Holtzman effect

The Holtzman effect [In "Terminology of the Imperium", the glossary of the novel "Dune", Frank Herbert defined the Holtzman effect itself as "the negative repelling effect of a shield generator." Interpreting this in conjunction with Herbert's definition of the defensive shield, it is unclear whether the author intended the Holtzman effect to be an original component of his suspensor-nullification effect or a phenomenon created by Holtzman's invention, the shield generator.] is a fictional scientific phenomenon in the "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert, beginning with the 1965 novel "Dune". The effect is never explained in detail, but it makes (among other things) defensive force shields and instantaneous space travel possible.

According to the "Legends of Dune" prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2002-2004), the Holtzman effect is named after the scientist who discovered it, Tio Holtzman (though for many of its applications, Holtzman in fact took credit for the mathematical theories of his assistant, Norma Cenva).

Frank Herbert was inconsistent with the spelling of "Holtzman," resulting in the variant spellings "Holtzmann" and "Holzmann." This may be intentional, as Herbert mutated other words and names over the vast periods of time the "Dune" series spans, as in the change of "Arrakis" to "Rakis" and "Caladan" to "Dan".

Holtzman devices

Holtzman Shield

In "Terminology of the Imperium", the glossary of the novel "Dune", Frank Herbert provides the following definition:

SHIELD, DEFENSIVE: the protective field produced by a Holtzman generator. This field derives from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. A shield will permit entry only to objects moving at slow speeds (depending on setting, this speed ranges from six to nine centimeters per second) and can be shorted out only by a shire-sized electric field.Herbert, Frank. "Dune", "Terminology of the Imperium" (Shield, Defensive)]

In "Dune", the technology has been adapted for reliable use in personal defensive shields. These shields, unlike many others in science fiction, are not round projections of force, but form-fitting energy fields which permit penetration only by objects that move below a pre-set velocity. [Charles L. Harness uses a similar concept in his 1953 novel "Flight into Yesterday"; see [http://www.sff.net/people/richard.Horton/aced18.htm "The Paradox Men"/"Dome Around America"] Ace Double Reviews (18) by Rich Horton.] Paul Atreides notes in "Dune", "In shield fighting, one moves fast on defense, slow on attack ... Attack has the sole purpose of tricking the opponent into a misstep, setting him up for the attack sinister. The shield turns the fast blow, admits the slow kindjal!"

As one would be unable to breathe within a shield that did not permit atmospheric gases to penetrate it, man-portable shields have a relatively high penetration velocity, approximately six to nine centimeters per second. However, shields for ships and planetary installations can and often do have extremely low penetration velocities, as artificial life support technologies can be utilized while the shield is active.fact|date=September 2008

The interaction of a lasgun beam and a Holtzman field results in sub-atomic fusion and a nuclear explosion. The magnitude of this blast is determined by random chance; sometimes it destroys only the shielded target and gunner, sometimes the explosion is more powerful than an atomic. Regardless of the magnitude of the blast, the gunner will always be destroyed due to feedback. ["Jessica focused her mind on lasguns, wondering. The white-hot beams of disruptive light could cut through any known substance, provided that substance was not shielded. The fact that feedback from a shield would explode both lasgun and shield did not bother the Harkonnens. Why? A lasgun-shield explosion was a dangerous variable, could be more powerful than atomics, could kill only the gunner and his shielded target." Cite book | author=Herbert, Frank | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=Dune | date= | publisher=Ace Books | location= | isbn=0-441-17271-7 | pages=145-146] Using lasguns in a shielded environment can result in military and environmental catastrophe, though at one point Duncan Idaho deliberately allows shield-lasgun contact as a discouragement to his enemies.

The vibrations of an active shield will drive a sandworm on Arrakis into a killing frenzy, drawing them from across territorial lines to attack the shield. For this reason, the native Fremen eschew them.

Holtzman Drive

The effect is used in this case to fold space at the quantum level, allowing the Spacing Guild's heighliner ships to instantaneously travel far distances across space. However, the chaotic and seemingly non-deterministic quantum nature of "foldspace" requires at least limited prescience on the part of the human navigator; otherwise the absurdly complex mathematics involved in producing reliable physical projections of such events would only be possible with advanced thinking machines, which are strictly prohibited because of mankind's crusade against thinking machines, the Butlerian Jihad. To this effect, the Guild produces melange-saturated Navigators who intuitively "see paths through foldspace" in this way. This stumbling block is overcome several thousand years after the events of "Dune" when Ixian scientists develop mechanical replacements for Guild Navigators.

Holtzman Suspensor

Hovering devices called suspensors utilize the secondary (low-drain) phase of a Holtzman field generator to nullify gravity within certain limits prescribed by relative mass and energy consumption. [Herbert, Frank. "Dune", "Terminology of the Imperium" (Suspensor)] Suspensors are used in chairs, tables, and structures that are too massive to be physically sound, among many other obvious uses. In "Dune", the grotesquely obese Baron Vladimir Harkonnen utilizes suspensor belts and harnesses to buoy his flesh and allow him to walk. [In both the 1984 film "Dune" and the 2000 miniseries "Frank Herbert's Dune", the Baron floats or levitates rather than walk on the ground himself.] Suspensors are also used to generate artificial gravity aboard spaceships. Fact|date=March 2007

In "Dune", Jessica theorizes that suspensors, like shields, attract sandworms,"If only we had suspensors", Jessica thought. "It'd be such a simple matter to jump down there. But perhaps suspensors are another thing to avoid in the open desert. Maybe they attract the worms the way a shield does." Herbert, Frank. "Dune".] and while some are seen in Fremen sietch communities, none are active in the deep desert.

Glowglobes

A varied use of the Holtzman effect is the glowglobe. This device is a small glowing sphere that floats gracefully above a surface like a portable, personal sun, since it is typically tuned to a yellowish color. Herbert's description in the glossary of "Dune" reads:

GLOWGLOBE: Suspensor-buoyed illuminating device, self-powered (usually by organic batteries). [Herbert, Frank. "Dune", "Terminology of the Imperium" (Glowglobe)]

"The Dune Encyclopedia"

The non-canon "Dune Encyclopedia" (1984) by Dr. Willis McNelly invents an extensive, alternate origin and description of the Holtzman effect. [McNelly, Willis E. "The Dune Encyclopedia", 1 June 1984, pg. 307-316, ISBN 0-425-06813-7 (US edition)] In this version, it is discovered by Ibrahim Vaughn Holtzman (born 7593 B.G.):

Young Holtzman was nearly killed in a tragic accident in a racing 'thopter ... He became the first of very few persons to undergo a brain transplant: his brain was placed in a prototype axlotl tank and wired into a large host computer with an unprogrammed personality blank, on the assumption that Holtzman would imprint his own personality on the machine. The process was marred by an induced psychosis: afterwards, Holtzman suffered from intense paranoia and refused treatment. Since Holtzman's was the first brain transplant ever performed, the extent of his powers was not fully understood. ["The Dune Encyclopedia", pg. 307.]

The son of the planetary governor of Liesco II, Holtzman has a specialized ship constructed and "escapes" into space to "think." His mathematical genius is enhanced by the exponentially-increased mental processing made possible by his new computerized form (which also allows him to exist for nearly 7500 years). He focuses on analyzing the suspensor-nullification effect, which (as Frank Herbert established) makes interstellar travel possible. According to the "Encyclopedia", this effect had been discovered 5400 years earlier but is not fully understood. Holtzman's first related discovery is an "instantaneous interstellar communication device" later called the Holtzman Wave.

Until this point, interstellar travel had effected a widespread population of the universe which could no longer be controlled by the Imperial House Ceres. The development of Holtzman Wave generators gives mankind the means to easily communicate across vast distances and results in the long and "ferocious" Wars of Reunification. Holtzman himself remains in seclusion, returning to civilization five times. On his third return, over 2000 years after his original escape, he gives humanity his next related discovery: defensive shields. On his fourth return millennia later, "Holtzman 'published' his unified theory, linking the various effects into a single hierarchy of phenomena." ["The Dune Encyclopedia", pg. 308.] The last intelligent machine left in existence after the Butlerian Jihad, he is apparently destroyed in 108 B.G. Knowing his ship is booby trapped with a dormant laser aimed at a defensive shield, the Jihad fleet send a volunteer to board the ship, thereby setting off the explosion which results from shield-laser interaction.

According to the "Encyclopedia", the three-dimensional suspensor-nullification effect is discovered thousands of years before Holtzman explored the associated phenomena; his nameis eventually applied to all manifestations of the Holtzman effect. ["The Dune Encyclopedia", pg. 309.]

"Legends of Dune"

The Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson "Legends of Dune" prequel trilogy (2002-2004) establishes that the Holtzman effect is first employed in "Dune" chronology during the events of the "Legends of Dune" series (immediately prior to the Butlerian Jihad) for defensive force fields capable of scrambling the gel-circuitry of thinking machines. Networks of towers generating the field from the surface protect entire planets from machine attacks. However, the machines soon realize that their cymeks (human-machine hybrids) could slip though the field to destroy the transmitters because they possess human brains, which are unaffected by the scrambler fields. Norma Cenva has the idea to use the field as an offensive weapon, projecting it with portable transmitters to knock out machines and their installations. Tio Holtzman later calculates that the field can be modified to prevent penetration from physical projectiles; Cenva agrees, correcting the flaws in his concept but noting that objects can still pass through the shield at a slow enough speed. The human forces start installing these new shields on their battleships and most ground forces. However, as it is still a new technology at the time, the shields tend to overheat with too much use and deactivate.

Cenva is also credited with the realization that hitting a Holtzman field with a lasgun beam results in a large and unpredictable explosion. Her theory is proven in the novel "", when Holtzman himself is killed by the explosion from such an interaction during a slave uprising on his home planet of Poritrin.

The "Legends of Dune" series also establishes that Cenva invents the theory of space folding in 177 B.G. during the Butlerian Jihad after years of working on Holtzman's original field equations. By 174 B.G. she had built a prototype space-folding ship, and soon she and industrialist Aurelius Venport establish a shipyard on the planet Kolhar to produce what would eventually be called heighliners. Within a decade, Venport puts the space-folding technology and shipyards at the disposal of the Jihad forces.

Initially, foldspace travel is not completely accurate or safe; only about nine out of every ten heighliners make it to their final destination. Realizing that the spice melange amplifies her psychic and calculative abilities, Norma pioneers the use of massive concentrated doses to presciently perceive space/time. In 88 B.G. she discovers that this is the way to safely navigate foldspace, and essentially becomes the first Navigator. That same year, Norma's son Adrien Venport founds the Foldspace Shipping Company, which later becomes the Spacing Guild and eventually monopolizes space commerce, transport and interplanetary banking.

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