astronomy

Summer Wear

Summer Wear is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Summer Wear rather than just read about it. In short: "Summer Wear" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series.

Key takeaways

Summer Wear belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Summer Wear to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Summer Wear from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Summer Wear" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It is the first (chronologically) set on the planet Osiris. It was first published in the magazine Startling Stories in the issue for May, 1950. It first appeared in book form in the anthology The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1951, edited by Everett F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty, published in hardcover by Frederick Fell in 1951, and was gathered together with other Viagens stories in the collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens, published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953, and in paperback by Signet Books in 1971. The story has been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, Italian and German.

Plot summary Terrans Cato Chapman and Celia Zorn, respectively a salesman and model affiliated with the fashionable summer wear firm Greenfarb's of Hollywood, embark on the Viagens starship Camões, bound for the planet Osiris. They hope to create a market for Greenfarb's styles among the reptilian Osirians, who natively wear nothing but body paint. Chapman and Celia quickly discover they have rivals on board; Jean-Jaques Bergerat and Anya Savinkov, representing Tomaselli's of Paris. Amid interesting interplay with the other passengers, including both Terrans and alien Osirians and Thothians, the voyage becomes a double exercise in industrial espionage as Chapman and Bergerat each attempt to sabotage the other. Bergerat succeeds in spoiling Chapman's samples, but is caught and incarcerated due to Chapman's machinations; the latter thereupon appropriates Bergerat's own samples as replacements. On Osiris, Chapman, Celia and Anya hold a fashion show, their products become wildly popular with the Osirians, and they secure a contract for Greenfarb's. Chapman and Bergerat end their dispute on the return voyage and each becomes involved with (and marries) his former rival's business partner. As the interstellar voyage between the Solar System and the Procyon system harboring Osiris takes five months subjective time (and over ten years objective time) each way, there is ample opportunity for such bonds to form. Back on Earth, a surprise awaits them; Osirian body paint has become the rage there during their nearly two dozen years' absence, and both Greenfarb's and Tomaselli's have gone out of business! The action of "Summer Wear" takes place in the years 2104-2128 AD.

Setting The planet Osiris is an arid world orbiting Procyon in the same star system as Thoth, a wet planet whose natives are amoral and anarchic. Osiris's dinosauroid inhabitants are characterized as both sentimental and rapaciously capitalistic; they are also possessed of mind-controlling powers, generally referred to as "telepathic pseudohypnosis," against which other intelligent species must take special precautions.

References

Sources Summer Wear title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Laughlin, Charlotte; Daniel J. H. Levack (1983). De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller. pp. 246–247, 44–45.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Summer Wear

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Summer Wear claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Summer Wear before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Summer Wear ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Summer Wear

In research: Summer Wear appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Summer Wear in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Summer Wear is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950 English-language short stories, 1950 short stories, Fiction set around Procyon, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Summer Wear outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Summer Wear in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Summer Wear means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Summer Wear out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Summer Wear in simple terms?

"Summer Wear" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series.

Why does Summer Wear matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Summer Wear?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Summer Wear.