Contributed by
"William E. Emba"
"Micromegas" is a Voltaire short story, obviously inspired by Swift's
Gulliver's Travels. The title character comes from a planet
orbiting Sirius, and stands 120,000 feet tall. Before spelling out
Micromegas' proportions in numerical detail, Voltaire singles out
those of his readers who are mathematicians, "people always useful to
the public". (It is unclear if Voltaire is being sarcastic or not.)
Micromegas goes on a tour of the stars, and ends up visiting Saturn,
where he is amused by the tininess of the inhabitants, only 6,000 feet
tall. He befriends one Saturnian in particular, and together the two
visit the inner solar system. Upon visiting Earth, it takes them a
great deal of difficulty to recognize humanity and then communicate
with a few members. Amongst other events, the humans triangulate
Micromegas and thereby measure him by means of trigonometry, much to
his astonishment.
Of separate interest are the various Swiftian references. For example,
"Dr. Swift" is referred to by name once, and Mars is again assumed to
have two moons.
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