The history of the Death Ray

Image: Steampunk Old Vic Ray Gun by ~Builders Studio. Screw flying cars, I want a death ray. We've been trying to make them for centuries. Why don't I have one? Because this is not Boeing Boeing. Becky Ferreira explains:

Developing electromagnetic weaponry is expensive and requires innovative thinking-- "duh!" says every scientist and inventor who has tried to develop it. But listen, you smug scientist/inventors, our new millennium has borne witness to a surge of fresh ideas about how to finally pull the death ray from the world of dreams and imagination into reality. It's looking increasingly likely that the death ray's 2,200-year-old journey may be coming to an end.

Until our military contractors make the world a better place, you'll just have to make do with something like Builders Studio's death ray (above) instead, available from its Etsy store. Humanity's Endless Quest to Invent a Death Ray: A History [The Awl]

• [Flashman]

  You can also smoke weed with it.

• [Ito Kagehisa]

  But it is not an experiment…. I have built, demonstrated and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the world.

• [Scruff]

  In the words of Charles Addams, “Deathray? Fiddlesticks! Why, iyt doesn’t even slow them up.”

• [Stefan Jones]

  Man, if gluing together candle holders together was all it took we could have equipped George Washington’s army with death rays.

• [xian]

  I believe this deathly will also lightly pepper your salad.

• [xian]

  On another note, autocorrect is often annoying.

• [rastronomicals]

  Becky Ferreira explains

  too annoying; didn’t read

• [robulus]

  No, no, it’s all a big misunderstanding…

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HgejSCHRi8

• [Neon Tooth]

  Looks like my pepper mill.

• [Karlos]

  I’ll just have one of these thanks… :)

  http://www.drgrordborts.com

• [Anonymous]

  nikola did one of those already.

• [wavechild]

  Death ray my ass, that’s obviously a steampunk cock-and-balls.

• [Avram / Moderator]

  Can’t we have a Life Ray instead?

  • [Brainspore]

    We do, it’s called the Sun. Top military minds are working on countermeasures to destroy it as we speak.

  • [travtastic]

    Only if it works like this.

  • [Ito Kagehisa]

    Would you settle for a go-go ray?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_World_of_Batwoman
    http://www.allmovie.com/work/54601
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061191/

    Arguably the worst movie ever made, but it does have a go-go ray, which is somehow used to free the imprisoned strippers by making the police dance until they drop their keys. Or something like that, it’s actually pretty hard to tell what’s going on at any given moment.

• [treeswing]

  see also: Michio Kaku He hasn’t covered deathrays yet, but he’s close: Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible

• [Anonymous]

  ISTR that one of the earliest contracts that funded the development of RADAR was for a deathray. “No, we’re not going to be able to boil water at a distance with radio waves, but look at what we CAN do.”

• [Dante]

  Boeing Boeing? The Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis movie? If ya like bad movies, that’s a good one!

• [Anonymous]

  http://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=27_82

  isn’t this a death ray

• [millrick]

  in other news…

  Xeni in zero G, with puppies!

  http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/sullivan-and-greenwald-down-krugman-fine-we-check-in-on-blogger-health

• [Bill Beaty]

  A water-jet cutter makes a pretty good death ray. Hmm, any videos of them being used on slabs of beef? Only effective over a few inches though, unless you’re using it in a vacuum. Use oil jet to prevent your moon war death ray from disappearing on the way to its target. Or liquid metal, glass etc.

  > Life ray

  Whoever wins the race for “collimated long-range orgasmatron” will probably win the battle.

  But then the other side steals the plans and builds a bigger one.

• [DeWynken]

  The ‘gun’ pictured is pathetic. They actually have some decent ones on their site..why ya chose this one is beyond me.

• [Mitch_M]

  That’s the coolest bong ever!

• [arikol]

  A DEATH RAY?

  I used to have one of those. Don’t recommend them.

  /Dr. Horrible

• [Anonymous]

  guess we’ll have to settle for this:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtzRAjW6KO0

• [muteboy]

  This is our generations Sputnik moment.