Silence Please

"Silence Please" is the title of two science fiction short stories by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. The first was published in 1950 under the pseudonym Charles Willis. The second was used as the introductory story for Clarke's collection Tales from the White Hart.^[1]

"Silence Please"
Short story by Arthur C. Clarke
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction
Publication
Published in	Science-Fantasy
Publication type	Magazine
Publisher	Nova Publications
Publication date	Winter 1950
Chronology
Series	Tales from the White Hart
—   Big Game Hunt

The White Hart story describes the efforts of a brilliant college student to design a machine that would produce a field of absolute silence. The gadget is then used in a prank, with tragic results.^[2]

The magazine version is set in the distant future and has elements of satire of Labour policies. The name of the invention is the same, though the reason for its failure is different.^{[citation needed]}

The "Fenton Silencer" described in the stories uses the same phase-inversion principle found in modern noise-canceling headphones.^{[citation needed]}

The story was one of two works by Clarke translated by Hungarian writer and politician Árpád Göncz: the other was 2001: A Space Odyssey.^[3]