An immense artificial structure proposed by Freeman Dyson in 1959 for the purpose of intercepting vast amounts of solar energy. Dyson calculated that, if mankind's current growth rate in energy consumption were to continue, the human race would reach a crisis point within the next two to three millennia. At this point, all the non-renewable sources, such as fossil and nuclear fuels, would be exhausted, and even renewable sources exploited on a planet-wide scale would be unable to cope with further demand.
The problem is that the Earth intercepts less than one billionth of the total radiant output of the Sun. To provide for future growth, the human race will need to capture much more of the Sun's light. It could do this with a Dyson sphere: a spherical shell, 2 to 3 meters thick, centered on the Sun and rotating around it at about twice the orbital distance of the Earth. The material for building the sphere, Dyson suggested, could come from disassembling the planet Jupiter and utilizing the minerals and metals from its deep interior.
Dyson acknowledged that the inspiration for his scheme came from Olaf Stapledon?'s Star Maker?.
If you want to know further regarding Dyson Spheres, try Googling the subject.
As far as science fiction stories are concerened, the following references from within this database may prove interesting:
- Across a Billion Years? by Robert Silverberg (1969?)
- Orbitsville? by Bob Shaw? (1975?)
- Ringworld? By Larry Niven
- Ringworld? Engineers by Larry Niven
- Star Maker? by Olaf Stabledon?
- The Starless World? by Gordon Eklund (xxxx?) - the first Star Trek novel to include a Dyson Sphere.
- Wall Around a Star? by Frederick Pohl and Jack Williamson? (1983?)
- Star Trek?: New Generation episode "Relics"
