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The Book That Predicted Proxima b [Excerpt]

A science fiction novel published in 2013 pegged some of the most salient details for our nearest neighboring exoplanet

By Lee Billings

One of the underappreciated thrills of reading science fiction is the possibility, however unlikely, that some far-out fiction will eventually prove to be at least partial fact—its wild speculation maturing over time until, like fine wine forgotten in a cellar, it is finally remembered and savored. Sometimes reality’s similarity to an author’s imaginings can be downright eerie such as H. G. Wells’s vision of nuclear war from 1914’s The World Set Free or Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, which in 1865 predicted many key features of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. In Verne’s book and in actual space history three astronauts launched to the moon from Florida and returned by splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, all in a cramped capsule named for Columbus.

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