Thirty years later

Thirty years later by Hans Dominik is a technical-scientific future story. It appeared in 1930 in the annual book series “ Das Neue Universum ” (Volume 51) and in the 1977 collection of short stories by Hans Dominik “A New Paradise” published by Heyne Verlag as paperback no. 3562.

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After a long break, Hans Dominik wrote two short stories in Volume 51 of the “New Universe”: “Thirty Years Later” and the instructive story “With the lost team”. "Thirty Years Later" is about the problem of how agriculture can produce enough food. By using growth rays, it is possible to produce a giant wheat and thus increase the yield per hectare by a factor of five.

To the short story

“It was a beautiful autumn day in 1940. In the Berlin horticultural exhibition, visitors crowd around a huge pumpkin, which, with a diameter of two meters, shone like a giant golden globe, broad and massive in the rays of the evening sun. There was only a small plaque in front of it: Bred by Professor Olearius. "

So Hans Dominik begins this short story on the first page of volume 51 of the yearbook "The New Universe". In the evening lecture, Doctor Reuter and Domain Councilor Arnoldi found out that this giant breed, Professor Olearius, was successful through the use of growth radiation in the ultraviolet . However, both the right wavelength and the right intensity are important (in 1930 nobody knew how plant growth was regulated).

A test field is then set up on the estate of the Domain Council, which, according to Professor Olearius' proposal, is irradiated with spotlights and planted on the wheat. Success is inevitable: the stalks of wheat are twice as tall as a man and have ears of corn stronger than an ear of corn and three times as long. Hans Dominik then writes: "Now the final success could be overlooked: By systematically applying the growth radiation, the grain crop yields of German agriculture can be increased fivefold, and the farmers themselves still have ample profit after deducting all expenses."

Decades later Arnoldi and Doctor Reuter are sitting together again with Professor Olearius. This shows them his legacy: a radiation that can also significantly shorten the period of growth, so that two or three harvests per year would also be possible in Germany. But his attempts always failed when the development of the plants had advanced to the beginning of fruiting. He must leave this to his successors to accomplish this.