Kurt Vonnegut's Ice-Nine; and Friday the 13th Revisited
Kurt Vonnegut, who died April 11, was a chemistry major who indirectly got the idea for the Ice-Nine in the novel Cat's Cradle from a Nobel Laureate. And a look at the science of Friday the 13th.
SUBSCRIBE TO Science Quickly
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
April 13, 2007 -- Kurt Vonnegut's Ice-Nine
Writer Kurt Vonnegut died April 11th. One of his most famous literary creations was not a character but a chemical. Ice-Nine is a form of ice that somehow turns any liquid water it touches into more Ice-Nine. And so, at the end of Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle, the world ends, not with a bang but with a brrrr. Vonneget clearly had a strong interest in science—he was briefly a chemistry major at Cornell. And according to an article that wikipedia cites from the Journal of Chemical Education, the genesis for the idea for Ice-Nine actually dates back to Irving Langmuir, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1932. The story goes that Langmuir was showing science fiction pioneer HG Wells around General Electric, where Langmuir worked for over 40 years. Langmuir allegedly mused about a form of water solid at room temperature, thinking that Wells might use the idea, which he didn’t. But Vonnegut wound up working at GE’s PR department, found the story, and filed the nascent Ice-Nine idea away for his own future use. Lots more interesting material about interesting materials in the wikipedia entry for Ice-Nine.
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.
