forms the walls and floor of the Ringworld.

Scrith is a milky-gray translucent, nearly frictionless material. The fairly thin layer of scrith that forms the floor of the Ringworld blocks the passage of 40% of the neutrinos that encounter it, equivalent to almost a light year of lead. Neutrinos are Elementary particles that travel close to the Speed of light, lack an Electric charge, are able to pass through ordinary matter almost A light-year or light year (symbol ly) is a unit of Length, equal to just under ten trillion Kilometres As defined by Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly It also absorbs nearly 100% of all other radiation and subatomic particles and rapidly dissipates heat. The tensile strength of scrith is similar to the strong nuclear force, with the Ringworld foundation only about 30m (100 ft) deep. Tensile strength \sigma_{UTS} or S_U is the Stress at which a material breaks or permanently deforms In particle physics the strong interaction, or strong force, or color force, holds Quarks and Gluons together to form Protons and Also, it is transparent to large magnetic fields.

Due to its enormous strength, scrith is impervious to most weapons. A body (such as a comet or asteroid) striking with enough kinetic energy may be able to deform the Ringworld floor and punch a hole. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra Energy which it possesses due to its motion The Ringworld engineers used a device, called the cziltang brone in their language, to pass from the vacuum of their spaceports right through the scrith to the habitable surface of the Ringworld. A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching Spacecraft, by analogy with Seaport for Ships or Airport for Aircraft

The physical composition of scrith is unclear, but it appears to share some of the properties of a metal (albeit in a greatly exaggerated form): for instance, the high tensile strength, the ability to conduct heat and the ability to retain an induced magnetic field. The M acro E xpansion T emplate A ttribute L anguage complements TAL, providing macros which allow the reuse of code across Heat conduction or thermal conduction is the spontaneous transfer of thermal energy through matter from a region of higher Temperature to a region of lower Faraday's law of induction describes an important basic law of electromagnetism which is involved in the working of Transformers Inductors and many forms of Scrith is said to have been artificially produced through the transmutation of matter. Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one Chemical element or Isotope into another which occurs through Nuclear reactions Natural transmutation occurs

Variations

"Ringworld", or more formally, "Niven ring", has become a generic term for such a structure, which is an example of what science fiction fans call a "Big Dumb Object", or more formally a megastructure. A term used in discussing Science fiction, " Big Dumb Object " (BDO refers to any mysterious object (usually of extraterrestrial or otherwise unknown origin A megastructure is a built structure typically at least 1000 kilometers in length -- in other words at least 1 Megameter, hence the name Other science fiction authors have devised their own variants of Niven's Ringworld, notably Iain M. Banks' Culture Orbitals, best described as miniature Ringworlds, and the ring-shaped Halo structure of the video game series of the same name. Iain Menzies Banks (born on 16 February 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish Writer. In Iain M Banks ' fictional Culture universe an Orbital (sometimes also simply called an O or a small ring) is a purpose-built Halos are fictional Megastructures and Superweapons in the Halo video game series Halo is a Science fiction Video game franchise created by Bungie and owned and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

Technical realities

Construction issues

The construction of a ringworld remains firmly in the area of speculation. If such a structure were built it could indeed provide a huge habitable inner surface, but the energy required to construct it and set it rotating is so significant (several centuries' worth of the total energy output from the Sun) that without as-yet unimagined energy sources becoming available, it is hard to see how this construction could ever be possible in a time frame acceptable to humans.

Tension on material

The tensile strength of the material required would be on the same order as the strong nuclear force, according to Niven — since the artificial gravity is the same as normal gravity, the structure is comparable with a bridge with an extremely long span; nothing even remotely strong enough is known to exist in nature. In particle physics the strong interaction, or strong force, or color force, holds Quarks and Gluons together to form Protons and In Niven's Ringworld novels, the material—which he calls scrith—is said to have been artificially produced through the transmutation of matter into the required substance. Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one Chemical element or Isotope into another which occurs through Nuclear reactions Natural transmutation occurs (This merely gives a name to the sufficiently advanced technology that would have to be used. Arthur C Clarke formulated the following three " laws " of Prediction: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is ) In later novels the "transmutation" idea is simply discarded and the construction method of scrith left open, although one engineer is able to use nanotechnology to weave new scrith into meteor punctures.

Instability

A ringworld design requires active stabilization, because it is not in inertial orbit. The vis insita or innate force of matter is a power of resisting by which every body as much as in it lies endeavors to preserve in its present state whether it be of rest or of moving In Physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of one object around a point or another body for example the gravitational orbit of a planet around a star Though the ring itself is rotating at 1200 km/s (to approximate Earth gravity), the center of mass is stationary — in fact, it is at an unstable equilibrium, roughly comparable to a small sphere balanced on top of a larger one.

Thus, large thrusters must be incorporated into the design to keep it centered about its star. This point gave Niven some difficulty after he published his first Ringworld novel; he was deluged with letters pointing out that "the Ringworld isn't stable" and dedicated the first sequel to a resolution of this problem. He notes in the dedication of Ringworld Engineers that at the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention MIT students crowded the hotel hallways chanting "The Ringworld is Unstable!" In this first sequel, he also tackled how to prevent all the soil from ending up in the oceans. The Ringworld Engineers is a 1980 Science fiction Novel by Larry Niven. In the fourth book in the series, Ringworld's Children, he creates backplot explanations for several of the imperfections in his original design of the Ringworld — and wholly glosses over others, such as that Louis Wu is worried about his dietary intake of salt since only the Great Oceans are described as being saline. Salt is a Dietary mineral composed primarily of Sodium chloride that is essential for Animal life but toxic to most land plants

Imperfect shadow squares

To provide an approximation of the day–night cycle common to planets, Niven's Ringworld was also provided with a separate ring of "shadow squares" linked together (by "shadow square wires") in a ring close to the star, rotating at slightly faster than the Ringworld's spin, providing a lot of twilight, as well as a day-night cycle. Twilight is the time before Sunrise, called Dawn, and the time after Sunset, called Dusk. This is not the perfect match for a planet however, as there is no sunrise or sunset in Ringworld, and when not covered by a shadow square, the sun is always at high noon. These absorb a huge amount of sunlight energy, which is beamed to the Ringworld as its primary source of power. They are also not in inertial orbit, and must be actively stabilized as well. The shadow squares provide another of the imperfections "clarified" in Ringworld's Children, as five shadow squares of greater length, orbiting retrograde would provide a better day-night cycle, with less twilight. Direct motion is the motion of a Planetary body in a direction similar to that of other bodies within its system and is sometimes called prograde motion. As revealed in Ringworld Engineers, the "shadow squares" also provide a shielding to the inner surface of the Ringworld when someone in the control room uses a magnetic field embedded in the Ringworld to fire the meteor defense system.

Sequels, adaptations, other ringworlds in fiction

Cover sample of "The Ringworld Engineers" Book 2 in the Series.
Cover sample of "The Ringworld Engineers" Book 2 in the Series.

The novel Ringworld has been followed by three sequels, The Ringworld Engineers (1980), The Ringworld Throne (1996), and Ringworld's Children (2004). The Ringworld Engineers is a 1980 Science fiction Novel by Larry Niven. The year 1980 in literature involved some significant events and new books The Ringworld Throne is a novel by Larry Niven, first published in 1996. The year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books Ringworld's Children is a 2004 Science fiction novel by Larry Niven, the fourth in the Ringworld series set in the Known Space The year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books

In the 1980s a role-playing game based on this setting was produced by Chaosium named The Ringworld Roleplaying Game. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. Chaosium is one of the longer lived publishers of Role-playing games still in existence The Ringworld Science fiction Role-playing game was published by Chaosium in 1984, using the Basic Role-Playing system

Tsunami Games released two adventure games based on Ringworld, Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch in 1992 and Return to Ringworld in 1994. An adventure game is a type of Video game characterized by investigation exploration puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters and a focus on Narrative Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar)

In 2004, the Sci Fi Channel reported that it was developing a Ringworld miniseries [1]. Larry Niven reported in 2001 that a movie deal had been signed and was in the early planning stages. There have also been many abortive attempts to adapt the novel to the screen.

Some of Iain M. Banks's novels of The Culture involve small circular structures called Orbitals, a few light-seconds in diameter; their day-night cycle is inherent in their rotation. Iain Menzies Banks (born on 16 February 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish Writer. The Culture is a Fictional anarchist, socialistic, and Utopian ref> The State of the Art - Banks Iain M In Iain M Banks ' fictional Culture universe an Orbital (sometimes also simply called an O or a small ring) is a purpose-built

The plot of the first-person shooter Halo for the Microsoft Xbox also takes place on an artificial ring structure. A first-person shooter ( FPS) is an action Video game from the Shooter game The initial development of Maze War Halo Combat Evolved (commonly known as Halo or Halo 1) is a First-person shooter (FPS Video game developed Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer The Xbox is a sixth-generation Video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. Given its dimensions (10,000 kilometers in diameter) it is more like Banks' Culture Orbitals than Niven's behemoth. In Iain M Banks ' fictional Culture universe an Orbital (sometimes also simply called an O or a small ring) is a purpose-built

There is a Ringworld system tile created for the boardgame Twilight Imperium on BoardGameGeek [2]. A board game is a Game in which counters or pieces that are placed on removed from or moved across a "board" (a premarked surface usually specific to that game Twilight Imperium is a strategy Board game produced by Fantasy Flight Games. BoardGameGeek is a Website that was founded in January 2000 by Scott Alden and Derk Solko as a resource for the board gaming Hobby.

There is a Ringworld-like structure in the Tre'illica system in the video game Escape Velocity Nova; also, in the game, Earth has a ring structure built around its equator. Escape Velocity Nova (aka EV Nova or EVN) is a Computer game by Ambrosia Software, in collaboration EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001

In an episode of Megas XLR, "Buggin' the System", Coop and crew visit a deserted Ringworld which holds a library containing information on every known species living in the universe, as well had large buglike creatures living underneath its surface. Megas XLR (short for e' X' tra L arge R obot is an American Anime-influenced Animated television series that aired on

See also

External links

Awards
Preceded by
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin		 Nebula Award for Best Novel
1970		 Succeeded by
A Time of Changes
by Robert Silverberg
In Iain M Banks ' fictional Culture universe an Orbital (sometimes also simply called an O or a small ring) is a purpose-built Planets in science fiction are fictional Planets that appear in various media especially those of the Science fiction genre as story-settings or depicted locations Known Space is the fictional setting of several Science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. A megastructure is a built structure typically at least 1000 kilometers in length -- in other words at least 1 Megameter, hence the name A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper is a hypothetical Megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. Halos are fictional Megastructures and Superweapons in the Halo video game series The Left Hand of Darkness is a Science fiction Novel by Ursula K Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (ˈɝsələ ˈkroʊbɚ ləˈgwɪn (born October 21, 1929) is an American author Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The year 1970 in literature involved some significant events and new books A Time of Changes is a 1971 Science fiction novel by Robert Silverberg. Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is a prolific American author best known for writing Science fiction.
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