"'...why can I do it, and nobody else? I've been forced to conclude it's a peculiarity in my genes.'"
-Poul Anderson, There Will Be Time (New York, 1973), V, p. 47.
Anderson's readers think, "Genes, sure," but Robert Anderson asks:
"'Oh?'" (ibid.)
- so Havig explains:
"'They'll find the molecular basis of heredity, approximately ten years from now.'" (ibid.)
Anderson wants to know more and Havig will tell him the little that he can about DNA. We take it for granted but it is that recent.
Poul Anderson shows us Havig's future knowledge not only of the Maurai Federation and the Star Masters but also of the 1960s and genes.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Jack Havig made a small error here. He and Dr. Anderson were meeting in 1951, and since Watson and Crick pub. their discoveries about DNA in 1953, that was quite a long ways short of a decade. But I'm just being finicky!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Maybe the full implications only became public knowledge some time later? Or something. I would be surprised if PA had got it that wrong.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
More simply, IMO, Anderson had Jack making a small mistake. Because that would make the story feel more "real."
Ad astra! Sean
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